Ahmed Elsayed Ali Elsayed Hegazy ( arz, أحمد السيد علي السيد حجازي; born 25 January 1991), simply known as Ahmed Hegazi, is an Egyptian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

for

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

club

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to: Sports Football Libya *Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier * Al Ittihad Gheryan, a football club bas ...

, and the Egypt national team. Hegazi has represented the senior Egyptian national team since 2011; during this period, his only absences from the squad have been due to injury. He has represented Egypt in the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup, 2011 African U-20 Championship, 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup, the 2012 Summer Olympics,

2017 Africa Cup of Nations The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), known as the Total 2017 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champions ...

and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In 2017, he was included in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations CAF Team of the tournament due to his impressive performances.

Club career

Ismaily

Hegazi's professional playing career began on 24 November 2009, when he made his debut with Egyptian Premier League club

Ismaily Ismaily Sporting Club ( ar, نادي الإسماعيلي الرياضي) is an Egyptian professional football club, established on 20 March 1921 as El Nahda Sporting Club ( ar, جمعية نهضة الشباب المصري ) ( Egyptian pronunci ...

playing as a full back.

Fiorentina

On 22 December 2011, the Egyptian club announced having made a deal with Italian side

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

in exchange for €1.5 million. The Egyptian company received a 15% sell on fee. Hegazi was given the number 3 shirt at Fiorentina. He made his unofficial debut for the club playing 30 minutes in a friendly against

Viareggio Viareggio () is a city and ''comune'' in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 62,000, it is the second largest city within the province of Lucca, after Lucca. It is known as a seaside resort as ...

. On 18 November 2012, he played 15 minutes in his official debut against

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

and scored his first goal for La Viola later that month in the second half of a

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

match against Juve Stabia on 28 November. On 12 December, Fiorentina announced that Hegazi had completed surgery after sustaining a severe leg injury in training. The club also announced that he had undergone reconstructive surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament. The expected recovery period before the player could return to sports activity was 5–6 months. In September 2013, he suffered another blow as he injured the same ligament again in training and took him out for six months making him miss most of the season. On 8 December 2014, Fiorentina announced that the player would be released in January 2015, along with

Octávio Octávio Merlo Manteca (born 29 December 1993), simply known as Octávio, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for Bulgarian club CSKA 1948 as a midfielder. Club career Born in Rio de Janeiro, Octávio kicked off his career with Bot ...

Mounir El Hamdaoui Mounir El Hamdaoui ( ar, منير الحمداوي; born 14 July 1984) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Born in the Netherlands, he represented Morocco internationally. He played for clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur, ...

, Oleksandr Iakovenko and

Joshua Brillante Joshua Brillante (born 25 March 1993) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Australian A-league club Melbourne Victory. He was named captain of Melbourne Victory ahead of the 2021/22 season. Brillant ...

Perugia loan

On 2 February 2015, Hegazi joined

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

side

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...

on loan for the rest of

2014–15 Serie B The 2014–15 Serie B was the 83rd season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams contested the league: 14 of which returning from the 2013–14 season, 5 of which promoted from Prima Divisione, and three relegated from Serie A. Th ...

. He made his debut for the club in a 3–1 loss to

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a thr ...

, playing the whole 90 minutes. It was his first complete match in Italy.

Al Ahly SC

On 1 September 2015, Hegazi joined Egyptian Premier League side

Al Ahly AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

of Cairo on a five-year contract.

West Bromwich Albion

On 17 July 2017, Hegazi joined

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

side

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

on loan from

until the end of the 2017–18 season, with Albion holding an option to trigger a permanent transfer. Hegazi made his Premier League debut for West Brom on 12 August, scoring a headed goal in a 1–0 win against AFC Bournemouth and winning the man of the match award. In the following match he received the award for the second time in a row, as West Brom defeated hosts

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

and made their best start to a top flight campaign since the 1978–79 season. On 18 December 2017, West Brom exercised the option to sign Hegazi permanently. In July 2019, after undergoing ankle surgery, it was announced that he would miss the first few weeks of the 2019–20 season.

Al-Ittihad (loan)

On 26 October 2020, Hegazi joined

club

on loan from West Bromwich Albion until the end of the 2020–21 season.

International career

Hegazi made his international debut with the senior Egypt national team in an away game against

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

in 2011 when he was only 20 years and 7 months old. Ever since he has been a regular on the national team and has only missed games due to injury; in December 2016

Héctor Cúper Héctor Raúl Cúper (; born 16 November 1955) is an Argentine football manager and former player. As a player, he was a defender who spent most of his career at Club Ferro Carril Oeste, where played 463 games. His nickname was "Cabezón" ("Big ...

, the Egypt national football team coach included him in the squad to compete in the

. Hegazi was a regular in the back four during the tournament, playing every single minute and displaying a solid performance as the Egyptians went all the way to the final. His performance earned him an inclusion in the CAF Team of the tournament. On 17 November 2020, during the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Hegazi captained the Egypt national team for the first time, playing 90 minutes in a 1–3 away win against

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''As of the match played on 16 October 2018. Egypt's score is listed; first, the score column indicates the score after each Hegazi goal.''

Honours

Al Ahly * Egyptian Premier League: 2015–16, 2016–17 *

Egyptian Super Cup The Egyptian Super Cup is Egyptian football's annual match contested between the champions of the previous Egyptian Premier League season and the holders of the Egypt Cup. If the Egyptian Premier League champions also won the Egypt Cup then the ...

: 2015 Egypt * Africa Cup of Nations runner-up:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

Individual *Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament:

* Saudi Professional League Player of the Month: August 2021

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hegazi, Ahmed 1991 births Living people Egyptian footballers Egyptian expatriate footballers Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in England Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Ismaily SC players 2011 CAF U-23 Championship players Egypt international footballers Olympic footballers of Egypt Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Serie A players ACF Fiorentina players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia A.C. Perugia Calcio players Serie B players Al Ahly SC players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Egyptian Premier League players Premier League players Saudi Professional League players Ittihad FC players People from Ismailia Association football central defenders English Football League players