The Egypt national football team, nicknamed the Pharaohs, represents Egypt in men's international football, and is governed by the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), the governing body of football in Egypt. It has been a member of FIFA since 1923 and was a founding member of the CAF in 1957.
Egypt is the oldest and most successful team in the history of African football, having won the Africa Cup of Nations for a record 7 times and reached the final 10 times. They won the cup 3 times consecutively in 2006, 2008, and 2010 which is a feat unmatched by any other team. Internationally, Egypt is the first country in the world outside Europe and the Americas to participate in the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. The Egyptians qualified to 13 Olympic Games (an African record), as well as 4 World Cups. Egypt’s first Olympic football participation came in 1920 Antwerp. Their first participation in a World Cup, slated to be in 1930 but the team couldn't travel due to a storm, was in the 1934 edition. Their best result came in 2026, when they reached the Round of 16 after advancing past the group stage for the first time in their history.
Egypt achieved 4th place at 3 Olympics: in 1928 Amsterdam, 1964 Tokyo, and 2024 Paris. The Egyptians have also reached the Quarter-finals of Olympic football at 5 other editions. Moreover, Egypt earned the honor of becoming a bronze medalist at the 2001 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina. In 2010, Egypt reached 9th place in the FIFA world rankings, marking a massively successful era in Egyptian history that saw the Pharaohs win the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations and defeated World Champions Italy in the FIFA Confederations Cup the year before.
History
1920s: International successes before continental domination The inaugural Olympic football tournaments of 1900 and 1904 have seen the participation of European and North American club teams respectively. However, for a long history between 1908 and 1948, the Olympic Games were the world’s most prestigious Association football competition. Hence, Full "National A" teams used to participate in Olympic football tournaments.
In light of this, the first Egyptian national football team was constituted in 1920. The Pharaohs became the first African football team to compete in the Summer Olympics in Belgium. Egypt became the first country in the world outside Europe and the Americas to participate in the Olympics. The opening match of their campaign was a close 2–1 loss against the Italians.
Egypt then made its second Olympic appearance at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. In the second round, the Egyptians have astonishingly defeated the global elites Hungary 3–0. But they were ultimately eliminated in the quarter-finals against Sweden.
The Egyptian team made history at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam by finishing in 4th place, becoming the first African and non-European team to reach the semi-finals of a major global football tournament.
1934–1952: First World Cup appearance After the creation of the FIFA World Cup in 1930, the FIFA has restricted the participation of elite players in the Olympics to prevent the prestigious Olympic football tournament from eclipsing its newly born international cup.
Between 1952 and 1980, national amateur teams were the type of team allowed by FIFA to participate in the Olympics. However, countries from the Warsaw Pact, mainly Eastern Europe, competed with essentially professional players nominally employed by organs of the state such as armed forces.
While in 1984 and 1988, national teams (with UEFA/CONMEBOL restrictions) were allowed to participate. Then in 1992, the FIFA decided national U23 teams can participate. But since 1996, national U23 team with 3 overage players are allowed to compete at the Olympics.
Since the inauguration of the FIFA World Cup, Egypt has qualified for the FIFA World Cup 4 times: in 1934, in 1990, in 2018, and in 2026. In the 1934 FIFA World Cup qualification, Egypt became the first African country to qualify for the World Cup, beating Mandatory Palestine in the first leg by a score of 7–1 in Cairo and the second leg by a score of 4–1 in Jerusalem.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the Pharaohs featured iconic pioneers of Egyptian football, including Hussein Hegazi, Mohamed Latif, Mostafa Taha, Mahmoud Mokhtar El-Tetsh, Mustafa Mansour, and Hassan El-Far. They lost to Hungary 4–2 in their first and only match in 1934, with the two Egyptian goals scored by the centre forward Abdulrahman Fawzi.
In the qualification process for the 1938 World Cup. The Egypt national football team competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, officially finishing in equal 9th place. They played only one match, a Round of 16 fixture on 5 August 1936, where they were defeated 3–1 by Austria, with Abdel Karim Sakr scoring Egypt's lone goal. Egypt finished in joint-ninth place overall at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. They began their campaign with a 7–1 victory over Turkey but were subsequently eliminated in the next round, suffering a 2–1 loss to Denmark in extra time. The Pharaohs featured several notable stars of the era: forwards: Yehia Emam, Hanafy Bastan, El-Sayed El-Dhizui, Abdel-Karim Sakr, Ahmed Mekkawi, and Abdel Aziz El-Hammami. Egypt withdrew. They did not enter 1950 qualification.
1952–1970: First African Cup titles and another Olympic achievement
The Egypt national football team competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, finishing in joint 9th place. The Egyptian squad defeated Chile 5–4 in a thrilling match in Lahti, where El-Sayed El-Dhizui scored a hat-trick, and Ahmed Mekkawi and Sharif El-Far added a goal each. Egypt then was eliminated after losing 3–1 to Germany on 20 July 1952. The Pharaohs won the gold medal at the inaugural 1953 Arab Games hosted in Alexandria. Managed by Abdelrahman Fawzy, the Egyptian squad dominated the tournament, securing victories against Palestine by a score of 8–1, Libya 10–2, and defeating Syria 4–0 in the final. The squad featured key players from the era's top clubs, including Hanafy Bastan, El-Sayed El-Dhizui, Sharif El-Far, and Ad-Diba.
