Amr Zaki

At 41 years old, Amr Zaki has this physical status:

Amr Hassan Zaki, also known as Amr Zaki (born 1 April 1983), is an Egyptian retired professional footballer who competed as a striker. He has played for many clubs in Egypt, Russia, England, Turkey, and Kuwait.

Zaki has made 63 appearances and scored 30 goals for Egypt's national team.

Zaki has been dubbed the "bulldozer" by his peers throughout his career, and has been likened to former England striker Alan Shearer. However, his career has not been without controversy.

Former Wigan boss Steve Bruce had him branded "highly unprofessional" by him.

In addition, his decision not to join English club Portsmouth due to some of the players' nationality sparked much skepticism in the English press.

Personal life

Zaki is a practicing Muslim who has stated that "when I first arrived in England, I was eager to fast all the time and keep praying and also reading Quran in my spare time." On BBC One's Match of The Day, he went 24 days without eating. I fasted on every day and I don't think it affected my results – actually I got better. Despite Zaki's insistence that fasting has never bothered him, Wigan's discovery of it was to be a sticking point. "Steve Bruce said to me that he knew my time, but he wouldn't allow me to play while I'm fasting." "He told me that I would have to choose." I preferred fasting, but then I played many games without alerting him that I'm fasting, and I'm still good.

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Club career

Zaki, a native of Mansoura, began his work at El Mansoura. For the 2003–04 season, he returned to ENPPI. Zaki was the Egyptian Premier League top goalscorer for the 2004–05 season, helped the team win their first trophy, the 2005 Egyptian Cup, as well as being runners-up in the Egyptian Premier League, and Nantes, France. Zaki later agreed to play for Lokomotiv Moscow, the Russian club that had signed him for a reported sum of €1.7 million. However, he did not appear in a single match for Lokomotiv.

Zaki returned to Egypt in 2006 and signed with El Zamalek to play for the Egyptian Premier League. Fans dubbed him the "Bulldozer" and newspapers called him "Egyptian Gladiator" after his strong physical appearances as a forward.

Wigan Athletic signed a one-year loan agreement to bring Zaki to the JJB Stadium in the sum of £1.5 million on July 22, 2008. Zaki scored on his first appearance for Wigan on August 16, scoring two goals in his two pre-season appearances. In a 5–0 victory over Premier League new-boys Hull City on August 30, he scored his first brace for Wigan. Wigan drew with Sunderland on September 13th, his fourth goal in as many games in the Premier League, putting him joint top of the goal scoring charts with Jermain Defoe. Zaki scored in the Premier League again from the penalty spot against Manchester City on September 28, raising his goal to the top of the goal scorers list with 5 goals in six games. He continued his play against Liverpool by scoring two more goals, securing his position as the top scorer in the English Premier League. In 2–1 victories over Portsmouth and Newcastle, he also scored penalties. At one point he was the third top scorer in the Premier League, behind Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka and Manchester City's Robinho, who had 15, 12 and 12 respectively to Zaki's 10.

"When you take a look at this lad and his build," Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan told Alan Shearer, "when you take a look at this lad and his build." He has the same excitement when he gets the ball, and he knows where the target is, so he doesn't have to look up, because he has this intuition. Strikers like that have an instinct for knowing where the goal is located. You can't explain it because you can't give it to anyone. Steve Bruce, the former Wigan boss, has also been impressed with Zaki, and has told the world that he thinks he is "awesome." "He put in a spectacular show," Bruce said. If he continues playing like this, he will have a long future in the Premier League" and "his physique is soaring," and "he has a natural attitude and speed, but of course he wants to achieve goals, which is the most important thing."

Zaki lost from one of Egypt's World Cup qualification matches in April 2009, prompting his former club manager, Steve Bruce, to describe him as the most unprofessional player he had ever worked with. Bruce branded Zaki "highly disrespectful" and fined him the maximum amount allowed for more than a year; "Before this latest tragedy, Zaki had already been fined considerably more than the average person in Britain earns in a year; he will now face another heavy fine." Bruce, on the other hand, said that continually fining him does not seem to change his bad habits. Bruce confirmed on May 17th that the club would not be taking up the option of making his loan contract permanent.

For the 2009–2010 season, Zaki joined Egyptian Premier League side El Zamalek. He turned down a move to Portsmouth, England's Premier League team, because the player had been strongly linked with him during the summer transfer window. His decision was largely criticized in the English press, due to the presence of two Algerians and an Israeli on the team. "After Portsmouth signed an Israeli player and later hired an Israeli football director, a potential transfer was rejected out," Zaki said. On top of that, there is no way I could play at Portsmouth with an Algerian within [sic] their ranks." During his time in El Zamalek, he suffered with injuries, sickness, goal scoring ducks, and his team's position.

