Shikabala

Club career

Early career Shikabala joined the youth academy of Zamalek SC at 8 and made his first team appearance in a cup match early in 2002, scoring the winning goal at the age of 16. He remained with the first team squad since then but had very limited playing time and no professional contract, which is why he was able to leave Zamalek and join PAOK FC in January 2005 for no transfer fee. He enjoyed one relatively successful season with PAOK; however, despite the Greek club being adamant that he would remain at the club until the end of his contract in 2009, Shikabala subsequently returned to Egypt in 2006 for military service. Shikabala had chosen the number 10, the number he previously had at Zamalek. On his unofficial debut in a friendly match against Omani club side Al Shabab, he assisted both of Al Wasl's goals in a 2–2 draw. His official debut was against Ittihad Kalba in the Emirates Cup where he put in a man of the match performance in 4–2 win for Al Wasl. He scored from a free-kick in the second half and assisted for 2 other goals. On his league debut against Al-Wahda, he scored one and assisted one in Al Wasl's 4–1 win. He also netted against Ajman in a 2–0 win, scoring a very nice second goal. After former Al-Wasl coach Bruno Metsu stepped down from coaching Al Wasl due to stomach cancer, Shikabala scored the game right after his resignation against Al Dhafra and he immediately went to a picture of Metsu on the sides and kissed the picture of Metsu on the cheek, then patting the "get well soon" message on the board. Shikabala's tribute to Metsu earned the praise of Al Wasl fans, and Emirate people and media.

However, it wasn't long after that when Shikabala was involved in his first controversy with the club. After a crushing 5–0 loss to fellow league club Al Ain, Shikabala appeared a few days later with Egyptian super star singer Tamer Hosny, during one of his concerts in the UAE. This caused the outrage of many Al Wasl fans and the disappointment of the club's board, especially in light of his club suffering the worst defeat of the year.

Shikabala continued as one of the teams stars as he picked up an assist in almost every match he played. In a match against Bani Yas, which had fellow Egyptian star Mohamed Zidan in their ranks. Shikabala scored in the 1–3 loss to Bani Yas and oddly enough, both players left the match with serious injuries. Shikabala was left out for a month with a thigh injury. Shikabala travelled to Egypt to get his treatment back home but he failed to return to Dubai on time when he was supposed to. The club was disappointed with his late return, which came days after originally anticipated. After weeks of speculation and rumors, Al Wasl had ended Shikabala's loan contract from Zamalek.

Return to Zamalek Upon his controversial return from Al Wasl, Shikabala was unable to play for Zamalek for the rest of the 2012–13 season as his loan move outside of CAF restricted him from playing again for Zamalek until the following season. On 29 March 2013, English side Nottingham Forest Club president Fawaz Al-Hasawi expressed great interest in signing the player in the summer of 2013.

Even though Shikabala was unable to play for the club, the Zamalek board had demanded that he train with the team but head coach Jorvan Vieira had refused since he didn't want someone in the team's training "that would not be able to play." As of 1 July 2013, Shikabala's loan from Al Wasl would have ended, granting him the ability to play for Zamalek once more. Shikabala made his return debut on 24 July 2013 CAF Champions League match against Al Ahly in the 57th minute. He would go on to play all 6 matches in the group stage of the Champions League scoring 2 goals and assisting 2 goals. Zamalek would then participate in the 2013 Egypt Cup. Playing the full 90 minutes in all 4 matches, Shikabala would lead Zamalek to the cup title after a 3–0 win against Wadi Degla. Shikabala had 4 assists and scored 1 goal, which was the final goal of the 3–0 win in the final from a wonderfully taken free-kick from over 30 yards out, in the tournament. 10 games after returning from Al Wasl, Shikabala scored 3 goals and had 6 assists.

As the 2013–14 Egyptian Premier League season was approaching in late December 2013, Shikabala caused yet more controversy by not showing up for training and threatening to terminate his contract with Zamalek unless he was paid his late wages over the past 3 years (from January 2011 to January 2014), which all accumulated to about 5.5 million Egyptian Pounds (almost 791,000 US dollars). On 5 January 2014, Shikabala officially terminated his contract with Zamalek as the Zamalek board was unable to both pay his late wages and convince him to stay at the club. Many of the Zamalek fans were angry with Shikabala's abrupt departure. There were many rumors however linking Shikabala to many clubs in Europe after putting fine displays for Zamalek over the years and during his loan spell at Al Wasl. After weeks of speculation about resigning for Zamalek or leaving, Shikabala, due to his love for his boyhood club, decided to sign with Zamalek and leave through the club so that Zamalek can benefit financially from his sale to help solve the financial problems the club was facing. The Zamalek board agreed to sell Shikabala at the end of the January transfer window for the proper price.

Sporting CP On 29 January 2014, it was announced that Shikabala signed for the Portuguese club Sporting CP for 700,000 dollars and would travel the following day to Lisbon to complete a medical and officially sign with the club. In the final hours of the January transfer window, there were several problems with the negotiations between Shikabala, Sporting, and Zamalek but with 3 minutes remaining in the transfer window, they finally agreed to a deal of 700,000 US dollars in addition to 5% of any future sale if Sporting decide to sell Shikabala to another club. Shikabala decided to wear the number 7 jersey in Sporting. Shikabala made his first appearance for the reserve team on 16 February 2014 against Tondela. He started the match but was substituted 28 minutes into the game after picking up a minor ankle injury.