In 1954 qualifying, they faced Italy but failed to qualify. The Egyptian team won the gold medal at the 1955 Mediterranean Games held in Barcelona. This marked Egypt's first-ever tournament championship in Mediterranean Games football. The squad was managed and represented by a golden generation of Egyptian football, featuring key players such as defender Hanafy Bastan, Essam Baheeg, and Raafat Attia. In 1957, The Pharaohs first participated in the first Africa Cup of Nations tournament in 1957. In their first game, a semi-final, they faced Sudan, winning 2–1; Egypt won 4–0 in the final.
Egypt withdrew for the 1958 World Cup due to the fact that they had to play Israel in qualification, who was a political enemy (see Egypt–Israel relations article). One year later, Egypt won the AFCON tournament for the second time in a row. There were only three teams in that tournament, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt, who were undefeated. Between 1958 and 1961, the country had a political union with Syria and went under the name of United Arab Republic (UAR), though the Egyptian team's records are attributed to Egypt only by FIFA as it was represented by Egyptian footballers.
The Egyptian squad competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome under the name UAR. They finished third in Group C, recording one win, one draw, and one loss to be eliminated in the preliminary round. Additionally, they were tied in 13th place with Chinese Taipei, Tunisia, and India. (see Rome 1960 Olympics Football Results) In the 1962 Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt lost 4-2 to Ethiopia, marking the first time to get eliminated from the Africa Cup of Nations. The Pharaohs withdrew from the 1962, 1966 and 1970 World Cup tournaments afterwards.
Egypt's fourth AFCON appearance came in 1963 in Ghana. Egypt was placed in Group B with Sudan and Nigeria, defeating Nigeria 6–3, but drawing 2–2 against Sudan. Despite being undefeated in the group stage, they were ranked second behind Sudan by goal difference (see African Nations Cup 1963). Egypt, as runners-up in Group B, participated in the third-place match, playing against Ethiopia, winning 3–0.
The Pharaohs had again achieved their best-ever Olympic result at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo by finishing in 4th place (see Tokyo 1964 Olympics Football Results). This remains tied with their 1928 performance as the highest placement by an African nation at the time. Egypt was placed in Group C alongside Brazil, Czechoslovakia, and South Korea. They advanced to the quarterfinals by securing 2nd place in their group. Notably, Egypt held Brazil to a 1–1 draw and defeated South Korea 10–0. In the knockout Stage, Egypt defeated Ghana 5–1 in the quarterfinals. They were defeated against Hungary in the semifinals and subsequently lost the bronze medal match to the United Team of Germany.
In 1965, Egypt won the football gold medal at the 1965 Arab Games in Cairo. The Egyptian squad featured notable players, including Abdel Karim El-Gohary, Hassan El-Shazly, Moustafa Reyadh, Mahmoud Abou-Regaila, and Taha Ismail. In the group stage, Egypt was drawn with Palestine, Iraq Lebanon, and South Yemen (also called Aden after their capital city). Their first match against Iraq was initially postponed due to overcrowding concerns, but in the end, Egypt went to win that match 1–0. They also thrashed Aden 14–0, beat Lebanon 3–0, and won against Palestine 2–1 to top the group with 8 points across their four matches.
In the semifinals, Egypt earned another heavy win, beating Libya 8–1. In the final, they ended their campaign with a 2–0 win against Sudan, winning the tournament.
For the 1965 Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt qualified for the tournament, but withdrew because of their diplomatic relationship with hosts Tunisia. They also withdrew in 1968.
1970s In the 1970 Africa Cup of Nations, hosted again in Sudan, Egypt were in Group B along with Ghana, Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as Congo-Kinshasa at the time. In their opening match, Egypt defeated Guinea 4–1 and drew Ghana 1–1, before defeating Congo-Kinshasa 1–0. Egypt topped the group, thus advancing to the next round, where they faced Sudan. Egypt eventually lost their first game in the AFCON by a score of 2–1, then in the third place match, won against Ivory Coast 3–1.
The Pharaohs won the inaugural 1972 Arab Cup of Nations hosted in Baghdad. They defeated the host country, Iraq, 3–1 in the final, with goals scored by Hassan El-Shazly and two goals from Abdel Aziz Abdel Shafi. In the same year, Egypt failed to qualify for the AFCON for the first time in 1972 after being eliminated by Morocco by an aggregate score of 5–3.
The Pharaohs won the Bronze medal at the 1973 All-Africa Games. The next year, Egypt entered 1974 World Cup qualification, but did not qualify. However, Egypt returned for 1974, hosting the event, eventually finishing in third place. Egypt won the 1975 Arab Cup of Nations, which was the third and final edition of the tournament. Hosted in Tunisia, the Egyptian team claimed their second title by defeating Iraq 1–0 after extra time in the final. Under the captaincy of Taha Basry and with a squad featuring Hassan Shehata, who was the tournament's top goal scorer. Egypt dominated the tournament by defeating South Yemen 5–0 and Saudi Arabia 2–1. They advanced to the final by defeating Sudan 3–1, and securing the title on with a 1–0 victory over Iraq, with the winning goal scored by Mahmoud Abdel Dayem. One year later, in Ethiopia, they were in Group A with the hosts, Guinea, and Uganda. Egypt defeated Uganda 2–1, but drew against Uganda and Ethiopia. Egypt advanced to the final round, and lost all matches. This is the first Africa Cup of Nations tournament that Egypt lost three consecutive games. They then failed to qualify for 1978.