Mohamed Latif

Mohamed Latif

Latif in 1940
Personal information
Full name	Mohamed Latif
Date of birth	(1909-10-23)23 October 1909
Place of birth	Beni Suef, Egypt
Date of death	17 March 1990(1990-03-17) (aged 80)
Place of death	Cairo, Egypt
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1926-1935	Zamalek
1935–1936	Rangers	1	(0)
1936-1945	Zamalek
International career
1932-1942	Egypt
Managerial career
	Zamalek
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Mohamed Latif (Arabic: ;محمد لطيف 23 October 1909 – 17 March 1990) was an Egyptian professional footballer. He played for the clubs El-Zamalek of Egypt and Rangers F.C. of Scotland, as well as for the Egyptian national team.

Career

Latif helped the Egyptian national team qualify for the 1934 World Cup, scoring three goals against the Mandatory Palestine football team during the qualification rounds. He also played at the finals tournament with Egypt in the group stage.

Latif (Lower row, first from left) with Egypt at the 1934 FIFA World Cup in Italy

After the World Cup, Latif came to Glasgow, as did goalkeeper Mustafa Mansour, possibly at the suggestion of Egypt's national coach, Scotsman James McRea. He played his only Scottish League match for Rangers in the 1935/36 season, against Hibs.

In 1936, he was part of the Egyptian team that played in the Olympic tournament in Berlin.

He then worked as Zamalek coach in the 1950s and later. He is most well known for his role as a sports announcer for decades prior to his retirement and subsequent departure.

Post retirement career

He worked as a referee until he earned the international badge and officiated many international matches. He was the first to introduce football commentary on television and was the General Head of sports programs in the Egyptian Television for 16 years. He has broadcast World Cup matches since 1962.

Latif (middle) with Pelé and Saleh Selim in Cairo, February 1973

His fame increased when, in 1948, he moved into the field of commentating on matches, and he remained with the microphone until he passed away on March 17, 1990. He was called the Sheikh of Commentators. Mohamed Latif was distinguished by his own distinctive style in commenting on football matches, and his commentary was of great importance, especially in the Cairo derby matches.

He has reached such an extent of fame that he was hosted in Egyptian films as a sports commentator on football matches. Perhaps among the most prominent of these films is the film Stranger in My House starring Soad Hosny and Nour El Sherif, and the film In Summer We Must Love starring Salah Zulfikar and Samir Ghanem.

Honours

Club

Zamalek

• Egypt Cup: 1932, 1935, 1938, 1941, 1943, 1944
• Cairo League: 1928–29, 1929–30, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1943–44, 1944–45
• King's Cup: 1933–34, 1940–41

Rangers

• Scottish Cup: 1935–36

International

Egypt

• Summer Olympics: fourth place 1928

External links

• Mohamed Latif at fussballdaten.de (in German)