Ahmed Fathy Abdelmonem Ahmed Ibrahim (; born 10 November 1984) is an Egyptian former 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 lea ...

who played as a full-back. Considered by some as one of Africa's best-ever full-backs, Fathy started his career with Egyptian side

Ismaily SC Ismaily Sporting Club () is an Egyptian football club, established on 20 March 1921 as El Nahda Sporting Club () ( Egyptian pronunciation: Nady El Nahda), based in Ismaïlia, Egypt. The club is best known for its football team. Also it's consi ...

before moving to England to play in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

in 2007. Fathy returned to Egypt after only a few months however, signing to

Al Ahly Al-Ahly Sporting Club (), commonly known as Al-Ahly, is an Egyptian professional sports club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team which currently plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest ...

where he remained until April 2020 where he signed to

Pyramids FC Pyramids Football Club ( or ) is an Egyptian professional football club based in New Cairo, Cairo that competes in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest league in the Egyptian football league system. Formed in 2008 as Al Assiouty Sport in Ass ...

, whilst also spending some time on loan at both Kuwait side

Kazma Kazma () is an area in Kuwait. It is located in Al Jahra Governorate, north of Kuwait City, the capital of Kuwait. It is an ancient area with a long history, known to Persians and Arabs since the Sassanid, Jahiliyyah and the early Islamic eras. ...

and

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

back in England. Alongside his club career, Fathy represented

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

from 2002, playing over one hundred games and scoring nine goals for his country.

Club career

Early career: Ismaily and Sheffield United

Fathy was born in

Banha Banha ( ) is the capital of the Qalyubiyya Governorate in north-eastern Egypt. Between the capital of Cairo and the city of Tanta, Banha is an important transport hub, as rail lines from Cairo to various cities in the Nile Delta pass through it ...

, He played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Ismaily Ismaily Sporting Club () is an Egyptian football club, established on 20 March 1921 as El Nahda Sporting Club () ( Egyptian pronunciation: Nady El Nahda), based in Ismaïlia, Egypt. The club is best known for its football team. Also it's consi ...

in Egypt, where he won the

2001–02 Egyptian Premier League The 2001–02 Egyptian Premier League was the 45th season of the Egyptian Premier League, the top Egyptian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1948. The season began on 21 September 2001 and concluded on ...

. In early 2007, Egyptian

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

Al-Ahram ''Al-Ahram'' (; ), founded on 5 August 1876, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second-oldest after '' Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majority owned by the Egyptian governm ...

'' reported that Fathy's club had accepted

's £700,000 offer for the player, and after a number of weeks of protracted negotiations, Fathy signed a three-and-a-half-year contract on 24 January 2007. Fathy made his

debut for United as a substitute in the closing minutes of a 2–1 victory over

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall ...

on 10 February 2007, and made his full first team debut at

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

on 24 February 2007, but failed to hold down a regular spot for the Blades.

Al Ahly

Fathy had been linked with a move to the Egyptian club

El Zamalek Zamalek Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as Zamalek, is an Egyptian Club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is best known for its professional men's football team, which plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the top tier of the Egyptian foo ...

for €2 million after discussions with Sheffield United's management, but the player refused the transfer even though the clubs had agreed a fee – with Fathy insisting he wanted to continue his career as a professional player outside of Egypt. However, El Zamalek's Egyptian rivals

succeeded in gaining Fathy's consent for a move and

's agreement to a deal. On 10 September 2007 Fathy joined El-Ahly for a fee of £675,000 after making just three senior appearances for United in the eight months he had spent with the club. Fathy had been signed after the transfer window in Egypt had closed however, and with Al-Ahly being unable to register him to play until the following January, they looked to place Fathy on loan outside of the country to help to regain match fitness. Al Ahly managed to broker a deal with Kuwaiti side

to accept the player on a loan, where Fathy played regularly for the first team, scoring four goals. Fathy finally made his Al Ahly debut in an away game against

Arab Contractors The Arab Contractors, known locally as Al Mokawloon Al Arab (), is an Egyptian regional construction and contracting company. History It was established in 1955 by Osman Ahmed Osman, an Egyptian entrepreneur and politician who served as Egypt's ...

on 10 March 2008, and went on to become Ahly's first choice in central midfield alongside

Hossam Ashour Hossam Mohamed Ashour Sanad Atia (, born 9 March 1986) is an Egyptian former association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder. After progressing through the club's youth system, Ashour estab ...

. Following the departure of Ahmed Sedik in 2009, Fathy was moved to right back where he once again became a regular for the team.

Loan to Hull City

In January 2013, English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

expressed an interest in signing Fathy, along with his teammate

Gedo Gedo (, , , or ''Ghedu'') is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in Jubaland, southern Somalia. Its regional capital is Garbahaarreey. The region was formed during 1974 and is bordered by the Ogaden in Ethiopia, the North Eastern Province ...

