Amr Zaki facts for kids
Amr Zaki playing for Wigan Athletic in 2009
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Amr Hassan Zaki | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 1 April 1983 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Mansoura, Egypt | ||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||||
| El Mansoura | |||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2003 | El Mansoura | 20 | (20) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2003–2006 | ENPPI | 64 | (27) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Lokomotiv Moscow | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2006–2012 | Zamalek | 88 | (35) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2008–2009 | → Wigan Athletic (loan) | 29 | (10) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | → Hull City (loan) | 6 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | Elazığspor | 8 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2013 | ENPPI | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | Al-Salmiya | 9 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | Raja CA | 2 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2014–2015 | Al Ahed | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | El Mokawloon | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | 224 | (94) | |||||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2004–2013 | Egypt | 63 | (30) | ||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||||
Amr Hassan Zaki (born April 1, 1983) is a retired professional football player from Egypt. He played as a striker, which is a position focused on scoring goals.
Zaki was known for his strength and powerful style of play. This earned him the nickname "The Bulldozer." Some people even compared him to the famous English striker Alan Shearer. He played for many clubs in Egypt, Russia, England, Turkey, and Kuwait.
While he was a talented player, his career also had some difficult moments. A former manager once called him "highly unprofessional." He also made a decision not to join the English club Portsmouth for personal reasons, which was talked about a lot in the news.
Contents
Club Career
Starting in Egypt
Amr Zaki was born in Mansoura, Egypt, and began his football journey at his hometown club, El Mansoura. He then moved to ENPPI in 2003. At ENPPI, he showed his amazing goal-scoring talent. He became the top scorer in the Egyptian Premier League for the 2004–05 season. He also helped ENPPI win the 2005 Egyptian Cup.
His great performances got the attention of many teams. After a short time with Lokomotiv Moscow in Russia where he didn't play any games, Zaki returned to Egypt in 2006 to play for the famous club Zamalek. Fans loved his powerful playing style and gave him the nickname "The Bulldozer."
Playing in England
Wigan Athletic
On July 22, 2008, Zaki moved to England to play for Wigan Athletic on a one-year loan. A loan is when a player plays for a different club for a set amount of time.
Zaki had an incredible start in the English Premier League. He scored on his first day and kept scoring in the following games. At one point, he was the top scorer in the entire league! He scored 10 goals for Wigan, including goals against big teams like Liverpool and Manchester City.
Wigan's chairman, Dave Whelan, compared him to football legend Alan Shearer. The manager, Steve Bruce, was also very impressed, calling him "awesome" and saying he had a great future in the Premier League.
Disagreements at Wigan
However, things became difficult at Wigan. In April 2009, Zaki did not return to the club on time after playing for Egypt's national team. This happened more than once. His manager, Steve Bruce, became very frustrated. He publicly called Zaki "the most unprofessional player he had ever worked with" and fined him. Because of these problems, Wigan decided not to sign him permanently after his loan ended.
Later Career
After leaving Wigan, Zaki returned to Zamalek in Egypt. He later had another short loan in England with Hull City in 2010, but he did not score any goals in his six games there.
For the next few years, Zaki moved between several clubs. He played for Elazığspor in Turkey, Al-Salmiya in Kuwait, and Raja CA in Morocco. Unfortunately, he struggled with injuries during this time, which made it hard for him to play consistently.
After a brief time with Al Ahed in Lebanon, he made one final move back to Egypt in 2015, signing with El Mokawloon.
Retirement
On August 18, 2015, Amr Zaki announced on his Twitter account that he was retiring from professional football.
International Career
Zaki was a star player for the Egyptian National Team. He helped Egypt win the Africa Cup of Nations twice, in 2006 and 2008.
In the 2006 tournament, he scored the winning goal in the semi-final against Senegal. He had just come onto the field as a substitute. In the 2008 tournament, he was one of the top players, scoring important goals in the quarter-final and semi-final. He was even named to the "All-Star" team of the tournament.
Over his international career, Zaki played 63 games for Egypt and scored 30 goals.
Personal Life
Zaki is a practicing Muslim. He has said that his faith is very important to him. When he was playing in England, he continued to fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
He said, "I don’t think it affected my performance – actually I think I got stronger." However, his manager at Wigan, Steve Bruce, was concerned about him playing while fasting. Zaki said he chose to continue fasting and felt he still played well.
Honours
ENPPI
- Egypt Cup: 2004–05
Zamalek
- Egypt Cup: 2007–08
Egypt
- Africa Cup of Nations: 2006, 2008
Individual
- 2008 CAF African Footballer of the Year Nomination
- Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament: 2008
See also
In Spanish: Amr Zaki para niños