Zaki passed a medical with Hull City on January 17, 2010 and the club moved to the club on a five-month loan. He made his Hull debut on January 30, 2010 as a replacement for Jozy Altidore in the 69-minute. Hull and Wolverhampton Wanderers tied the match 2–2 on Saturday. "If an invite from a good club does not come up before the end of my time at Hull, I will return to Zamalek." His loan had been terminated, and he had returned to Zamalek on April 17, 2010.

Zaki returned to Zamalek at the start of the 2010–11 season, putting up good results after scoring 3 goals in the team's first four matches. However, Zaki suffered with a career-threatening injury in October 2010 that kept him away for the better part of ten months. Zaki recovered from injury and competed with Zamalek in the Egypt Cup, scoring twice twice in the semi-final match against defending champions Haras El-Hood, advancing his team to a 2–1 victory, leading his team to qualify for the final.

Zaki's unpaid salaries in November 2011 sparked a financial crisis with Zamalek's board, claiming that he hadn't been paid over a year. The feud lasted three months before Zaki's chairman, Mamdouh Abbas, paid Zaki a substantial share of his late pay. After the drama, Zaki appeared for Zamalek in the first round of the CAF Champions League, defeating Tanzanian club Young Africans. In the 74th minute, Zaki scored the equalizer goal in the 74th minute, and the match ended 1-1.

Zaki's loan moves from Hull City and Wigan were alluring, including good offers from Russia, China, and France, but Zamalek refused to let him go, despite being one of the team's key pillars and celebrity players.

Zaki told Egyptian sports website FilGoal that he regretted his return to England in 2012. Zaki may be called up to Egypt's 2012 London Olympics U-23 tournament as one of the three eligible overage participants, according to Egypt U-23 coach Hany Ramzy. "I think it's a good chance for me to reappear on English grounds," Zaki said. It's a good thing to be back for a second time. Zaki was not selected by Ramzy for the Olympics until recently. However, Zaki began to fail financially throughout 2011 and 2012, and it was considered by some that he could leave the club as a way to bring in cash. Gaziantepspor, several Turkish teams, as well as other Persian Gulf nations, have all expressed an interest in Zaki. Blackpool's English Championship side Blackpool received a letter from the player requesting a one-week trial at the club on July 20, 2012. Zaki and Zamalek had accepted the trial contract but Blackpool later pulled out of the transfer talks and scrapped the trial bid. Middlesbrough, a fellow Championship team, had also shown an interest. After speaking with his former teammates Mido about the club and agreed on a two-year deal, Zaki expressed his desire to join Middlesbrough, but boss Tony Mowbray said he did not commit to Zaki until the season's end. Zaki turned down the invitation. Everything was agreed, his medical, his employment, and his house, according to Zaki's agent, but Middlesbrough changed their minds at the last minute. Amr wanted to join Middlesbrough and help them win promotions, not about money. Amr was excited to fly. Zaki was one of a number of players being tracked by the club, according to a Middlesbrough spokesman, and no bid was made against the player.

Gaziantepspor, a Turkish side, offered Zaki to Zaki in late July 2012, but Zamalek accepted the bid on 31 July 2012. However, speculators appeared on the bid after Gaziantepspor skipped to deliver the formal contract on the agreed deadline. Zaki's move to Gaziantepspor was put into question because of this, and Turkish side Elazspor, which is also interested in signing the player, started to show an interest in signing him. According to Elazspor boss Bülent Uygun, the club's official Selçuk Cengiz ztürk announced on August 6 that Elazspor had reached an agreement with Zamalek to sign Zaki, and that he will join on a three-year contract. He later announced that he would arrive in Egypt on Monday 7 August to complete the transfer. Gaziantepspor officially pulled out of the talks with Zamalek on the next day due to unstated reasons. Later today, Elazspor officially signed Zaki on a two-year contract, which includes the understanding that if Elazspor is relegated to the Turkish second division, the player will be able to leave the club if he so desired. (250,000 Euros)

Zaki made his Elazspor debut against Kasimpasa SK, despite missing the first two games of the season due to registration and personal reasons, making him a replacement in halftime. Zaki put in a fantastic performance against Bursaspor in his third game after losing 0–3 to Beşiktaş in his second game, adding an assist and scoring a disallowed goal due to Zaki being in an offside position. After that, Zaki was forced to miss just 8 appearances out of potential 17.

