;'/></svg>)
Personal Information
| Full Name | Essam El-Hadary |
| Date of Birth | January 15, 1973 |
| Nationality | Egyptian |
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) |
| Role | Goalkeeper |
Essam El-Hadary: A Brief Biography
Nicknamed as the High Dam, Essam El-Hadary is an Egyptian goalkeeper who plays for the Egyptian club Ismaily and formerly for Egypt national football team.
Born on 15th January 1973 in Kafr El-Battikh, Damietta, El-Hadary is regarded as one of the best players in African football history, having won the African Cup of Nations four times.
Background
At the age of just 18 years, El-Hadary started his youth career with Damietta in the year 1991. He continued his senior club career with Damietta until 1996.
Having made 412 appearances, El-Hadary made most of his senior club career with Al Ahly SC for 12 long years until 2008. In February 2008, FC Sion signed El-Hadary and one year later in July, he joined Egyptian Premier League side Ismaily.
On 1st July 2010, El Hadary signed for Zamalek SC and during the summer of 2011, Hadary joined Al-Merreikh where he wore 92 caps for his side.
El-Hadary signed for Al-Taawoun in June 2017 to become the first foreign goalkeeper to play in Saudi Arabia.
Debut
El-Hadary made his international debut for the Egyptian national team on 26 March 1996. He already has a staggering 156 appearances to his name and is the 23rd most capped international player in history and also the player with most African Cup of Nations titles.
On 17 January 2017, El-Hadary became the oldest player to ever appear in an Africa Cup of Nations.
Rise to Glory
El-Hadary rose to glory and came into prominence in the year 1996. His career had many ups and downs but in the year 1996, he helped his side, Al-Ahly win the Arab Club Champions Cup and Egyptian Premier League.
In the same year, he got a national call-up and through his incredible performances, he became one of the most difficult goalkeepers to score against.
Club Career
El-Hadary started the long journey of his club career in the year 1993 with Damietta where he played for three years and later moved to Al Ahly SC where he spent most of his club career. After 12 years of playing with Al Ahly SC, El-Hadary signed for FC Sion in the year 2008 and made 32 appearances for Sion before moving to Ismaily.
In the year 2011, El-Hadary joined Al Merreikh. However, he received multiple offers from European clubs which made him express his wish to leave Merreikh but they did not let him go, having him signed for three years. In the year 2012, he was loaned by Al-Ittihad Alexandria where he could play only for 1 game.
He then signed with Wadi Degla in 2013 and continued to play until 2017. El-Hadary was signed by Al-Taawoun in the year 2017 and was also appointed as the captain of his side. The goalkeeper plied his trade for the Saudi club Al-Taawoun FC making 25 league appearances in which he made 292 saves and six clean sheets.
Captaincy
El-Hadary captains Al-Taawoun in the Saudi Professional League. He also led Egypt throughout their qualifying campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, only standing aside in the final fixture as their place in Russia was already secured.
Low Points
Swiss club FC Sion announced that they had signed El-Hadary on a four-year contract in February 2008, despite claims to the contrary from his club El Ahly. El-Hadary was suspended and fined by El-Ahly before world governing body FIFA stepped in to give permission for Sion to complete the deal.
El Hadary signed for Zamalek SC, but he was later suspended for four months by FIFA for his earlier contract with FC Sion.
The year 2013 was difficult for Egypt and El-Hadary as El-Hadary turned 40 and seemed to be drifting away from the national side. When the World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign began, he had only won five caps in three years, but he kept working and was picked for Egypt’s first two qualifiers in late 2016.
Retirement
In January 2013, his agent tweeted that El-Hadary had retired from international football after being benched for a run of games. However, he returned to the national team in a match against Bosnia Herzegovina on 5th March 2014, winning 2-0.
Records
El-Hadary helped his country in winning the African Cup of Nations four times in 1998, 2006, 2008, 2010. He was chosen as the best goalkeeper in 2006, 2008 and 2010 African Cup of Nations. He also helped Egypt to lift the All-Africa games in the year 1995 and Pan Arab Games in 2007.
