With another World Cup summer giving football fans an excuse to live on highlights, debates, and optimism, it feels like the perfect time to revisit some of the greatest Egyptian football commercials ever made. These ads weren’t just selling phone plans, chips, or soft drinks—they became part of the football experience itself.
Some made us laugh, some made us nostalgic, and some somehow managed to do both at the same time. Here’s a trip down memory lane.
Vodafone (2026) — World Cup
This one is still fresh, but it’s already earned a spot on the list.
The premise is simple: Mohamed Salah is trying to exist peacefully while actor and comedian Mostafa Gharib keeps making every possible Pharaoh and World Cup pun known to mankind. Every sentence somehow circles back to ancient Egypt, kings, pyramids, or Salah being “the Pharaoh.”
The funniest part is that Salah spends the entire ad looking like he’s one joke away from completely losing patience.
Orange (2025) — AFCON
Orange took a much more nostalgic route here.
Instead of focusing on current players, the ad catches up with former stars such as El-Hadary, Mido, Mohamed Zidan, Sayed Moawad, Mohamed Barakat, Wael Gomaa, and Hossam Ghaly. They’re all older now, living different lives, carrying different responsibilities, but still united by one thing: waiting for Egypt’s eighth AFCON title.
The ad works because it treats these legends like normal people who have moved on from football while never really moving on from football. They may have retired, but they’re still fans just like the rest of us.
A love letter to an entire generation.
Coca-Cola Egypt (2022) — AFCON
Every tournament brings the same arguments.
Who should start? What formation should we play? Why is everyone suddenly a tactical genius?
Coca-Cola leaned directly into that reality. The commercial shows people arguing over players, positions, and lineups, only to arrive at a simple conclusion: when the tournament starts, the only name that truly matters is Egypt.
It’s a clever ad because it captures the chaos of football discussions while reminding everyone that, eventually, we’re all cheering for the same shirt.
Freska (2019) — AFCON
Some ads are emotional. Some are inspirational. And some decide that Mohamed Elneny should suddenly have gigantic eyes capable of seeing 360 degrees around the pitch.
Freska chose the third option.
The ad introduces a ridiculous football “upgrade” for Elneny, turning him into a superhuman playmaker who can see literally everything. The punchline arrives when we’re reminded that none of this is necessary because we already trust our players.
It’s delightfully silly and fully embraces the absurdity.
Orange (2019) — U-23 AFCON
All hope was being placed on the U-23 side.
Orange’s approach was charming: showing members of the 1997 generation as children. Every kid has a defining trait—the shy one, the troublemaker, the energetic one, the dreamer. The ad then jumps forward to show how those same childhood characteristics evolved into football strengths.
It’s a sweet reminder that great players don’t appear out of nowhere. They grow into who they become. And the tagline said it all: “What the professionals couldn’t do, hopefully the 1997 generation will.”
Pepsi & Chipsy (2019) — AFCON
One of the most entertaining ad battles Egyptian football has ever seen.
First, Chipsy released a commercial essentially giving instructions to the national team. The message was straightforward: here’s what you need to do if we’re going to win.
Then Pepsi responded.
The players sarcastically promise they’ll follow all the advice. Sure, they’ll look at the goal before shooting. Sure, they’ll remember all the obvious things people tell footballers. No problem at all.
But they ask for one thing in return: support them. Stand behind them. Don’t turn against them the second something goes wrong.
The back-and-forth felt playful rather than hostile and made the campaign memorable.
WE (2018) — World Cup
After nearly three decades away from the World Cup, who better to advise the new generation than the last Egyptian team that actually made it there?
The result was comedy gold.
The veterans offer all sorts of questionable wisdom. If someone touches you, fall down dramatically. Waste a little time. Be clever. Be annoying. Survive.
The humor comes from treating old football tricks as if they’re sacred strategic knowledge passed down through generations.
A perfect blend of nostalgia and football shithousery.
Vodafone (2018) — World Cup
Ramadan ads are already competitive. Then Vodafone decided to throw the national team into the middle of Egypt’s biggest entertainment season.
The country’s athletes suddenly found themselves sharing screen time with major actors and actresses. The joke was that the artists weren’t exactly thrilled about it.
For years, Ramadan commercials belonged to entertainers. Now the footballers had arrived and were stealing all the attention. Watching celebrities compete with football stars for the spotlight made for a surprisingly fun crossover.
Orange (2018) — World Cup
Possibly the funniest premise on this entire list.
Egypt hadn’t reached a World Cup since 1990. So Orange imagined a group of elderly fans begging the national team to qualify now because they genuinely might not be around for the next opportunity.
One fan says he’s losing his eyesight. Another talks about memory problems. Others basically explain that time is not on their side. The humor comes from a very real national feeling: after nearly thirty years of waiting, nobody wanted to hear “maybe next time” anymore.
The ad perfectly captured the desperation, excitement, and absurdity of the moment.
e& Egypt (2018) — World Cup
Featuring El-Hadary, Mido, Mohamed Zidan, and Ahmed Shawky, this commercial imagines the older generation reacting to Egypt’s newly qualified squad.
At first, they boast about how great they were. How cool they were. How legendary they remain. And yes, maybe they’re a little jealous that this generation gets to enjoy the World Cup stage. Eventually, though, they decide they’ll support the younger players.
The funniest running gag is El-Hadary standing apart from the rest because he’s actually going to the World Cup himself. While everyone else is transitioning into fans, he’s still part of the squad, repeatedly insisting that the youth can handle it.
In hindsight, that joke became even better when El-Hadary went on to set the record as the oldest goalkeeper to appear at a World Cup.
Coca-Cola Egypt (2010) — UEFA
Part of Coca-Cola’s “Euro Anthems” series, this one focused on Italy and the stereotype that Italians would rather defend than do anything else.
The ad playfully leans into Italy’s reputation for organized, stubborn defending, with Egyptians fully embracing Italy as “their” team for the tournament.
Like many tournament-time campaigns, it captures that familiar feeling of temporarily adopting a national team when Egypt isn’t involved. For a few weeks, everyone suddenly becomes an expert on Italian football and starts celebrating every clean sheet like they’ve been fans forever.
Conclusion
What makes these ads memorable isn’t just the football. It’s how accurately they capture Egyptian fan culture.
The eternal optimism. The arguments over formations. The nostalgia for former stars. The tendency to become tactical experts during every tournament. The ability to laugh at ourselves while caring far too much about the result.
Whether it was Orange’s elderly fans demanding qualification before it’s too late, WE’s 1990 veterans handing down questionable wisdom, Pepsi telling supporters to back their players, or Mostafa Gharib tormenting Mohamed Salah with Pharaoh puns, these commercials succeeded because they understood something simple:
In Egypt, the national team isn’t just football. It’s a shared national hobby, a recurring emotional roller coaster, and occasionally the source of some genuinely great comedy.
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