Even after our double winning seasons of ’98 & ’02 I was mocked for being a fan of such a small club , that no one in the lower classes of Egypt had even heard of

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By Ahmed El-Hawary

In response to Aziz Jacobs, about Arsenal being a global brand , I may have another perspective regarding this topic . I’m an Egyptian living in Cairo & I have been an Arsenal supporter since the mid 90’s ( I was 10 back then ) .

During that time I have witnessed Arsenal’s brand reach new heights here in Egypt ,that only a few clubs have reached . Sure until a few years ago Real Madrid , Barcelona & Manchester Utd were the biggest teams in Egypt , both fan base & merchandise wise .

Even after our double winning seasons of ’98 & ’02 I was mocked for being a fan of such a small club , that no one in the lower classes of Egypt had even heard of.

That now has changed dramatically , everywhere you go there are kids in the street wearing arsenal kits , cars now have flags saying “follow me to the pride of London” with the arsenal badge on it . After Arsenal 2nd leg quarter final defeat to Liverpool , I found many people in the street discussing how Arsenal deserved to win it , that Walcott’s run is on par with maradonna’s . & these are regular lower class people , who could never afford the cable network that airs the matches , but they still went out & find somewhere to watch that game .

This has been down to three main reasons , the first is that the style & beauty of Arsenal’s football has attracted everyone who crave beautiful football in our country ( our league is even more predictable that the scottich league…no ofense) . The second reason is that Arsenal opened a football academy here in Egypt for kids till the age of 18 , & I must say it is the most successful here in Egypt , with posters & billboards of Arsenal players all around the neighbourhood where it is situated.

The third reason is not related to the Arsenal board ! It’s in fact due to China !! As all football merchandise here in Egypt are knock offs made in china , but one has to admit that they have done a great job in doing so & have helped the globalization of the Arsenal brand . I actually buy a lot of Arsenal merchandise from the Arsenal store when I travel to London , But I can honestly say that here , there are at least double the merchandise that the Arsenal store has to offer , & with some with great quality as well & MUCH better prices.

The point is , that for a relatively poor country as Egypt , Arsenal are getting bigger by the day , I could say that now we come in third place after Barca & UTD . But I’m sorry to say that not all of these new “fans” aren’t true die hard fans & the only way to truely become a great global brand is to deliver trophies & as soon as possible. This will guarantee the continuity of our global rise.