Footballer's Corner

You always know if the national team, Al-Ahly, Zamalek or Liverpool are playing a match. Street cafes swell with football fans huddled around televisions and the streets fill up with cars waving their team's flag. Football is a big deal in Egypt and the country's best players are elevated to almost a saintly status, with the murals of admiration to match.

Between Bab Zuweila and the Citadel, along Sharia Bab al-Wazir and among the numerous architectural wonders of Darb al-Ahmer, is a temple to Egyptian footballers. A fork in the road has a great set of wall murals of Mohamed Saleh, Trezeguet and others, among a set of colourfully painted houses. To the best of my understanding, a mural to Mohamed Salah was originally done for an advert during the African Cup of Nations in 2019, and some pioneering young artists seized the opportunity to also paint their own portraits of their favourite footballers with their phone number to advertise their services, and the trend began.

The colourful set of murals on the fork of the road and a few of the side roads leading off it are a point of pride to the local kids. After snapping a few pictures of the murals on the main road, I was eagerly told by a group of kids on bikes that I was missing the best ones situated around the corner.

There's also a nice street cafe at footballer's corner if you fancy some coffee or tea after snapping some pictures.