, on loan until the end of the 2012–13 season. On 31 January 2013, Hull City had finalized a six-month loan deal for Fathy and Gedo, with Hull paying £500,000 for each player's services. Fathy made his debut on 16 February 2013 at home in a 1–0 win against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

, appearing as a second-half substitute for

Paul McShane Paul McShane may refer to: * Paul McShane (footballer) (born 1986), Irish football player * Paul McShane (rugby league) (born 1989), rugby league footballer See also *Paul Shane Paul Shane (19 June 1940 – 16 May 2013) was a British actor ...

Umm Salal

Fathy left

after his contract expired in June 2014 and joined

Umm Salal Umm Salal (; also spelled Umm Slal) is a municipalities of Qatar, municipality in the State of Qatar. Historic landmarks such as the Barzan Tower are located in Umm Salal.The municipal headquarters is located in Umm Salal Ali, about 10 km ...

in Qatar in August 2014 after an unsuccessful trial with English giants

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Return to Al Ahly

Fathy rejoined Al Ahly in 2015. In April 2020, he decided to leave the club by the end of the season.

Pyramids FC and retirement

On 11 April 2020, Pyramids FC announced that Fathy would be joining their side at the end of the season on a free transfer after Al Ahly's failure of securing a contract renewal with the 35 year old defender. On 21 September 2024, he announced his retirement from football.

International career

Fathy became the Egypt national team's youngest ever international when he was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

at 17 years old in 2001 against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Fathy was picked for the National team by Egyptian Coach

Mohsen Saleh Mohsen Mohammed Saleh () (born 22 June 1949) is an Egyptian football analyst and a former football player and manager. He was recently appointed as head of Football Planning Committee at Al Ahly club. Football career As a midfielder, Saleh had ...

even before playing in his club's first team

, although this followed soon after, and was then called up for the Egyptian youth team. Fathy was a member of the Egyptian youth team that won the African Youth Cup 2003 in Burkina Faso, and was part of the Egypt squad at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates in 2003, and at one point Fathy was part of Egypt's U-20, U-23 and senior squads at the same time. Fathy was also part of the Egypt squad that won the

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

at the

Cairo International Stadium The Cairo International Stadium (), formerly known as Nasser Stadium, is an Olympic-standard, multi-use stadium with an all-seated capacity of 75,000. The architect of the stadium is the German Werner March, who designed the Olympiastadion (Berli ...

in 2006, when they beat

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

on penalties in the final. In the

2010 Africa Cup of Nations The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was held in Angola, where it began on 10 January 2 ...

, Fathy was named as the fair player of the tournament and he was named in the team of the tournament. In May 2018, he was named in Egypt's squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

in Russia. He scored an own goal in the match against

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Egypt's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Fathy goal.''

Honours

Ismaily *

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League (), also known as the Nile League () for sponsorship reasons, after the addition of title sponsor Nile Developments, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the highest level of the Egyptian football ...

: 2001–02 Al Ahly *

: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20 *

Egypt Cup The Egypt Cup (also known as the Egyptian FA Cup and formerly as the King Farouk Cup) is the main knockout football cup competition in Egypt. It is the oldest club competition in Africa. The first team to win the trophy was Zamalek in 1922. Al A ...

: 2016–17, 2019–20 *

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

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, 2019–20 *

CAF Super Cup The CAF Super Cup, known as TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual African association football competition contested between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. The competition was f ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Pyramids *

: 2023–24 Egypt *

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Pan Arab Games The Arab Games (), also known as the Pan-Arab Games, are a regional multi-sport event held between nations from the Arab world. They are organized by the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees. The first Games took place in 1953 in Alexandr ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Egypt U20 *

African Youth Championship The U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, known for short as the U-20 AFCON and for sponsorship purposes as TotalEnergies U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, previously known as the African Youth Championship and the African U-20 Championship, is the biennial int ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Individual *

CAF Team of the Year The CAF Team of the Year is an annual football award given by the Confederation of African Football during the CAF Awards. In 2007, the CAF did not choose the team of the year, but rather the best ten players of the last fifty years. The ten play ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

* IFFHS CAF Men's Team of the Decade 2011–2020

References

External links

Profile
at the Pyramids FC website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fathy, Ahmed 1984 births Living people People from Benha Sportspeople from Qalyubiyya Governorate Egyptian men's footballers Egypt men's international footballers 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2010 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players Men's association football midfielders Ismaily SC players Sheffield United F.C. players Al Ahly SC players Kazma SC players Hull City A.F.C. players Umm Salal SC players Egyptian Premier League players Premier League players English Football League players Qatar Stars League players Egyptian expatriate men's footballers Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in England Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Kuwait Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Olympic footballers for Egypt Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics FIFA Men's Century Club Africa Cup of Nations–winning players 2018 FIFA World Cup players Kuwait Premier League players Arab Games gold medalists CAF Champions League–winning players 21st-century Egyptian sportsmen