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Mustafa Agha
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|---|---|
| Born |
Mustafa Khalid Agha (1963-06-06) June 6, 1963 (age 61)
Damascus, Syria
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| Nationality | Syrian British |
| Education | Damascus University |
| Occupation | Sports journalist |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Employer | MBC 1 (MENA) |
| Spouses | Salma Almasry (divorced)
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| Children | 2 |
Mustafa Khalid Agha (Arabic: مصطفى خالد آلاغا عبدله صالح; born June 6, 1963), a SyrianofBritish citizenship, is a sports journalist for the Middle East Broadcasting CenterinDubai, United Arab Emirates. He is best known for his Arabic language programs about soccer and Arab and world sports, and he is one of the foremost authorities on sports in the Middle East.[1][2]
Mustafa Agha was born on June 6, 1963, in Yarmouk, Damascus, Syria. At an early age, he was interested in sports, and at 15, he had created his own sports magazine in the English language.[3] He studied English in Damascus University. He went to United Kingdom to complete his master's degree and there he obtained British citizenship.[4] He first married Salma Almasry. Later he married Mai Al Khatib, who is a television news presenter on Dubai TV channel. The latter couple has two children, Karam and Natalie.[3][5][6]
Agha started his career in journalism in 1981 as a writer.[1][7] Early in his career, he worked for the Syrian newspaper Alitihad and several TV channels. While in United Kingdom for his graduate studies, he started working for MBC. He began announcing soccer games for the network, and he became well known for his work on the TV show "Asdda Kas Alallam" (Translated: "World Cup Reverberation"). In 1996, he hosted sports programming for radio, called "Road to World Cup," and on television, called "Makha Al Ryadah" (Translated: "Sports Club"), both of which increased his popularity across the Middle East through these programs.[4] Later, Agha hosted a TV show call Sada Al Mlaeb (Translated: "Playground Reverberation") that was broadcast on MBC 1 (MENA).[3][7] He currently holds the title Head of MBC Sports.[1][7][8]
Sada Al Malaeb is one of the most widely known and watched TV shows in Arab world culture. It was launched in 1996 by the famous TV presenter Mohamed Al-Shahry, and it was only about Saudi soccer only until Mustafa Al Agha came to the program. After it expanded its coverage of sports, Sada Al Malaeb achieved greater success, and, consequently, it became a daily TV show focusing on Arab and world sports. The program regularly features sports analysts, which distinguishes it from other TV shows.[3]
The Sada Al Malaeb TV show is part of popular Arab culture. Some of the phrases that Mustafa Al Agha has used have become well known. When someone win a competition, he is known to say, "A million trillion tizillion Mabrouk." Other familiar phrases he is known for are "The most beautiful, perfect and most beautiful channel" and "Attach the belts, we will start as usual with titles."[3]
Mustafa Agha's Twitter account is one of the most followed in the Middle East. He has a total following of almost 4.5 million users as of late 2016.[9][7] In 2016, the audience voted him their "favorite Arab social media influencer" in that category for the Arab Social Media Influencers Summit Award.[10]
He has spoken out on other issues besides sports. He has criticized "sectarian sedition" as one of the dangers in the Arab world.[11] He was one among several Arab celebrities that took to Twitter to condemn the Houthi rebel missile attack on Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in October 2016.[9]
