As 2018 comes to an end, Daily News Egypt looks into Egyptian football players’ achievements and performances abroad.
Mohamed Salah
The skillful winger of Liverpool tops the list of successful Egyptian football players in foreign leagues in terms of titles and individual awards in 2018. Amongst Mo Salah’s achievements:
BBC African Footballer of the Year
Premier League Player of the Month for February and March
PFA Player of the Month for February and March
Premier League Golden Boot 2017/18
UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2017/18
Premier League Player of the Season 2017/18
Onze d’Argent for 2017/18
Best FIFA Men’s Player award (3rd place)
FIFA Puskás Award
FIFA FIFPro World XI 2nd team
Ballon d’Or (6th place)
Fastest player to Score 50 Goals for Liverpool (in 65 games)
Most goals scored by an African player in a single Premier League season (32 goals in 2017/18)
Mohamed Elneny
The Arsenal midfielder presented a great debut season with his English team in 2015/16, however, this year was not the best for him.
After the French manager Arsène Wenger, who relied the most on Elneny, left the North London club, the new Spanish manager Unai Emery seemed not really convinced with Elneny so the Egyptian star often remained on the bench.
He made only one appearance in the current Premier League season 2018/19, and did not score any goals. However, Elneny played five out of six games of Arsenal in Europa League with one assist.
Ramadan Sobhi
When he started to play with Al Ahly, everyone described him as the new Mohamed Aboutrika, the legendary former player of Cairo giant club. When he joined Stoke City, he did not play that many games.
Stoke relegated from Premier League so Sobhy moved to Huddersfield Town where he met the same fate of sitting on bench. He only played four games and scored no goals.
Ahmed Hegazy
The stunning defender of West Bromwich Albion presented a very strong performance in Premier League since he joined in January 2018, however the team finally relegated from the league.
Hegazy remained with West Bromwich and scored one goal in this season.
Ahmed Elmohamady
The Egyptian winger has the longest consecutive participation in English Premier League. He currently plays with the Championship club Aston Villa. Elmohamady played 43 games in 2018 and scored two goals.
He joined Villa during the summer of 2017 when Steve Bruce snapped him up from his former club Hull City.
Sam Morsy
The midfielder of Wigan Athletic has never played in the Egyptian Premier League.
This year, he played 38 games and scored two goals.
Mahmoud Hassan (Trézéguet)
This year was fruitful for Trézéguet after joining Turkish Kasımpaşa in the summer of 2017 on loan. The Turkish club announced this year they have agreed to keep him for the coming two years and a half.
Trézéguet played 35 games and scored 18 goals and assisted 10 others.
He can be described as the second most successful Egyptian player in Europe. Trézéguet is also a main player in the national team.
Amr Warda
The Egyptian forward has become very popular in Greece since he joined PAOK in January 2018 which leads the Greek league table this season.
Warda started his journey in Greece with Atromitos Athen where he played 23 games, scored eight goals, and assisted six others. Warda voted Best Foreign Player in Greek Super League for 2017/18 season.
In 2018, Warda played nine matches but scored no goals. He also made six appearances in the Champions League and scored one goal.
Ahmed Hassan Koka
Another Egyptian striker in Greece is Koka who joined Olympiacos on loan in August.
With his former team, Braga, Koka played 10 matches in 2018 and scored one goal in the Portuguese league.
With Olympiacos, he played 10 games and scored two goals in the league. He also played three games in the European League and scored two goals.
Mahmoud Abdel Razek (Shikabala)
Shikabala has a long history in the Egyptian and Arab football. He now plays with Apollon Smyrni in the Greek league. He joined the club in August on loan, coming from Saudi club Al-Raed. This year, he played eight games and scored four goals in the Saudi league.
Basem Morsi
Zamalek striker Basem Morsi moved to Athlitiki Enosi Larissa in Greece in the summer of 2018. He played only four games and scored no goals.
Hussein El-Shahat
It was a good year for El-Shahat who plays with the UAE club Al-Ain. The Egyptian striker played 30 games and scored 16 goals. This includes four matches in the FIFA Club World Cup in which the Emirati club reached the final, becoming the first Egyptian player to reach this level in the tournament.
El-Shahat scored 13 goals in his debut season in the UAE league in 21 games.
Hussein Sayed
The former Al Ahly player joined Al-Qadsiah in 2018. He played 22 games, scored two goals, and had one assist.
Abdallah Said
The stunning Egyptian midfielder joined Al Ahli Saudi this year after controversy over rumored signing with Zamalek without the approval of his former club Al Ahly. Said played 13 games, scored two goals, and made two assists.
Mohamed Abdel-Shafy
In 2018; he played 9 games and scored none with his former Team Fath. He moved to Al-Ahli Saudi FC where he scored two goals. Abdel-Shafy joined Al Ahli Saudi in summer 2015. Since he arrived the Saudi league, he has collected 101 games in all competitions and registered 10 assists.
In 2018, Abdel-Shafy played nine games and scored none with Al Fateh which he joined on loan in January. He returned to Al Ahli Saudi in July and scored two goals.
