Hussein Hegazi

Hussein Hegazi was born the son of a wealthy rural aristocrat, Mohamed Bey Hegazi, in 1889. He started his footballing career with National Sporting Club in Cairo where he forged a reputation as a goal scorer when he was still in his mid-teens. Leaving Egypt to study engineering at University College, London in 1911 he began to play for Dulwich Hamlet, one of London’s top amateur clubs. After three months his performances began to attract attention and he was offered a chance to play in the English League for Fulham. The first Egyptian to play in England, his debut against Stockport County was spectacular, he scored within fifteen minutes and the Athletic News paid him the following compliment in verse.

Fulham was proud of her player from Cairo

Fulham was just like a dog with two tails -

Dulwich, you’ll find in a terrible ire-o,

If for high amateur honour she fails.

But at such prospect all Dulwichites smile,

Backing the luck of this lad from the Nile.

Despite such praise this was to be Hegazi’s only match for Fulham as he returned to play for Dulwich Hamlet the next week. His performances for Hamlet brought him to the attention of the London County selectors and he made the first of his five representative appearances for the team against Middlesex in December 1911. In 1913 he was admitted to St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge although he withdrew from his course after just two terms. However in the short time he attended the University he was chosen to play in the Varsity match against Oxford. Playing alongside fellow Olympian Max Woosnam, he played well as Cambridge defeated Oxford 2-1. With Egypt entering a period of unrest he returned home in 1914 where he founded and played for his own team, the “Hussein Hegazi II” and also played for Sekka Railways. He then joined Al-Ahly where he played between 1915 and 1923 when he joined their arch-rivals Zamalek. Hegazi had another season with Al-Ahly in 1928-29 before he finally retired at the age of 40 following a final spell with Zamalek.

He was a member of the Egyptian squad in two Olympics. Also a talented athlete he is reputed to have won four successive national championships at both 440y and 880y.

The novelist Naguib Mahfouz, 1988 Nobel Prize winner for Literature, said of his childhood hero, “Hussein Hegazi, displayed exemplary sportsmanship on the pitch. Throughout his career, Hegazi never committed a foul.”