Egypt midfielder and captain Ahmed Hassan received a warm farewell in his final home game with Belgian giants Anderlecht in the Jupiler League on Saturday. Twenty six thousand fans attending the Anderlecht-Club Brugge match at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, the last home game for the team this season, came out to say goodbye to the talismanic midfielder. The fans lifted banners to bid farewell to the 33-year-old, who heavily contributed to Anderlecht's Belgian League triumph last season. Anderlecht fans cheered "Thanks Hassan," as he replaced Polish defender Marcin Wasilewski in the second-half of the 2-0 win. "I still can suppress my emotions, otherwise I would have cried a lot," he told FilGoal.com in a phone interview after the game. "Such a warm farewell proves that I have done something to be remembered here. "The way the fans said goodbye to me motivates me to do my best for Anderlecht in order to help them win the Belgian Cup," he added. Successful Career Hassan enjoyed a successful ten-year spell in European football, which is a relatively long tenure for any Egyptian footballer abroad. He played in Turkey for Kocaelispor, Denizlispor, Genclerbirligi and Besiktas.
Hassan enjoyed the respect of his teammates and fans He joined Anderlecht in 2006, winning with the club one Belgian League title and two Super Cups. Hassan opted to return to Egypt due to family reasons to put an end to a highly-successful adventure in Europe, one that earned him the respect of his peers and Egyptian living abroad. An African Role Model Only last month was Hassan honored for his contributions on and off the pitch. He named "African Role Model" by the African Association of Belgium for his charity work in Egypt and was also recognized as one of the best five African players in the Jupiler League. Egyptian Ambassador to Belgium, H.E. Dr. Mahmoud Karem, who was among the attendees at the Vanden Stock Stadium on Saturday, pointed out that Hassan also had a key role to play when it came to the Arab image in Europe. "Hassan is an excellent representative for Arabs in Europe," Dr. Karem told FilGoal.com. "In times like these, loved and successful Arabs in Europe display the true image of our people…Hassan has done so in exquisite fashion," the ambassador added. H.E. Dr. Karem noted that the Egyptian embassy tirelessly tries to bridge the gaps between Arabs and Europeans and is very active in terms of building a rapport between the Egyptian and Belgian people. "People like Hassan make our job much easier," he concluded.
