Seif Costa on Egypt’s radar after debut season at FC Porto | OneFootball

The Egyptian Football Association is stepping up its talent scouting policy within the European diaspora and now has its eye on young FC Porto forward Seif Costa, one of the Dragons’ Under-17 champions. At just 17 years old, the player is seen as a possible asset for the future of the Pharaohs national team, along similar lines to Oviedo’s Haissem Hassan, who is already part of the Egyptian squad.

Seif Costa holds three nationalities: Portuguese, through his father; Egyptian, through his mother; and Emirati, from the country where he grew up. This triple citizenship puts him on the radar of three federations and opens up several possibilities for his international career. The player is in his first season with FC Porto, after two seasons at Al Wasl in the UAE and another two years at Salgueiros.

One factor working in Egypt’s favor is the preference expressed by the player’s family, who want to see him represent the Egyptian national team rather than Portugal or the UAE — Seif Costa has already been called up by the latter national team.

FIFA regulations leave room for that scenario. The current rules allow youth players to change their sporting nationality. In this way, the fact that Seif Costa has already played for the UAE’s youth teams does not prevent him from choosing to wear Egypt’s shirt in the future.

The example of Haissem Hassan, born in France, who was persuaded to change his sporting nationality and is with Egypt at the 2026 World Cup, serves as a reference point and reinforces the federation’s strategy of seeking out players with Egyptian roots in European football. Seif Costa’s case represents another step in that direction, with the Egyptian federation seeing a real opportunity to secure another promising young player for the future of its team.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.