Sarah Essam

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Sarah Essam Hassanin (Arabic: سارة عصام; born 6 April 1999) is an Egyptian footballer who plays as a midfielder, winger, or attacker for English club Rugby Borough in the National League South and the Egypt women's national team.

College career[edit]

Essam enrolled in the University of Derby where she studied civil engineering.[1][2][3] She also played for her university team, alongside Stoke, and was awarded a football scholarship for her senior year.[4][5]

Club career[edit]

Essam played soccer with her siblings when she was a child and also played basketball.[6] She joined the academy at Wadi Degla. She made her debut for the first team at age 15 and was the youngest player in the Egyptian Women's Premier League.[7]

After playing in Egypt, Essam became the first Egyptian woman to play competitive football in the UK when she signed with Stoke City FC in 2017.[6][8][9][10] She also tried out at Sunderland, Derby County, and Birmingham.[11] In 2018-19, she was the Stoke City Ladies' Development Team's top scorer, scoring 12 goals in 12 matches and receiving their Golden Boot award.[12][13] During the COVID-19 pandemic, the English FA's Women's National League season results were expunged, and Essam returned to Egypt to train.[10]

In 2022, she signed with Fundacion Albacete in the Primera Federacion, the second division of Spanish women's football.[11][14][4]

In 2023, she signed with Rugby Borough FC as part of the team's rebranding efforts.[15]

International career[edit]

Essam played with the Egypt U-17 national team in 2016 World Cup qualifiers.[14] At age 16, she was called up to the national team in 2016 to participate in 2016 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, before being dropped for the tournament itself.[6][2]

Essam featured in Egypt's third-place finish at the 2021 Arab Women's Cup, scoring one goal in Egypt's 2-5 semifinal defeat to Jordan.[16]

She was called up for 2024 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualification in September 2023.[17] She scored in both legs of Egypt's 8-0 aggregate victory over South Sudan.[18][19]

Personal life[edit]

Essam's brother is a former goalkeeper for Al Mokawloon.[15]

Essam has worked with fashion designer Deana Shaaban, helping to showcase Shaaban's womenswear collection.[3] She counts Mo Salah as one of her role models.[7]

In 2018, Essam was received the Arab Woman of the Year: Achievement in Sport award by the Arab Federation in London.[2][3]

She served as part of the BBC's commentating team for the 2017 CAF Award ceremony, the 2019 Women's World Cup and the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.[6][2][20]

Essam was an ambassador for the 2022 World Cup, working alongside David Beckham.[4][15]

Essam also signed with Adidas, making her the first Egyptian footballer the sporting giant has signed.[15]

International goals[edit]

No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 19 February 2023 Fouad Chehab Stadium, Jounieh, Lebanon  Lebanon 2–0 2–1 Friendly

References[edit]

  1. ^ Hart, Simon (9 October 2022). "Meet Sarah Essam: If Mo Salah is the Egyptian King, she is the Egyptian Queen of football". iNews. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d Khaled, Ali (15 September 2020). "Egyptian role model Sarah Essam raises the bar for Arab female footballers". Arab News. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Hassan, Yasmine (27 October 2019). "Limitless Talents: Sarah Essam". Egypt Today. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Abulleil, Reem (7 October 2022). "Nouf Al Anzi and Sarah Essam blaze a trail for female Middle Eastern footballers in Spain". The National. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  5. ^ "SPORTS SCHOLARSHIP PUTS THE WORLD AT SARAH'S FEET". Derby Science Park. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d "Sarah Essam, Stoke City's Egyptian queen". FIFA. 16 April 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  7. ^ a b McBride, Luke (8 November 2018). "Sarah Essam speaks on women's football in Egypt and her journey". King Fut. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  8. ^ "Sarah Essam, la Pharaonne du football égyptien". CAFOnline (in French). 12 August 2020. Archived from the original on 11 March 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  9. ^ "Sarah Essam on Her Unique Role as a Female Arab Athlete". herfootballhub.com.
  10. ^ a b "Sarah Essam: fitness motivation lies in goals". bbc.com.
  11. ^ a b Menayo, David (10 September 2022). "Sarah Essam, la faraona de La Mancha". Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  12. ^ Maged, Mira (30 May 2019). "Egypt's Sarah Essam makes history winning the Golden Boot". Egypt Independent. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  13. ^ Youssef, Anthony Elkommos (28 May 2019). "Egypt's Sarah Essam wins Stoke City Ladies' top scorer award". King Fut. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  14. ^ a b Guzman, C (22 September 2022). "Sarah Essam: "Albacete es un buen camino para seguir"". La Tribuna de Albacete (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  15. ^ a b c d Rahman, Anjuman (22 September 2023). "Meet Sarah Essam: An Egyptian woman and International Ambassador for Football alongside David Beckham". Middle East Monitor. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  16. ^ Ismail, Ali (4 September 2021). "Egypt exit Women's Arab Cup after heavy defeat against Jordan". King Fut. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  17. ^ "قائمة لاعبات منتخب مصر الرسمية المستدعاه لخوض مباراتان جنوب السودان". Facebook. 2 September 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  18. ^ "Egypt 4-0 South Sudan". Soccerway. 20 September 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  19. ^ "South Sudan 0-4 Egypt". Soccerway. 24 September 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  20. ^ "BBC increases coverage to 13 languages for Africa Cup of Nations". BBC. 20 June 2019. Archived from the original on 11 March 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2023.

External links[edit]

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