Pyramids FC goalkeeper El Shenawy finally gets another big chance in CAF Champions League final

Photo: Pyramids FC/Facebook

It has been a career filled with promise, initial triumph and then major obstacles for Pyramids FC goalkeeper Ahmed El Shenawy, who will be a key player on Saturday when the CAF Champions League final opens with the first leg in South Africa with Pyramids facing Mamelodi Sundowns.

The now 34-year-old shot stopper always showed the potential to join Egypt's legendary class of goalkeepers that includes the likes of Essam El Hadary and Ahmed Shobeir. Following a long career filled with untimely injuries and unfortunate circumstances, the 2024-25 CAF Champions League final will be El Shenawy's latest opportunity to make his name known throughout all of Africa.

Early years and rise to stardom

El Shenawy's career began with the top club in his native city Port Said at Al Masry SC. A promising youth career saw El Shenawy earn regular playing time with Masry by the time he was 19-years-old during the 2009-10 Egyptian Premier League season, a rare sight in a position that prioritizes experience.

Ahmed El Shenawy during his early career with Al Masry

In addition, El Shenawy was the number one goalkeeper for the Egypt under-20 national team during this time. The highly regarded youth prospect won the award for Best Goalkeeper at the 2011 African Youth Championship (now the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations) and was part of the Egypt squad that advanced to the Round of 16 at the FIFA U-20 World Cup later that year alongside Mohamed Salah.

However, the first obstacle in El Shenawy's club career did not take long to materialize. The infamous Port Said stadium riot took place during a match between Masry and Cairo giants Al Ahly in the 2011-12 season, resulting in 74 deaths in an incident that caught the attention of the entire world. El Shenawy was the goalkeeper for Al Masry in that match, witnessing scenes no football player ever expects or wishes to experience.

While the chaos on the pitch was clear in Egypt, the political circumstances of the time also played a role in disrupting Egyptian football. The remainder of the 2011-12 season was cancelled due to the stadium riot and Al Masry elected to not take part in the following season, which also ended up being disrupted and cancelled due to a coup d'etat that resulted in the ouster of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsy.

El Shenawy moves to a bigger stage with Zamalek

With Masry out of action for the 2012-13 season, El Shenawy was loaned to Zamalek for the 2012-13 season where he made only one appearance. The Cairo club saw his potential and with long-time goalkeeper Abdel-Wayed El-Sahed on his way out of the club, El Shenawy was signed on a permanent basis to be the number one.

It was a dream start to life in the high pressure environment of Zamalek. El Shenawy and his team won the league and the goalkeeper set a club record for the longest clean sheet streak, playing seven matches without conceding and earning nineteen clean sheets that season for the league champions.

However, unfortunate circumstances once again arrived into the career of El Shenawy towards the end of a very successful season for the goalkeeper. In the group stage of the 2015 CAF Confederation Cup, El Shenawy came out to play the ball and tripped up Rudy Ndey, a forward from opponents AC Léopards of the Republic of Congo. Ndey fell onto the back of his neck, resulting in a spinal cord injury and cerebral hemorrhage that rendered him a quadriplegic and ended his football career.

Warning: The video below features a spinal cord injury and may be disturbing for viewers.

El Shenawy reflected on the incident in comments to Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm:

"I approached him immediately after he fell to the ground to check on him and make sure he wasn't harmed in any way, after I looked at him and saw his eyes turned toward the sky. But after he spoke to me and asked me to call the medical staff, I calmed down a bit."

El Shenawy's rise then fall with the Egypt national team

El Shenawy's excellent performances early in his career were noticed by Egypt national team coaches. Interim coach Hany Ramzy gave El Shenawy an early opportunity against Niger in qualifying for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. After Egypt failed to qualify, the under-20 team was featured in Egypt's final qualifying match against Niger where El Shenawy performed brilliantly in the "dead rubber" match.

El Shenawy featured sporadically for the next couple of years under American coach Bob Bradley, notably being substituted in the first half of Egypt's infamous 6-1 2014 World Cup qualifying defeat at Ghana in the first leg of their playoff round duel.

Manager Héctor Cúper called the Zamalek goalkeeper into his squad. With Egyptian legend Essam El-Hadary well into his forties and appearing to be towards the end of his career, Cúper designated El Shenawy as his starter for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign after El Shenawy previously played a role in Egypt's failed attempt to qualify for the 2015 edition.

Despite missing a couple of qualification games due to injury, El Shenawy appeared to be the goalkeeper of the future ahead of his namesake, current Al Ahly goalkeeping legend Mohamed El Shenawy. After a smooth qualification campaign that saw Egypt finish top of their group, Ahmed El Shenawy was set to start at the finals hosted by Gabon.

However, yet again, injury intervened at the worst possible time. Only twenty minutes into his Africa Cup of Nations debut against Mali, El Shenawy was forced off due to a hamstring injury, ironically while in the process of making an incredible save.

El-Hadary replaced him and since then, El Shenawy has only appeared twice for Egypt. El-Hadary went on to play for Egypt at their first-ever World Cup appearance in 2018 and Mohamed El Shenawy then became the preferred choice after El-Hadary's retirement as Ahmed continued to struggle with numerous injuries.

The Pyramids era and return to prominence

After the misfortune of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, a couple of difficult years followed where El Shenawy's injury troubles were at their peak. A knee ligament injury followed his hamstring issues, keeping El Shenawy out of action for a long period.

The rise of big spending club Pyramids FC provided a lifeline to El Shenawy's career. Signed soon after the rebranding of the club from previous name Al Assiouty Sport, El Shenawy battled with injuries and El Mahdy Soliman for three seasons before finally claiming the starting goalkeeper position with Pyramids during the 2022-23 season.

After over three years out of the Egypt national team, El Shenawy was also recalled to the Pharoahs in 2022 where he continues to be a backup to Mohamed El Shenawy. Even if he has not reclaimed the #1 shirt with Egypt, El Shenawy is back to his best form and health to finally fulfill the potential that so many supporters and experts of Egyptian football saw in him.

Now with a CAF Champions League final beginning on Saturday with a fierce test in Pretoria against Mamelodi Sundowns, El Shenawy will finally be on the continental stage once again for the biggest moment so far in his career revival.