Mohamed Aboutrika

2004: Debut season with Al Ahly

In the first half of Egyptian league 2003–2004, Aboutrika scored 3 goals for Tersana. In January 2004, he was offered a position in Al Ahly. He scored 11 goals in his first 13 appearances with Al Ahly in the 2003–2004 season (all in the league), becoming the second-highest scorer in the Egyptian League with 14 goals. Aboutrika's efforts with Ahly drew attention from the Egyptian national team, he started his first game against Trinidad and Tobago in a friendly match before the World Cup 2006 qualifiers on 31 March 2004 in Arab Contractors Stadium. The first starting game for Aboutrika ended 2–1 for the Egyptians. He started as an attacker, but was found to play better when he played his normal position behind the attackers in the attacking midfield position. Aboutrika scored his first national goal in this game. He scored 5 goals in his first 6 appearances with Egypt between 2004 and 2005.

2005 season

In 2005, Al Ahly regained the Egyptian League Championship after four years out of the top position, Aboutrika finished 3rd in the goalscoring rankings in the Egyptian League, while also helping his teammate Emad Moteab finish as the competition's top scorer. Also in 2005, Aboutrika played a great role in Al Ahly victory of the 2005 CAF Champions League, he scored a goal in the final from 30 yards out against Étoile Sportive du Sahel of Tunisia in a game that ended 3–0 for Al Ahly. Al Ahly qualified for the 2005 FIFA Club World…

Summary

As of 19 November 2013, Aboutrika scored 38 goals in 100 matches for Egypt. He debuted against Estonia on 19 March 2001, but had to wait for 3 years to receive another call-up. His second call-up witnessed his first international goal against Trinidad and Tobago on 31 March 2004. He became an essential player since then, and scored 5 goals in his first 6 appearances with Egypt in 2004 and 2005. Aboutrika helped Egypt win two consecutive African Cup of Nations in 2006 and 2008 scoring the decisive penalty kick in the 2006 final match, and the only winning goal in the 2008 final. Also, he is the all-time top scorer of Egypt in the World Cup Qualifiers with 14 goals.

2006 FIFA World Cup Qualification

Aboutrika was an essential member of the Egyptian team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier. He scored 3 goals in the first 3 matches of the qualifiers. The first goal was against Sudan on 6 June 2004 in a 3–0 victory in Khartoum Stadium. The second goal came on 20 June 2004, in Alexandria Stadium, in a loss 2–1 against the Ivory Coast. The third goal was in Benin on 4 July 2004 helped Egypt to get a tie 3–3 from hosts in Stade de l'Amitié.

2006 African Cup of Nations

Aboutrika proved to be his international team's trump card en route to victory in the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations in February, when he scored two important goals against Libya and Ivory Coast. He assisted the winning goal in the semi-final match against Senegal when Amr Zaki scored…

Club

International

Scores and results list Egypt's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Aboutrika goal.

Aboutrika is a graduate of Cairo University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy. He is married and has five children. One of them, Ahmed, is a professional footballer. Bob Bradley, the American coach of Egypt national football team said in March 2013 about Aboutrika, "Everywhere we went people would say, 'You must pick Aboutrika'. He's incredibly popular and the people love him. He's respected not just as a player but as a man. He did all of the right things to keep himself at a high level. He is without a doubt a leader for us, and he brings experience and intelligence in a way that can make a very big difference".

Humanitarian role

As his soccer star status grew in Africa, he turned his sights to humanitarian issues. Aboutrika said:

"Every athlete has a humanitarian role in society. He doesn't live solely for himself, but for others, too. I like to participate in charity work and try my best to help the poor and penniless. I'm also seeking to use soccer in humanitarian work." With that ideal, Aboutrika joined UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors the Brazilian player Ronaldo and French player Zinedine Zidane, in addition to 40 international soccer stars in 2005 for a "Match Against Poverty" in Germany to raise funds and awareness about the issue worldwide. He scored in that match. One of Aboutrika's soccer role models is Egyptian player Mahmoud El Khatib. Off the pitch, Aboutrika follows the example of the Prophet Mohammed. He volunteered to appear in a WFP…