; born June 6, 1963), a

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

of British citizenship, is a sports

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

for the Middle East Broadcasting Center in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. He is best known for his

Arabic language Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

programs about

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

and Arab and world sports, and he is one of the foremost authorities on sports in the Middle East.

Personal life

Mustafa Agha was born on June 6, 1963, in Yarmouk,

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. At an early age, he was interested in sports, and at 15, he had created his own sports magazine in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

. He studied English in Damascus University. He went to

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

to complete his master's degree and there he obtained British citizenship. 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.

Career

Agha started his career in journalism in 1981 as a writer. 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. Later, Agha hosted a TV show call ''Sada Al Mlaeb'' (Translated: "Playground Reverberation") that was broadcast on

MBC 1 (MENA) MBC 1 is a free-to-air pan-Arab general television channel. Satellite transmission started from London in September 1991, making MBC 1 the first independent Arabic satellite TV station, with an estimated audience of more than 130 million Arab p ...

. He currently holds the title Head of MBC Sports.

Notable works of journalism

''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.

In popular culture

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." Mustafa Agha's

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

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. In 2016, the audience voted him their "favorite Arab social media influencer" in that category for the Arab Social Media Influencers Summit Award. He has spoken out on other issues besides sports. He has criticized "sectarian sedition" as one of the dangers in the Arab world. He was one among several Arab celebrities that took to Twitter to condemn the Houthi rebel missile attack on

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, in October 2016.

Awards

* He won an award on his program ''Sada Al Malaeb'' as the best Arab program three times in a row. * Mustafa Agha got the best Arab sports programmer covering the European ball from the site of Kouroura. * Mustafa Agha won the title of the best Arab sports media in the Arab and Saudi referendums. * In 2007 Mustafa Agha won the Best Studio Provider Award. * Mustafa Agha awarded the best announcer for sports publications * Awarded the best announcer for sports bulletins * ASDA'A Al Malaeb, which was presented by Mustafa Agha, won the best Arab TV show at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. * Mustafa Agha won the best coverage for Gulfs 13 in Bahrain and 18 in the UAE

References

External links

Mustafa Agha at Almrsal.com
(Arabic) {{DEFAULTSORT:Agha, Mustafa 1963 births Living people Arab journalists Emirati television presenters People from Damascus Syrian people of Palestinian descent Social media influencers