Mohamed Mohamed Abdelwahab (, 1 October 1983 – 31 August 2006) was 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 lea ...

. He played in the defensive left back position. He was an important part of the

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 year ...

squad that went on to win the 2006

African 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 ...

. He died during training with his club El Ahly on 31 August 2006.

Early life and career

Abdelwahab was born in the rural town of

Faiyum Faiyum ( ; , ) is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum Governorate. It is one of Egypt's oldest cities due to its strategic location. Name and etymology Originally f ...

. He began his professional career with

Aluminium Nag Hammâdi Al Aluminium Sports Club (), is an Egyptian football club based in Nag Hammâdi, Egypt. The club plays in the Egyptian Second division, the second-highest tier of the Egyptian football league system The Egyptian football league system refers to ...

and whilst there caught the eye of then national youth team coach

Hassan Shehata Hassan Hassan Shehata (; born 19 June 1947) is an Egyptian retired association football, football manager and former professional football player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He is considered as one of the best forwar ...

, who included him in his squad. Abdelwahab went on to be part of the Egyptian youth team that won the 2003 African Cup of Nations in

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. His excellent form in the World Youth Championship in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

encouraged UAE side

Al Dhafra Club Al Dhafra FC () is an Emirati professional Association football, football club based in Madinat Zayed that competes in the UAE First Division League. Their Al Dhafra FC (futsal), futsal club participated in AFC Futsal Club Championship. Histor ...

to sign him on a four-year-contract. However, Abdelwahab did not make any appearances at

and spent his first year on-loan to ENPPI. Whilst there, he was called up to the Egyptian national team by

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coach

Marco Tardelli Marco Tardelli (; born 24 September 1954) is an Italian former football player and manager. At club level, he played as a midfielder for several Italian clubs; he began his career with Pisa, and later played for Como, Juventus, and Internazion ...

. Abdelwahab scored on his debut in the national team's opening 2006 World Cup qualifier against

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. He then joined El Ahly on a two-year loan but failed to secure a starting place in his first season with the club since coach

Manuel José Manuel José de Jesus Silva ComM (born 9 April 1946), simply known as Manuel José (), is a Portuguese football manager. Some of the teams he has coached include Vitória de Guimarães, Sporting CP, Sporting de Braga, Boavista, Benfica, Al ...

depended mainly on Angolan international Gilberto. Abdelwahab's break came in the 2005

African 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 club football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) an ...

final against Etoile Sahel of

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

when Gilberto left the pitch injured after ten minutes. Abdelwahab was brought on and went on to set up

Osama Hosny Osama Hosny Lotfy Abdel Sattar (; born June 18, 1982) is a retired Egyptian footballer. He played the forward position for Egypt's African Super Cup Championship club Al Ahly. An Egyptian international but missed out on the 2006 African Cup of N ...

for El-Ahly's second goal in the 3–0 win that saw the club crowned African champions. Abdelwahab became a pivotal member of

's national squad and helped Egypt win the

2006 African Cup of Nations The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt, from 20 January to 10 February. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split in ...

on home soil by scoring the second penalty in the penalty shootout against

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 ...

. His steady performances helped Al Ahly secure their second consecutive local title, the

Egyptian 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 ...

and

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 ...

in the same season. Ahly then moved to land Abdelwahab on a permanent basis from

, who turned down the offer. However, a clause in the player's contract with the UAE side allowed him to annul it and sign for Ahly, triggering a tug-of-war between Al Ahly and Al Dhafra and leaving the player inactive for the entire summer, causing him to lose his place in the national side.

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

had still not determined the outcome of the disagreement when he died on 31 August 2006.

Death

Abdelwahab collapsed during Ahly's morning training session on 31 August 2006. He was rushed to 'Egypt International Hospital' in

Dokki Dokki ( , is one of nine districts that make up Giza city, which is part of Greater Cairo, in Egypt. Dokki is situated on the western bank of the Nile, directly across from Downtown Cairo. It is a vital residential and commercial district wi ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, but the 22-year-old winger died before he could be revived. According to Egyptian doctors, the cause of Abdelwhab's death was a

heart defect A congenital heart defect (CHD), also known as a congenital heart anomaly, congenital cardiovascular malformation, and congenital heart disease, is a defect in the structure of the heart or great vessels that is present at birth. A congenital h ...

. National coach

and the players traveled to Abdelwahab's hometown,

, to attend the funeral proceedings.

References

External links

* *
CAF announcement of death
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdelwahab, Mohamed 1983 births 2006 deaths Egyptian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Egypt men's international footballers Al Ahly SC players Association football players who died while playing Sport deaths in Egypt People from Faiyum Al Dhafra FC players Al Aluminium SC players ENPPI SC players Egyptian Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates Egyptian expatriate men's footballers Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates 21st-century Egyptian sportsmen