Ramzi Soliman Ahmed Saleh (; born 8 August 1980) is a
Palestinian
Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine.
*: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...
international
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 plays as a
goalkeeper
In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...
. Born in Egypt and raised in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
during the 1990s, he plays for the
Palestine national football team
The Palestine national football team (), governed by the Palestinian Football Association, represents Palestine in men's international football. The squad is under the global jurisdiction of FIFA, and is governed continentally by the Asian Foo ...
.
He is the most capped player for Palestine at international level. Saleh participated in every single
FIFA World Cup qualification
The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup.
Qualifying tournaments ar ...
campaign for Palestine (2002–2014) until injury prevented him for playing against Afghanistan and Thailand in the preliminary rounds of
2014 World Cup qualification.
Early years
Ramzi Saleh was born in Cairo, Egypt to Palestinian father and
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 ...
ian mother, but emigrated to
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
in 1990. He was raised in the city of
Jeddah
Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...
and started to play for local club
Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad may refer to:
Sports Football Men Teams
* Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
* Al Ittihad SCSC (Tripoli), Tripoli, Libya
* Al Ittihad Gheryan, Gharyan, Libya
* Al Ittihad Misurata SC, Misurata, Libya
* Al Ittihad SC ...
at youth level. However, Ramzi stated that he did not have a Saudi Passport while he was in Saudi Arabia. He returned to the
Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
with his family when his father retired. Ramzi signed with Shabab Jabalia in 1999.
Club career
Move to Al-Ahly
After being awarded a 3-day trial with Egyptian footballing giants
Al-Ahly, Shabab Jabalia, in a show of good faith, released him without demanding a transfer fee. After months of playing second fiddle and no official appearances he was awarded the starting job for Al-Ahly after a series of mistakes by incumbent
Amir Abdelhamid
Amir Abdelhamid Mohamed () (born April 24, 1979) is an Egyptian football (soccer), footballer. He plays the Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper position for the Egyptian club El-Entag El-Harby. He started his career in Al Ahly SC, Al A ...
. He made his first appearance against
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 a 0–1 loss on the 20th Matchday of the 2008/09 season. In the following match, a 2–2 draw with
Petrol Asyut, Saleh put in a match of the man performance helping Al-Ahly salvage a point The 2008/09 season ended with Ramzi Saleh helping Al-Ahly to another league title after defeating
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 ...
1–0 in a playoff.
After suffering an injury before the 2009–10 season, Saleh was replaced by
Ahmed Adel. In the winter transfer window, manager Hossam Al-Badry brought in
Sherif Ekramy
Sherif Ekramy Ahmed Ahmed El-Shahat (; born 10 July 1983) is an Egyptian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Pyramids FC. He has also played for the Egypt national team.
An Al Ahly youth product, Ekramy moved to Dutch club Feyenoord in 20 ...
to fill the post. At the end of the season, Saleh elected to leave the club on a
bosman.
Al-Merrikh
At the start of the 2009–10 season, Ramzi Saleh was injured and missed all of the preseason with Al-Ahly. As a result, he was replaced by Al-Ahly youth team player
Ahmed Adel Abd El-Moneam. During the winter transfer window, Al-Ahly acquired
Sherif Ekramy
Sherif Ekramy Ahmed Ahmed El-Shahat (; born 10 July 1983) is an Egyptian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Pyramids FC. He has also played for the Egypt national team.
An Al Ahly youth product, Ekramy moved to Dutch club Feyenoord in 20 ...
relegating Ramzi Saleh to third choice goalkeeper. After Saleh decided to leave Al-Ahly, it was thought that he would be included in the transfer that brought
Geddo to the Red Castle, but negotiations fell through at the final moment and he was excluded from the deal. While on National Team duty in Sudan Saleh was approached by
Al-Merreikh President Gamal Al-Wali to play for the Sudanese side. With no other offers on the table Saleh agreed to sign for the Red Devils in principle. His time with Al-Merreikh was marked by inconsistency and injury. After a three-week layoff, Saleh returned to Al-Merreikh's starting lineup to face
Al-Hilal in the decisive encounter of the season. Al-Merrikh would lose the game 3–1 with Saleh being booed by his own fans.
In the off-season, Al-Merreikh brought in Ramzi Saleh's former Al-Ahly manager
Hossam Al-Badry with Saleh playing a key role in facilitating the transaction. Despite this, Al-Badry chose to buy
Essam El-Hadary from
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 ...
. Al-Merreikh released Ramzi Saleh from his contract.
Smouha
On 18 December 2010, Zamalek announced a two-and-a-half-year deal with the Palestinian goalkeepe
The deal broke down days later after the two sides failed to agree on a financial compensation package.
On 4 January 2010, Ramzi Saleh signed an 18-month contract with
Haras El-Hodood. However, days later the deal was broken, also due to financial issues, the player later revealed that his two contracts were terminated due to his former agent sending messages to the two clubs warning them about an injury that Saleh sustained in 1998 that still affects his performance. He later thanked Haras El-Hodood management for being honest with him and Zamalek management for refusing to give away information about his injury so that they will not jeopardize his future.
Ramzi Saleh elected to operate on his
ACL in order to clear up any concerns potential clubs may have signing him. The operation was conducted in Germany in February 2011. As a result of the surgery, Saleh missed the rest of the 2010–11 season as well as
2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...
matches against Afghanistan and Thailand. On 28 July 2011 it was announced that Saleh had agreed to a 3-year contract with
Smouha
Smouha () is an upper-class district in the centre of Alexandria, Egypt. It is home to the Security Directorate of Alexandria and the Smouha Sporting Club, Smouha's central roundabout (Victor Emmanuel Square) connects between other areas in Alexa ...
worth 2 million Egyptian Pounds.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saleh, Ramzi
1980 births
Living people
Palestinian men's footballers
Footballers from Gaza City
Footballers from Cairo
Al Ahly SC players
2015 AFC Asian Cup players
Al Merrikh SC players
Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games
Pyramids FC players
Al Masry SC players
Smouha SC players
El Gouna FC players
Misr Lel Makkasa SC players
Egyptian Premier League players
Asian Games footballers for Palestine
Palestine men's international footballers
Palestinian expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Egypt
Palestinian expatriate sportspeople in Egypt
Men's association football goalkeepers
International sportspeople born abroad