By Amr Shaheen BBC Sport, Cairo

Mido will not go to the UAE

The Egyptian FA has announced that Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam will not take part in the World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates at the end of this month.

Hossam's French club Marseille have refused to release the player for the three week-long tournament, complaining that they face losing the striker for a similar period during next year's Nations Cup finals in Tunisia.

The former European champions have also expressed concerns that their 20-year-old striker is wanted by three categories of Egyptian national teams - youth, Olympic and full national side - and have said they only intend to release him for the Nations Cup.

"Mido is only going to join the senior team in the Nations Cup," Hany Abu Reda, the manager of all Egyptian national teams, confirmed to the BBC Sport website.

Mido - who scored the winning goal for his national side in a 2-1 friendly win over South Africa last Saturday - is expected to lead the Pharaohs' attack in Tunisia.

Yet he will not represent his country in the United Arab Emirates and Mido has expressed his disappointment at being unable to participate in the competition.

"I wanted to go and play for Egypt," Mido told this website.

"I missed a similar opportunity in Argentina 2001 because of the engagements of our senior team."

And Mido's absence has been sorely felt by the Egyptian youth team manager.

"It is a great loss, he would have been a huge boost for my team," Hassan Chehata said.

Egypt are one of four African nations competing in the World Youth Championships - which start on 27 November - and have been drawn in Group D alongside Colombia, England and Japan.