Hani Said’s career really took off after his performances as a sweeper for hosts Egypt at the 1997 edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. His displays at the elite event earned Said a move to Italian Serie A side Bari, with his time in the Italian game also taking in spells at Messina, Fiorentina and Catania before joining Belgian outfit Mons in 2004.However, despite earning a transfer to European football at such an early stage in his career, a place in the senior national side proved harder to come by. Indeed, the gifted defender was forced to wait until the retirement of Egyptian legend and fellow sweeper Hany Ramzy before cementing a regular starting berth for the Pharaohs.

After ten years of European football, he returned to his homeland to play for Ismaily before becoming involved in a headline-grabbing transfer tug-of-war at the end of the 2007/08 campaign.. Eventually winning the race for his signature were Egyptian heavyweights Zamalek, who paid a record domestic fee of around one million euros to outbid their fierce rivals, and Said’s first club, Al Ahly.

Said, who is also able to play as a defensive midfielder, is no stranger to controversy, however, having battled back to top form after a six-month ban imposed by CAF’s disciplinary committee in 2002. The ban came after he tested positive for the prohibited substance Nandrolone at that year’s CAF African Nations Cup in Mali.

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