The former Al-Ahli coach added: “When the late Mohamed Abdo Saleh Al-Wahsh chose me to coach the first team, it came as a surprise to me, as there were teammates and players older than me in the team, including the late Saleh Selim.”

He continued: “After leading the first training session, I learned that Al-Wahsh had entered the locker room before training and told the team, specifically captain Saleh Selim, that Al-Toukhi would be in charge of leading the training, and that he was the most committed teacher.”

About the teacher on the field, El-Toukhy said: “He was a fantastic player, capable of putting you in front of the goal with a pass that looks easy but isn't, something that was evident in the recorded matches in which he participated, even though there were few of them.”

El-Toukhy revealed details of his time as coach of Al-Ahly: "Soccer had stopped in Egypt after the Zionist aggression of 1967, so I organized an internal league at Al-Ahly and we divided the players into teams named after big stars such as Mokhtar El-Tetsh, Saleh Selim, and others. Attendance reached 40,000 fans in the stands of the Al-Ahly stadium at that time."

He added: “Then we received an invitation to participate in a friendly tour in Lebanon, and we actually traveled there. I was the technical director, and that was Saleh Selim's last trip as a player. He was the most committed of all the players to the training schedules and meetings I organized during that trip.”

The late critic added in an article titled “These are the people I met” in Al-Ahram Al-Riyadi: The truth is that the coach “filtered” Saleh Selim and did not include him in the game, and that Saleh saw the coach arguing with his brother Tariq and pushing him in the chest in a way that he thought was closer to hitting than being affectionate, so he ran forward and slapped the coach in front of the audience at the stadium entrance, and the atmosphere became electric.

The arrival of the Egyptian player in Graz caused quite a stir and he delivered outstanding performances that won him the support of fans and the press, just as foreign players were beginning to enter the Austrian league.

Selim's appearance marked a significant change in the Austrian league, whose players at the time relied on physical strength and violent tackles amid a clear lack of individual skill.