Sarah Essam Hassanin ( ar, سارة عصام; born 6 April 1999) is an Egyptian

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 le ...

who plays as a

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 ...

, winger, or

attacker In some team sports, an attacker is a specific type of player, usually involved in aggressive play. Heavy attackers are, usually, placed up front: their goal is to score the most possible points for the team. In association football, attackers a ...

for English club Rugby Borough in the

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

and the Egypt women's national team.

College career

Essam enrolled in the

University of Derby , mottoeng = Experience is the best teacher , established = 1851 – Teacher Training College1992 – gained university status , type = Public , chancellor = William Cavendish, Ear ...

where she studied civil engineering. She also played for her university team, alongside Stoke, and was awarded a football scholarship for her senior year.

Club career

Essam played soccer with her siblings when she was a child and also played basketball. She joined the academy at Wadi Degla. She made her debut for the first team at age 15 and was the youngest player in the

Egyptian Women's Premier League The Egyptian Women's Premier League ( ar, الدوري المصري الممتاز للسيدات) is the top flight of women's association football in Egypt. The competition is run by the Egyptian Football Association. History The championship w ...

. After playing in Egypt, Essam became the first Egyptian woman to play competitive football in the UK when she signed with Stoke City FC in 2017. She also tried out at Sunderland, Derby County, ad Birmingham. In 2018-19, she was the Stoke City Ladies' Development Team's top scorer, scoring 12 goals in 12 matches and receiving their Golden Boot award. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the English FA's Women's National League season results were expunged, and Essam returned to Egypt to train. In 2022, she signed with Fundacion Albacete in the Primera Federacion, the second division of Spanish women's football. In 2023, she signed with Rugby Borough FC as part of the team's rebranding efforts.

International career

Essam played with the Egypt U-17 national team in 2016 World Cup qualifiers. At age 16, she was called up to the national team in 2016 to participate in 2016 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, before being dropped for the tournament itself. Essam featured in Egypt's third-place finish at the

2021 Arab Women's Cup The 2021 Arab Women's Cup ( ar, كأس العرب للسيدات 2021) was the second edition of the Arab Women's Cup for national women's football teams affiliated with the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA). The tournament was hosted by ...

, scoring one goal in Egypt's 2-5 semifinal defeat to Jordan. She was called up for 2024 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualification in September 2023. She scored in both legs of Egypt's 8-0 aggregate victory over South Sudan.

Personal life

Essam's brother is a former goalkeeper for Al Mokawloon. Essam has worked with fashion designer Deana Shaaban, helping to showcase Shaaban's womenswear collection. She counts Mo Salah as one of her role models. In 2018, Essam was received the Arab Woman of the Year: Achievement in Sport award by the Arab Federation in London. She served as part of the BBC's commentating team for the 2017 CAF Award ceremony, the

2019 Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's national ...

and the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champion ...

. Essam was an ambassador for the

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wo ...

, working alongside

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

. Essam also signed with

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...

, making her the first Egyptian footballer the sporting giant has signed.

International goals

References

External links

Sarah Essam
at playmakerstats.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Essam, Sarah 1999 births Egypt women's international footballers Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in England Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Egyptian women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in England Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Living people Women's association football forwards Women's association football midfielders Women's association football wingers Wadi Degla S.C. (women) players Egyptian Women's Premier League players