The Pharaohs are in Group B alongside South Africa, Zimbabwe and Angola – and get their campaign underway against Zimbabwe on December 22.

They are seven-time AFCON winners but last won the continental competition back in 2010, with a 1-0 win over Ghana.

They were runners-up twice, in 2017 and 2021, but only made it to the last 16 in the 2023 edition of the tournament.

Marmoush, though, says Egypt will win AFCON before making a name for themselves at the upcoming World Cup.

“We are going to win the Africa Cup of Nations, of course, and then the World Cup,” he said on Foot Africa.

“We don’t just want to make a name for ourselves by saying: ‘We played in the World Cup’—that’s not enough. We’re going to the World Cup to get out of the group stage and show the world who we are.”