Mohamed Elneny

Al Mokawloon

Elneny played his youth football with Al Ahly. In 2008, he transferred to Al Mokawloon during the 2010–2011 season. Elneny advanced and became a regular in the starting team. Following the Port Said Stadium disaster in early February 2012, the Egyptian Premier League was stopped and all subsequent matches of the 2011–12 Egyptian Premier League were postponed. On 10 March 2012, the Egyptian Football Association announced their decision to cancel the remainder of the season.

Basel

FC Basel had been watching Elneny for some time and invited him to their training camp in Estepona from 14 to 24 January 2013. Elneny played his unofficial debut on 18 January 2013 during the friendly match against Steaua București, a 1–1 draw. Elneny was able to impress Basel's trainer Murat Yakin during the training camp and on 29 January 2013, it was announced that he had signed a loan contract with Basel up until the end of June 2013. Elneny played his official debut for Basel in the 2012–13 Swiss Super League season on 10 February 2013 in the 3–0 home win against Sion as he was substituted in at half time. At the end of the Swiss Super League season 2012–13 Elneny won the Championship title and was Swiss Cup runner up with Basel. In the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League Basel advanced as far as the semi-finals, there being matched against the reigning UEFA Champions League holders Chelsea, but they were knocked out, losing both home and away ties, beaten 2–5 on…

Elneny helped the national under-23 team qualify for the 2012 Olympics, where he played in all four games as the team reached the last eight, and were knocked out by Japan. Elneny made his full international debut with the senior national team in a 2–1 loss against Sierra Leone in September 2011. He scored his first goal for Egypt in a 2–2 draw against Jamaica in a friendly on 4 June 2014. He was in the Egypt national squad for the Africa Cup of Nations 2017 in Gabon, where the nation finished as runners-up. He also helped the team qualify to the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament in Russia, this was the third time for the Egyptian national team to participate in the competition after the 1934 and 1990 editions.

Elneny was selected by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to feature in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (held in 2022) team of the tournament, after he helped his team reach the final of the competition. In December 2023, he was named in the 27-man squad for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast. He earned his 100th international cap, including non-FIFA sanctioned matches, in a 2–2 draw against Ghana during the African tournament.

Elneny is recognised for his passing accuracy, long balls and possession-holding, and has been described as a player who controls the midfield; "physical, yet mobile – and able to break up play". Mark White of FourFourTwo wrote in 2022 that "Elneny has so far outlasted every last one of the new midfield generals that Arsenal thought would replace him."

Elneny was born in El Mahalla El Kubra. When he was young, his father used to make him sleep with a football to "forge a connection". Elneny has said: "Since I was born my parents wanted to see me as a footballer, and they are behind this passion I have for football."