Shikabala made very few appearances for the team and was benched for a huge amount of the following season, only making a few appearances for the reserve team and one appearance in the first team.

His most notable contribution was his goal against Azores XI during the Pedro Pauleta Trophy, ending the tournament with a 2–1 for Sporting CP and smashing the record number of live viewers through the club's official website.

His Portuguese representative, Paulo Faria, made a lot of negative remarks about his behavior since their friendly match with Ittihad Alexandria in early August 2014. The club have since issued a statement on their website, defending Shikabala.

In September 2014, Shikabala went to Egypt to play for his national team, since then he did not return to Sporting or to Portugal. His salary was frozen and his house and car were taken due to lack of payments.

Second return to Zamalek and loan to Ismaily On 27 August 2015, Zamalek officially signed Shikabala after his unsuccessful attempt with Portuguese side Sporting. "Zamalek chairman Mortada Mansour has approved a five-season contract deal with the player," the club's official website stated. He was immediately loaned to Egyptian league side Ismaily SC as there was no place for the player in Zamalek's closed squad. Following the 2015–16 season, Shikabla completed his loan and returned to Zamalek as the team captain.

Loans to Al-Raed and Apollon Smyrnis After a loan spell at Saudi Arabian club Al-Raed in 2017–18, where he made an impressively good performance finishing the season scoring 11 goals for his club. Shikabala was loaned to Apollon Smyrnis of the Greek Super League in August 2018.

Third return to Zamalek and retirement On 30 June 2019, Shikabala returned to Zamalek after the end of his loan to Apollon Smyrnis. In his third spell with his home team, he won the Egyptian Premier League in 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons. He also won with Zamalek the Egyptian Super Cup in 2019–20 and the Egypt Cup in 2021. At the continental level, he won with Zamalek the CAF Super Cup in 2020 and the CAF Confederation Cup in 2023–24.

He won with Zamalek the 2024 CAF Super Cup, after beating Al Ahly 4–3 in a penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in the famous match known as the African Super of the Century, to mark Shikabala's third and Zamalek's fifth title of the CAF Super Cup. His final trophy with the White Castle was the 2024–25 Egypt Cup title. On 3 July 2025, Shikabala announced his retirement from professional football. The Egyptian star who garnered 18 title with his home team Zamalek, announced the retirement in an emotional televised interview, where the "Apache" struggled to hold back tears while declaring his retirement ending an illustrious career spanning for over two decades.

International career Shikabala made his international debut on 3 June 2007 in an Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against Mauritania. While he has never played a major role on the national team, Shikabala has made several appearances during key parts of Egypt's recent history. He was part of Egypt's squad in the 2010 African Cup of Nations, featuring in one match as Egypt ended up as winners for the seventh time and third in a row. He decided to resign from international football in 2010, citing racist insults that he had endured from Al Ahly fans during the Cairo derby and saying that he did not want to confront such situations in international games. However, on 8 August 2012, he was called up by manager Bob Bradley for friendly matches against Benin and Cameroon.

After being featured in the squad for Egypt's 2014 African Nations Championship qualifying campaign, Shikabala endured a three-year absence from the national team. He returned to the squad on 12 November 2017, where he scored his second official international goal against Ghana in Egypt's final World Cup qualifier. In June 2018, Shikabala was named to Egypt for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Style of play

Shikabala was not a traditional winger, he usually played in a free role, either as a forward and an attacking midfielder behind the forwards, or as a second striker in a front–two. Described as a "classic number 10", He was renowned for his dribbling ability, vision, close ball control, passing and creativity. He scored many goals from powerful shots outside the box with his left foot. He was also a generous assistant for his teammates. His style is characterized by skillful close control and using trickery to get past opponents, rather than relying solely on pace. Shikabala is renowned for his ability to weave past defenders, often using small touches and tricks. While his skills are undeniable, he has also been described as potentially volatile.

Career statistics Club

International

Scores and results list Egypt's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Shikabala goal. + List of international goals scored by Shikabala No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition 1 12 June 2007 Al-Sadaqua Walsalam Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait 2 1–1 1–1 Friendly 2 12 November 2017 Baba Yara Stadium, Kumasi, Ghana 28 1–0 1–1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours Zamalek

Egyptian Premier League: 2002–03, 2003–04, 2020–21, 2021–22 Egypt Cup: 2007–08, 2012–13, 2015–16, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2024–25 Egyptian Super Cup: 2017, 2020 CAF Confederation Cup: 2023–24 CAF Super Cup: 2003, 2020, 2024 Arab Club Championship: 2003 Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup: 2003 Egypt

African Cup of Nations: 2010 Nile Basin Tournament: 2011

Individual Egyptian Premier League top goalscorer: 2010–11 (Shared with Ahmed Abd El-Zaher) EFA Egyptian Player of the Year: 2011