AFCON trophy ‘stolen’ in Egypt

The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy has reportedly been stolen from the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) headquarters in Cairo.

The country’s football body broke the news in a statement on Friday.

The EFA said the trophy the Pharaohs retained permanently after winning three consecutive AFCON titles — in 2006, 2008 and 2010 respectively — is missing.

It was discovered that the trophy was missing during preparations to build a museum to house all of the silverware won by the North African nation.

“As the Egyptian Football Association plans to develop its headquarters, including converting the entrance into a small museum for Egyptian football, the federation’s management was surprised that there were a number of lost trophies in the federation’s storeroom,” the statement read.

“These trophies were supposed to be used in the development process. An investigation is underway to verify whether these old trophies survived the fire and looting of the EFA’s headquarters in 2013 when they were attacked by Ultras groups, or if they were among the losses that resulted from the damage inflicted on the building in this incident.”

Meanwhile, Abdelghani, former Egyptian midfielder, has claimed that the trophy had been lost in a fire seven years ago.

“After the burning of the Football Association headquarters, some cups were lost, and the matter was investigated, including the Africa Cup of Nations that we retained,” said the former FA member during a press conference.

“Some said that the cup had been with Shawky Gharib, the former general coach of the Egypt national team, and some say it had been with Hassan, the former captain of the Pharaohs.”