Sarah Essam
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Sarah Essam Hassanin | ||
Date of birth | 6 April 1999 | ||
Place of birth | Cairo, Egypt, | ||
Position(s) | Midfielder, Winger, Forward | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Rugby Borough | ||
Number | 64 | ||
Youth career | |||
Wadi Degla | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
Wadi Degla | |||
2017-2020 | Stoke City | ||
2023-2024 | Rugby Borough | 14 | (1) |
International career | |||
Egypt U17 | |||
Egypt | |||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
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 | ![]() |
2–0 | 2–1 | Friendly |
References
[edit]- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c Hassan, Yasmine (27 October 2019). "Limitless Talents: Sarah Essam". Egypt Today. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "SPORTS SCHOLARSHIP PUTS THE WORLD AT SARAH'S FEET". Derby Science Park. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Sarah Essam, Stoke City's Egyptian queen". FIFA. 16 April 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Sarah Essam on Her Unique Role as a Female Arab Athlete". herfootballhub.com.
- ^ a b "Sarah Essam: fitness motivation lies in goals". bbc.com.
- ^ a b Menayo, David (10 September 2022). "Sarah Essam, la faraona de La Mancha". Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ Maged, Mira (30 May 2019). "Egypt's Sarah Essam makes history winning the Golden Boot". Egypt Independent. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ Elkommos Youssef, Anthony (28 May 2019). "Egypt's Sarah Essam wins Stoke City Ladies' top scorer award". King Fut. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Ismail, Ali (4 September 2021). "Egypt exit Women's Arab Cup after heavy defeat against Jordan". King Fut. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ "قائمة لاعبات منتخب مصر الرسمية المستدعاه لخوض مباراتان جنوب السودان". Facebook. 2 September 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ "Egypt 4-0 South Sudan". Soccerway. 20 September 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ "South Sudan 0-4 Egypt". Soccerway. 24 September 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ "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]- Sarah Essam at playmakerstats.com
- 1999 births
- Egypt women's international footballers
- Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in England
- Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in Spain
- Egyptian women's footballers
- Expatriate women's footballers in England
- Expatriate women's footballers in Spain
- Living people
- Women's association football forwards
- Women's association football midfielders
- Women's association football wingers
- Wadi Degla SC (women) players
- Egyptian Women's Premier League players