Hazem Emam ( ar, حازم إمام; born 17 April 1975) is an
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
member of parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
. He is a member in
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
and board member of
Egyptian Football Association. Emam was a retired 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 played as an
attacking midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
.
Early life
Hazem was born in
Mohandessin
Mohandiseen ( ' , "The Engineers"), is a major 1940s sub-division project originally named Madinat al-Awqaf, and made up most of the Wasat (middle) district in the city of Giza, before being divided in 1997 into the districts of Agouza (cov ...
, Egypt. He is the son of the Zamalek legend,
Hamada Emam; and the grandson of another Zamalek legend,
Yehia Emam. Hazem as a kid, never planned to become a footballer and follow the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He always focused on one thing at a time, and in his early teens, he only focused on enjoying his life, hanging out with friends, and just finishing school. Hazem was known to be very shy as a child, and that was mainly why at first he refused to practice football despite his father's insistence.
Club career
Hazem loved to play football for fun. He never wanted to take things seriously, and that's why he went to practice at El Said club, A club that does not have a first team. He wanted to be with his friends all the time, until one day, in the Egyptian Youth League, Zamalek's youth coach at the time, Badr Haddad, insisted that he has to come and play for Zamalek. Haddad spoke to Hazem's father, Hamada, who was Zamalek's president at the time, and convinced him that his son is a real gem. Hazem went to then play for Zamalek's youth. Until in 1993, when
Mahmoud El Gohary took charge of the team, he promoted young Hazem to the first team, and made his debut in November that same year. However, he did not make many appearances that seasons and was mainly used as a late sub. However, next season, he was given an opportunity to shine and was the focus of attention as a potential future star for Egypt. His amazing performances in that season, and the one that followed, convinced Egypt's National Team coach at the time,
Ruud Krol
Rudolf ("Ruud" or "Rudi") Jozef Krol (; born 24 March 1949) is a Dutch former professional footballer who was capped 83 times for the Netherlands national team. Most of his career he played for his home town club, Ajax, and he became a coach ...
to pick him for the national team.
1996 African Cup of Nations
The 1996 African Cup of Nations was the 20th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by South Africa, who replaced original hosts Kenya. The field expanded for the first time to 16 teams, ...
arrived, and Emam's form was on fire. He was Egypt's best player in the tournament, and one of the best youngsters to shine. His performance interested
Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...
, and
Udinese
Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...
. Hazem eventually signed for Udinese. Emam did not enjoy a successful era in the
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...
, despite being the first Egyptian footballer to play in Italy. He never really got his chance, as
Alberto Zaccheroni
Alberto Zaccheroni (; born 1 April 1953) is an Italian football manager, formerly in charge of the United Arab Emirates and Japan national football teams.
He has managed a number of top clubs in Serie A, the high point of his career being his s ...
preferred to play him as a striker, despite Hazem's natural position being a playmaker. Hazem could not break into the first team due to the rocking striking partnership between
Oliver Bierhoff
Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German football official and former player who played as a forward. He has previously served as the national team director of the German Football Association.
A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bierh ...
and
Marcio Amoroso, and was eventually loaned to
De Graafschap in the Netherlands. There, Emam enjoyed two successful seasons making 38 appearances, and scoring four goals, leading to interest from
Ajax
Ajax may refer to:
Greek mythology and tragedy
* Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea
* Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris
* ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...
.
Despite Ajax's efforts to sign the creative playmaker, he returned to Zamalek in January 2001. His first game was against Zamalek's archrivals,
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 ...
, in which Zamalek won 3-1, with Emam assisting the first goal. He was quickly assigned the team's captain and led them to winning the league that same season scoring 2 goals and making numerous assists. Emam was an instant fan favorite and captained Zamalek to winning 3 league titles, 1 cup title, 2 super cup titles, 1 African cup title, and 1 African super cup title. He enjoyed four successful seasons winning trophies, and individual accolades with Zamalek, before his form started to drop at the start of the 2005–06 season. Hazem was always criticized for his lack of fitness during his career, and after he hit the 30 it was obvious that he was not the same player anymore. Hazem's role at the club declined in his last three seasons, which led to him to retiring at the age of only 33. At the opening match of the 2007–08 season, Emam fell out with Zamalek's supporters after they kept chanting vulgarities towards him and asking him to retire. Emam announced his retirement, only to shortly come back after the fans offered a public apology. However, he finished his career at the end of that season on a high note, after Zamalek beat
Enppi in the cup final, marking Zamalek's first trophy in four seasons. Hazem had announced his retirement earlier in spring, therefore the player's wore a T-shirt that had his number on it and words "Don't retire Hazem" in the warm up before the game.
International goals
Honours and achievements
Club
Zamalek
*
Egyptian Premier League:
2000–01,
2002–03,
2003–04
*
Egypt Cup
The Egypt Cup (also known as Egyptian FA Cup, formerly King Farouk Cup) is the main knockout football cup competition in Egypt.
List of finals
The following table provides a summary of seasons:
Notes:
* The Winner and Runner-up of 1960–61 Eg ...
:
2002,
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
*
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 ...
:
2001,
2002
*
CAF Champions League:
1996,
2002
*
CAF Super Cup:
2003
*
Arab Club Champions Cup:
2003
*
Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup:
2003
International
Egypt
*
African Cup of Nations:
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
*
All-Africa Games:
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
Individual
*
Africa Cup of Nations Dream Team:
1996
External links
*
Hazem Emam Official Website
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emam, Hazem
1975 births
Living people
Egyptian footballers
Egypt international footballers
1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players
Sportspeople from Cairo
Association football midfielders
Udinese Calcio players
De Graafschap players
Zamalek SC players
Egyptian expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Italy
Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands
Serie A players
Eredivisie players
1996 African Cup of Nations players
1998 African Cup of Nations players
2000 African Cup of Nations players
2002 African Cup of Nations players
2004 African Cup of Nations players
Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in Italy
Egyptian Premier League players
Emam family