Zaki begged Elazspor to allow him to leave the team early in December 2012 as he had received a series of calls from England, France, Ukraine, and the Persian Gulf region. Elazspor's board has decided to fork over the player for 400,000 Euros. However, no club paid for Zaki's €400,000 price tag, and Zaki later decided not to get his salary back after two months due to his not receiving his salary since two months. Zaki had officially ended his association with the club in late January, before he became a free agent. He completed his brief time with the Turkish club without goals and with just one assist.

Zaki made a surprising move to former team ENPPI that shocked Egyptian and football fans around the world after being close to signing with Ukrainian giants Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2013 winter transfer window. Zaki had been with the Egyptian club for 2 and a half years before being released in June 2015. Zaki was likely to return to Zamalek once more, but Zaki later revealed that Mamdouh Abbas had "rejected his return to Zamalek." Zaki and the club had terminated the player's contract after a "disagreement" between the two teams, twelve days after he had signed the player. And Zaki was once more a free agent.

Zaki officially signed for Kuwaiti team Al-Salmiya for one year on June 18, 2013 a few days after, and was confirmed to the public a few days later. He was awarded the number 9 jersey. Zaki scored in the league opener against Yarmouk, who scored the final goal in Al-Salmiya's 4-0 victory. He scored his second goal in three games against Kazma in Al-Salmiya's first victory over the Kuwaiti giants in their third game of the season. Zaki and Al Salmiya decided to end the player's contract in December 2013 to avoid any more financial issues, as well as the fact that Zaki wasn't doing as well as he had hoped in the Kuwaiti Premier League and wanted to move to Europe or a different Arab league, following a few injuries and some minor differences with his salary. Zaki scored two goals and received an assist from 9 matches during his time with Al Salmiya.

Zaki had been scheduled to join Moroccan champions Raja Casablanca on January 1, 2014, when the winter transfer window re-opened on December 30th. Zaki cracked his foot and ankle ligaments and required surgery, leaving Zaki out of action for up to three months, resulting in him missing the remainder of the 2013-14 season. However, controversies broke out when Zaki said they had no idea he was going to do a foot surgery, and they later expressed their dissatisfaction with Zaki for not informing the club that they were going to perform a surgery. Raja Casablanca and Zaki later agreed to the termination of the contract in order to prevent any further problems from occurring. Zaki scored 1 goal in three friendlies during the club's winter break. He never made a public appearance for Raja Casablanca. Zaki was now a free agent for the fourth time in two years.

Zaki signed a one-year extension with Lebanese Premier League club Al Ahed on August 16, 2014. The transfer was the most expensive in the league's history to date. He canceled his deal with the club on September 12th, 2014, due to injury issues. He didn't play a single game with the club.

In January 2015, he joined El Mokawloon's 18-month contract unit with his former coach in national team Hassan Shehata. He returned to football after being banned from the game in round 32 of Egypt Cup.

Zaki revealed that he had resigned from football on August 18, 2015, through his Twitter account.

International career

Zaki competed for the Egyptian National Team. Zaki scored the winning goal for Egypt in the second half of the Egyptian Cup of Nations, shortly after being removed from the bench to replace a clearly irate Mido, whose challenge with coach Hassan Shehata resulted in a six-month international ban from the Egyptian Football Association for the player. Egypt later went on to win their fifth continental title.

Zaki scored a goal against Zambia in the group stage and another against Angola in the quarter finals. In addition, he scored another header and then added another goal in the semi-final match against the Ivory Coast. Egypt won the title for the sixth time in a row. He was chosen in the CAN 2008 All Star Starting XI.

Zaki was largely absent from Egypt's national squad for almost two years due to his numerous injuries with Hull City and Zamalek for the 2009–2010 and 2010-11 seasons, despite Egypt's inability to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Zaki had been called up to the national team three times (November 2011, March 2012, and April 2012) and Zaki was forced to leave the squad due to injuries each time. After citing an ear infection as the reason for Zaki's demise for the third time, Bradley was "done with Zaki." According to reports, Zaki was attempting to keep the national team and playing under Bradley Bradley Bradley, but he denied these reports, saying he was going to be called up at any time from now on. And finally, after a long absence from the national team, he was picked by Bradley in October 2012 to play two friendlies against DR Congo and Tunisia. Zaki scored in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Guinea on September 10, scoring his fourth goal in the 4-2 victory after nearly four years drought.

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