Egypt made history on Saturday, becoming the first side from the African continent to win an IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship when they saw off the USA 2-0 in the final of the 2024 four-a-side edition in Cairo.

It was the first gold medal for Egypt at an IHF World Championship since their 2019 IHF Men’s Youth Handball Championship triumph in North Macedonia and just fourth overall, following their 2004 IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship and 1993 IHF Men’s Junior World Championship titles.

Responsible for three of those golds is Wael Aly, who won the 1993 junior title as a player, 2004 beach title as captain and assistant coach and 2024 title as head coach – all three coming on home soil in Egypt.

In 1993, as a member of the junior side, he clinched gold after beating Denmark 22:19 in the final in Cairo and 12 years later as captain and assistant coach, he led Egypt to the first-ever IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship title in El Gouna on the Red Sea, defeating Turkey 2-1 for gold.

And just a few days ago he oversaw five wins in their six games in the Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall based in 6th of October City to claim the title of the third-ever IHF Wheelchair Handball World Championship.

In doing so, Aly has a unique place in global handball history – he is the only player and head coach to have won gold in all three official IHF handball disciplines: indoor, beach and wheelchair.

“This gold medal is like a bright light and helps to make me understand what has happened,” said Aly to ihf.info after having a few days to reflect on not only securing a title for the nation this past weekend, but for the historic triple.

“I first took gold with junior team in 1993, when we beat Denmark by three in the final, and then my second was a captain and assistant coach for the very first edition of the IHF Men’s Beach Handball World Championship in 2004, they were both special and this third now as coach has a very special meaning for me.

“I cannot explain what all three mean, I just thank God for giving me this special number.”

Despite over 30 years between now and when Aly won his first world championship gold, the memories are still clear in his head – and in person too, with a former opponent present at the wheelchair event last week.

“The coach from Portugal, Danilo Ferreira, came up to me and asked if played at Egypt 1993,” said Aly with a smile, relating to their main round 26:23 (11:12) win over the Europeans 31 years ago.

“I said yes, of course. I scored nine goals in this match and he was playing for Portugal. We then met throughout this past week, hugging each other when we met – it was a good feeling.

“In fact, I am still in contact with a lot of players from that team, including Hamada Nakyeb and Gohar Nabial, for example.

“On the beach side, I am in contact with the players of course, and our coach Khaled Hassan. He is now Qatar coach and I have seen him regularly at events where Egypt are playing (Aly is Egypt men’s national team coach).

“I have great memories of that 2004 gold medal. One that just came back to me was that my wife dreamt about us winning the trophy. She told me I would win. Then, after I lifted the trophy, she said it was the same picture in her dream – the same people, the same colour of shirt.”

In their 2024 final, on Saturday, Egypt defeated debutants USA 2:0 (6:1, 12:16) to go one better than their silver achieved two years ago, on home soil also and with Aly in charge, after losing to Brazil in the final.

Ahead of the championship Aly had told ihf.info “…if we don’t make any wrong decisions,” and that is what happened, according to the coach.

“Yes, this is what I said before,” he explained. “Two years ago, we won silver and I was satisfied because we only had a short time to prepare. We did our best, but we met a strong team in the final.

“This year, from our very first match, I said to the players ‘if you want gold you need to have a spirit outside of your body, to play with the spirt, concentrate, not make any mistakes and keep pushing the other team in defence’. 

“It was important they took it game-by-game and didn’t think too much and we had the spirit to win,” he added. “I tell my players to enjoy and do your best, to play what you think, using your training, but nothing more; play easy handball and do everything easy to win – I put pressure on my players.

“Up to now, I cannot believe, I cannot imagine, what happened.”

Reaching the final was an incredible achievement for the USA, who had only officially announced the formation of their team in June and Aly is excited to see their ongoing progression.

“The final was a hard game – a fight, but a fair fight,” said Aly. “The USA are a very good, strong team, with strong players and a great coach – I spoke with him a lot of times during the championship and he is now a friend of mine.

“They have a lot of character, and if they keep training, you will see the different tournament-by-tournament; they have a good future.”

The immediate future for Aly after the championship had concluded was one of relaxation and day-to-day life and with thoughts of potential further Egypt world championship gold.

“I am very tired,” said the coach. “After the final I took my daughter to volleyball training and went home to rest.

“But all of Egypt were celebrating; they were very happy. All the media, social media, posted pictures photos, videos and atmosphere from the game. All the players went on TV, on talk shows to speak about the championship and I spoke to them live on the phone.

“I really want to thank all the players for their effort,” he added. “They have had a lot of pressure from me about everything and I have made them all tired with training, but, in the end, we have the result and are very happy.

“Right now, I am coaching the men’s national team, generation 2008. I am preparing a strong team, a good team, with good, talented players and I can give you a small prediction: this generation will be the champions in the future. Remember this.”

With golden memories stretching back three decades and a unique accomplishment there is certainly a lot for Aly to be thankful of, but one thing which stands out more than anything is the people he meets from the handball family.

“Of course, playing at home, you have a lot of friends and family cheering you on,” he explained. “But this time, the delegates, referees and coaching staff, from France, Brazil, India, Chile, the USA and everyone else, we exchange numbers to keep in touch.

“I have a really good feeling about this wheelchair handball family and this is the very good thing in sports: no matter what your colour, religion or nationality you are all smiling, all joking. Yes, you try to win but after that, you shake hands and everything is finished.

“This is sport. All people are one family.”