Amr Zaki
Since he first stepped at Heathrow Airport in London , Amr Zaki has become a rich material for the English press; and since he wore Wigan’s blue shirt for the first time he became the number one player in the squad for Steve Bruce – Wigan’s coach – as to Wigan’s Athletic fans.
Those who follow the breakthrough star, Amr Zaki, will realize that he would be - within a few months - one of the most important players in the premier league as to his performance, fitness and skills that have always been a tribute to any coach in the world. However, Zaki had much more as in spirit, speed and focus on reaching the goal from the shortest routes.
Zaki, as Steve Bruce said to the "Daily Mail" newspaper, is the best striker in the world according to FIFA statistics, as he recorded 27 goals in 48 international appearances with the Egyptian team; already an impressive rate.
All of this excellence and praise for Zaki in his initial steps with Wigan, granted Zamalek an excuse to hold their Super Star till the last breath, and not to allow him leave until he renewed his contract and moved as a loan for one year. The confidence of the club officials in the White castle that Zaki will shine in the EPL as he did with Zamalek for the past two years.
Zamalek board not only guarantied the renewal of Zaki’s contract, but also retained the right to get all the guarantees for the safety of the player to achieve the greatest return. They agreed to loan him for one season for a million and 250 thousand pounds deal, in addition to a 500 thousand pounds in case Zaki scored 10 Goals with Wigan in the Premier League. That was along with insurance on the player during the loan estimated with 6 million Euros.
As it is Zamalek right to get the maximum benefit from the player, Zaki had the full right to fight in order to achieve his dream of playing in Europe - as he said to me when he was playing with Zamalek. "My ambitions were more beyond the Egyptian league." That was why there was a huge dispute with club’s president Mr. Mamdouh Abbas when he refused to sell him easily to Wigan. That made Zaki decides to fill a complement to the Egyptian Football Association against Zamalek club requesting terminating his contract with the white castle, before both parties settle the agreement. This gave Zaki the chance to leave surrounded by love and respect for all.
Zaki breakthrough came in the best competition in the world. However his career was full of success stories starting from Mansoura club – one of the oldest Egyptian clubs – where he played for the first team when he was only 16 years of age. He had four great seasons with Mansoura that made Mr. Hassan Shehata – National youth team coach at the time - choose him to be the youth N.T. striker.
In the season 2002-2003, Zaky managed to score 5 goals with Mansoura, beside his good performance in the youth national team that made him wanted by one of the most popular clubs in Egypt, rather he chose to play for Enppi – a new club owned by an oil company-.
With Enppi, Zaky had a good 2003-2004 season, where he scored 5 goals in 10 matches two of them were scored against the Egyptian top giants Zamalek and Ahly. He also scored 4 goals in Egyptian Cup.
But the turning point in Zaki’s career was 2004-2005 season; as he was the top scorer of the league with 10 goals with a great performance. He scored 3 goals in the National Cup for Enppi, helping the team win its first trophy – Egyptian Cup 2005 - and thus achieve their best position ever in the league’s table – the second - in the club short history.
In season 2005-2006 he was more shining with 9 goals in the first round of the Egyptian league that made Mr. Hassan Shehata choose him to be the striker of the National Team in CAN 2006 in Egypt.
And as usual Zaki performed his best getting two penalties and making two assists and scoring the winning goal vs. Senegal in semi-final just after he played as a substitution for Mido.
After the Egyptian winning of CAN 2006 Zaki decided to pursuit his dream playing in Europe, and decided to play for the Russian giant Lokomotiv Moscow, who signed with him for a 1.7million Euros. However, he did not play a single match for Lokomotiv as he knew that he was not yet ready for such a move because he didn’t play under any pressure with Ennpi – as it is not a popular club in Egypt – so he decided to return to Egypt and gain more experience first.
Both top teams in Egypt and Africa (Zamalek & Ahly) presented a very good offer for Zaki. And as all Egyptians know, Zaki loves the challenge, so he chose to play for Zamalek; not only because he is an old fan for the club, but because Zamalek had the worst three seasons in a row with no trophies at all. So he refused Ahly’s offer and chose to join the white castle with the highest deal in the Egyptian players market with 1.4million Euros for 4 years
With Zamalek, Zaki showed his talents. And on 10-08-2006, Zaki played his first official match with his new club Zamalek against his former club Enppi in the second week of 2006-2007 season. He wrote his history from his first game by scoring Zamalek’s third goal which was the goal No. 2000 in Zamalek history in the Egyptian League championship. Zaki had a great performance with Zamalek in the national league and in the African champions league. However, Zamalek couldn’t get back to trophies in this season.
But Zaki kept his promise to get Zamalek back, and scored the winning goal for Zamalek against Ennpi in the cup final in 2008 which made him Zamalek fans hero, after he did the same achievement in the same year with Egyptian National team in CAN 2008 – Ghana.
Zaki deserved to be loved by all Egyptians for his great spirit and ambitions to be the best, and that was what all Egyptian believe that they must be, not only because they were the first civilization in History but because they have the dream to have the same ancient glory again presented by some people who can remind the world with the Pharaohs who are still living on this land… Egypt.