Biography
Who is Essam El-Hadary?
Early life and start in football
Essam was born in Kafr El Battikh. His father owned a furniture workshop. He played football without his parents knowing. He washed his clothes in a local river to hide this. A local team spotted him. He signed with Damietta at 17. He ran 7 kilometers to training daily. He refused to wear goalkeeping gloves at first. He debuted for Damietta in 1993.
Club career and achievements
Essam El-Hadary joined Al Ahly after two seasons. He spent 12 years at the Cairo club. He won eight Egyptian Premier League titles. He won four Egypt Cups. He earned four Egyptian Super Cups. He won three CAF Champions Leagues. He won three CAF Super Cups. He won one Arab Club Champions Cup. He won two Arab Super Cups.
In 2008, he signed with FC Sion. Al Ahly objected to this four year contract. FIFA eventually allowed the deal. In 2009, FIFA suspended him. He later moved to Ismaily. He had a brief stint with Zamalek in 2010. He played for Al-Merreikh in Sudan in 2011.
International records
Essam El-Hadary represented Egypt 159 times. His international career lasted from 1996 to 2018. He won four Africa Cup of Nations titles. He was the best goalkeeper in 2006, 2008, and 2010. In 2017, he became the oldest player in an Africa Cup of Nations match. He saved two penalties against Burkina Faso in 2017.
In June 2018, he joined the 23 man squad for the World Cup in Russia. On June 25, 2018, he played against Saudi Arabia. At 53 years and 161 days, he became the oldest player in World Cup history. He saved one penalty in that match.
Later clubs and coaching
Essam El-Hadary played for Wadi Degla in 2013. He returned to Ismaily in 2014. He played for Wadi Degla again in 2015. In 2017, he joined Al-Taawoun. He became the first foreign goalkeeper in Saudi Arabia. On December 10, 2017, he scored a penalty against Al-Ettifaq. This made him the oldest scorer in the Saudi Pro League.
He joined Ismaily for a third time in 2018. He signed with Nogoom in 2019. Essam El-Hadary retired on November 18, 2020. He coached the Egypt national team from September 2021 to March 2022. He joined the Egypt U23 staff in August 2022. He joined the Syria national team in February 2023.
Birthday and age
Essam El-Hadary was born on January 15, 1973, which makes Essam 53 years old today. That birthday falls under the Capricorn sign. Essam shares the date with 56 other famous people.
Explore more
