Mohamed Barakat Ahmed Bastamy (born 7 September 1976) is an Egyptian former professional footballer. A right-footed

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...

, he usually played as an

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for Egyptian club

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 ...

and the Egypt national team. Barakat was considered by many as one of the most talented players in Africa. His hallmarks are surging runs from midfield which often disrupt opposing defences, as well as his

box-to-box In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

work ethic, which makes him an important figure both in

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

and attack. Thanks to his noticeable achievements and talent, his fans gave him the nickname The Mercurial (), He reached his peak in 2005 and 2006, helping his club

to win the CAF Champions League 2005 and

CAF Champions League 2006 The 2006 CAF Champions League was the 42nd edition of the CAF Champions League, the Africa's premier club football tournament prize organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It was started on 17 February 2006 with a preliminary ro ...

and Egypt win their fifth

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 ...

Egypt 2006 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 int ...

. However, in 2006 his career was marred by a long spell of injuries.

Club career

Early career

Barakat began his career at unheralded Sekka but really found his feet when he joined

Al-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 ...

– just about the only club in Egypt with the ability to stand up to the 'big boys' of

and

Zamalek Zamalek ( , ''al zamalek'') is a ''qism'' (ward) within the West District (''hayy gharb'') in the Western Area of Cairo, Egypt. It is an affluent district on a man-made island which is geologically a part of the west bank of the Nile River, wit ...

Gulf Countries

The 2002 Egyptian Footballer of the Year has joined Ahly Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. He helped the later win 2003

Arab Club Championship The Arab Club Champions Cup (, ) is a club football competition organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and contested by top clubs from the Arab world. The tournament is contested by a total of 37 teams from Asia and Africa. F ...

. Barakat scored twice in that tournament; including the Final winner goal. and then going to Alarabi in Qatar.

Al Ahly

Barakat returned to Egypt in 2004 to join

. Some have commented that the combination with

Mohamed Aboutrika Mohamed Mohamed Mohamed Aboutrika (; born 7 November 1978) is an Egyptian retired professional association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and a forward (association football), forward. He was voted second place in the ...

and

Emad Moteab Emad Mohamed Abdelnaby Ibrahim Moteab (; born 20 February 1983) is an Egyptian former professional footballer who played as a striker. International career Moteab played for the youth team in 2003 in Burkina Faso under the leadership of Hassan ...

formed the most formidable triangle in African Soccer, and they were given the moniker of "The Bermuda Triangle". Mohamed Barakat won the BBC African Footballer of 2005 award ahead of Cameroon's

Samuel Eto'o Samuel Eto'o Fils (; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian Association football, football administrator and former Football player, player who is the current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation. He is often regarded as one of the ...

and

Obafemi Martins Obafemi Akinwunmi Martins (born 28 October 1984) is a Nigerian former professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward. After leaving Nigeria for Italy at age 16, he played for a number of L ...

of Nigeria. More than 15,000 voted for him. He was also named the best player in Africa's continental club competition by the African Football Association for the same year, as he scored 7 goals in the CAF Champions League 2005. Barakat started the season of 2013 with some bad performances, but after sometime he got back to his perfect form and scored in the CAF Super Cup 2013 the winning goal, which led Al Ahly to win the cup. After he played a match against Benzarty match in CAF Champions League 2013 and scored a goal from a penalty, he also made an assist to Emad Meteb. Two weeks later there were rumors of his retirement and Barakat admitted he was thinking of retiring because he is 37 years old. After with two days Barakat scored two goals against Enpii in the Egyptian league from a penalty and a shot. People all thought and said Barakat still has one or two seasons ahead after that amazing performance and goals and that he looked like he was eighteen while playing even though he is 37, but unfortunately three weeks after, Barakat announced that he was going to retire at the end of this season, putting an end to the career.

Retirement

After the

Port Said Stadium clashes The Port Said Stadium riot was a riot which occurred at Port Said Stadium in Port Said, Egypt on 1 February 2012, following an Egyptian Premier League football match between Al Masry and Al Ahly. Seventy-four people were killed and more than 5 ...

, on 1 February 2012, Barakat decided to retire from professional football, along with

Emad Motaeb Emad Mohamed Abdelnaby Ibrahim Moteab (; born 20 February 1983) is an Egyptian former professional footballer who played as a striker. International career Moteab played for the youth team in 2003 in Burkina Faso under the leadership of Hassan ...

and

. However, he reversed his decision and returned to Al Ahly once again.

International career

Barakat made his debut for the Pharaohs in June 2000 against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. He played 4 matches in

2002 African Cup of Nations The 2002 African Cup of Nations was the 23rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Mali. Just like in 2000, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Ca ...

and all Egypt's matches in

2006 Africa 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 int ...

. Barakat ended his international career on 18 November 2009 after his dream to reach the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

was crashed by

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

that won 1–0, he told the press about that discussion on 11 August 2010.

Career statistics

International

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

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 ...

: 2000 Al Ahli Saudi * Arab Unified Club Championship:

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Al Ahly *

: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 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 ...

: 2006, 2007 *

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 ...

: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 *

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 ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Egypt *

Individual *

BBC African Footballer of the Year The BBC African Sports Personality of the Year (previously known as the BBC African Sports Star of the Year and the BBC African Footballer of the Year) was an annual award given to the best African sports personality of the year as voted by the B ...

: 2005 * African Inter-Club Player of the Year: 2005 *

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 ...

: 2005 *

top goalscorer:

(Shared with Joetex Frimpong)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barakat, Mohamed Egyptian men's footballers Egyptian expatriate men's footballers Egypt men's international footballers 1976 births Al Ahly SC players Men's association football midfielders Ismaily SC players Living people 2002 African Cup of Nations players 2004 African Cup of Nations players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players Al-Arabi SC (Qatar) players Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Footballers from Cairo Al-Ahli Saudi FC players Saudi Pro League players Qatar Stars League players Egyptian Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in Qatar CAF Champions League–winning players