Ramadan Sobhi Ramadan Ahmed (; born 23 January 1997) is an Egyptian 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 plays as a forward for

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 ...

club

Pyramids A pyramid () is a Nonbuilding structure, structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a Pyramid (geometry), pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid ca ...

. Sobhi began his career with the leading Egyptian club Ahly SC of Cairo, making his professional debut in February 2014. He established himself in the first team 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 ...

and helped Al Ahly to win the

title in the 2013–14 and 2015–16 campaigns. His performances attracted the attention of European clubs, and in July 2016, he joined English side Stoke City for a fee of £5 million. He spent two seasons with Stoke before joining

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

in June 2018. He failed to establish himself at Huddersfield and returned on loan to Al Ahly in January 2019. In September 2020, Sobhi moved 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 ...

Club career

Al Ahly

After progressing through the youth ranks at

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 ...

club Al Ahly, Sobhi made his professional debut at the age of 17 on 6 February 2014, in a 2013–14 Egyptian Premier League match against Ghazl El Mahalla under the management of Mohamed Youssef. In April 2014 he took part in the Sheikh Zayed friendly tournament in the

UAE 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 elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

with Al Ahly-U17s, and attracted the attentions of Spanish club

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

. On 16 June 2014, he scored his first goal for Al Ahly in a 3–0 win over Misr Lel-Makkasa. On 28 June 2014 he started the decisive championship play-off match against city rivals,

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 ...

and helped his team to a 1–0 victory. On 2 July he scored twice against Petrojet to secure a 4–0 win and Al Ahly went on to claim the league title. In March 2015, Sobhi signed a long-term contract with Al Ahly. Sobhi helped Al Ahly win the 2014 Egyptian Super Cup against Zamalek. He became a regular under Juan Garrido and his performances in 2014–15 attracted the attentions of European clubs, including

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 ...

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig or informally as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company ...

, Roma, Sampdoria and Udinese. He scored a late equalizer against

Al-Masry Al Masry Sporting Club () is an Egyptian sports club based in Port Said, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team that competes in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest tier of the Egyptian football league system. ...

on 10 January 2015, in what was the first meeting between the clubs since the 2012

Port Said Stadium riot 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 ...

. Sobhi attracted international attention after he stood on the ball in a 2–0 win against Zamalek on 21 July 2015, which caused

Hazem Emam Hazem Mohamed Yehia El Horria Mohamed Emam (; born 16 April 1975) is an Egyptian retired professional Association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder. And he is member in House of Represent ...

to kick out at Sobhi and was sent off. Al Ahly ended the 2014–15 campaign in second place behind their arch rivals Zamalek. Sobhi caused controversy in the

2015 Egyptian Super Cup The 2015 Egyptian Super Cup was the 13th edition of the Egyptian Super Cup, an annual football match between the winners of the previous season's Egyptian Premier League and Egypt Cup. The match is usually contested by the winners of the Premier Le ...

against Zamalek as he repeated his stand on the ball trick, which enraged the Zamalek players. Al Ahly went on to win the match 3–2, and he later apologized for his showboating. He was sent off for the first time in his career on 15 April 2016 in a match against ENPPI, for an argument with an ENNPI player at half time. Sobhi played in 28 league matches for Al Ahly in 2015–16 under

Martin Jol Maarten Cornelis "Martin" Jol (born 16 January 1956) is a Dutch football manager and former midfielder. He played over 400 games during his career which included spells in the Netherlands, Germany and England, as well as earning three caps wi ...

as the side claimed another league title.

Stoke City

Sobhi signed for

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 ...

club Stoke City on 25 July 2016 for a fee of £5 million. He made his Premier League debut for Stoke on 20 August 2016 against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. He made his first assist for Stoke on 31 October 2016 in a 3–1 win against Swansea City as his cross was deflected in by Alfie Mawson for an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

. He made his first Premier League start in the next match against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, becoming the first teenager to start a league game for Stoke in nine years. After returning from the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, Sobhi impressed in home wins over Crystal Palace and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. Sobhi played 19 times in 2016–17, as Stoke finished in 13th position. Before the start of the 2017–18 season, Sobhi signed a new five-year contract with the Potters. He scored his first goal for Stoke on 23 August 2017 in a 4–0

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

win over

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

. He scored his first Premier League goal on 23 December 2017, scoring the last kick of the match in a 3–1 win against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, but was booked by referee Neil Swarbrick afterwards for excessive celebration. He followed this up with a goal against

in a 1–1 on boxing day. Sobhi made 27 appearances in 2017–18 as Stoke suffered relegation to the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

Huddersfield Town

Sobhi joined

on 12 June 2018, signing a three-year deal for a fee of £5.7 million. He struggled to impress David Wagner and only made four appearances for the Terriers before returning in Egyptian football in January 2019.

Return to Egypt

On 28 December 2018, Sobhi came back to his old club Al Ahly as a loan from

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

for six months for a fee of £800,000. He extended his loan with Al Ahly for the 2019–20 season. Sobhi made a move to the newly founded

on 7 September 2020.

International career

Sobhi made his national team debut against

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

on 14 June 2015 in the first round of 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the age of 17 years, 11 months and 18 days, to become the second youngest player to ever play for the Egyptian national team after Mido. On 29 March, he scored his first international goal at the top level in a

2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, the 31st edition of the international men's football champions ...

game against

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. In January Sobhi was selected by

Héctor Cúper Héctor Raúl Cúper (; born 16 November 1955) is an Argentine football manager and former player who was most recently head coach of the Syria national team. As a player, he was a defender who spent most of his career at Ferro Carril Oeste, w ...

in 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 competed in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. Sobhi was mainly used as a substitute in the competition, featuring in four games out of the six as Egypt lost in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. In May 2018 he was named in Egypt's preliminary

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

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. In November 2019, he was the captain of the Egypt national under-23 football team in

2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations was the third edition of the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations, the quadrennial international age-restricted association football, football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for the ...

hosted by Egypt. Egypt won their first title by defeating

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 ...

2–1 in the final, with Ramadan scoring the second goal in the 114th minute. Ramadan was also selected as the best player of the tournament.

Style of play

Sobhi is mostly used upfront on either wing. However, he also can be used as an attacking midfielder or a secondary striker. His style of play combines dribbling, clinical passing, vision.

Personal life

Speaking in February 2016, Sobhi stated that he supports Spanish side

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. He is married to Habiba Ekramy, sister of

teammate and national teammate Sherif Ekramy, and daughter of Ahly Legend Ekramy El-Shahat.

Controversy

In March 2024, it was reported that Sobhi tested positive for doping for samples taken in August 2023.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Egypt score listed first, score column indicates score after each Sobhi goal.''

Honours

Al Ahly *

: 2013–14, 2015–16, 2018–19, 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

: 2019–20 *

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football football team, club competition established in 2004 and organized by Confederation of African Football, CAF ...

Pyramids *

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 ...

: 2023–24 * CAF Champions League: 2024–25 Egypt U23 * Africa U-23 Cup of Nations:

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 ...

Individual * Africa U-23 Cup of Nations final Man of the Match:

* Africa U-23 Cup of Nations Best Player:

* Africa U-23 Cup of Nations Team of the tournament:

References

External links

Profile
at the Pyramids FC website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sobhi, Ramadan 1997 births Living people Egyptian men's footballers Egyptian expatriate men's footballers Egypt men's international footballers Al Ahly SC players Stoke City F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Egyptian Premier League players Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in England Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in England 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Footballers from Cairo Men's association football midfielders Men's association football wingers Pyramids FC players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Egypt CAF Champions League–winning players Egyptian sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in association football 21st-century Egyptian sportsmen