Emam Ashour Metwally Abdel Ghany (; born 20 February 1998) is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder, winger or second striker for Egyptian Premier League club Al Ahly and the Egypt national team. He has also occasionally been deployed as a right-back. Capable of contributing on both halves of the field, Ashour has been described as a "Swiss Army Knife", and "the Egyptian Figo". Despite his talent, Ashour has been criticised for his disciplinary issues and has been labelled a "flawed genius".
Ashour came up through El Mahalla, where he played until 2018. After a season-long loan to Haras El Hodoud, he transferred to Zamalek, where he won the Egyptian Premier League in 2020–21 and 2021–22, the Egypt Cup in 2018–19 and 2020–21, and the Egyptian Super Cup in 2018–19. Ashour briefly transferred to Danish side Midtjylland in the 2022–23 season, before moving to Al Ahly, where he immediately won the Egypt Cup. In the 2023–24 season, he won the Premier League again, alongside the Egyptian Super Cup and the CAF Champions League. He was also named to the 2023–24 Egyptian Premier League Team of the Season. The following season, he also won the Premier League, emerging as the club's talisman. He finished as the league's top goalscorer and was named the league's best player. This was accompanied by another Egyptian Super Cup and the FIFA African–Asian–Pacific Cup. In his second season successively, he was part of the 2024–25 Egyptian Premier League Team of the Season.
As a youth international for Egypt, Ashour won the 2019 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations. He was called up to participate in the 2020 Olympics games. Since then, he has represented the senior Egypt side in the Africa Cup of Nations in 2021, 2023 and 2025. Ashour was a focal player in Egypt's 2026 World Cup campaign, in which they reached the round of 16 – the nation's best-ever World Cup finish.
Early and personal life In July 2026, live with Mona el-Shazly, Ashour recounted how his mother had to throw him off a bus to save his life after a fire broke out inside the vehicle.
Ashour is married to Yasmine Hafez. The couple have one daughter.
Club career Ghazl El Mahlla Ashour began his career in the youth sector of Ghazl El Mahalla and progressed through all of the club's youth teams. He was promoted to the first team for El Mahalla and then moved to Haras El Hodoud on loan for a season. In the 2017–18 season – his last season for Ghazl El Mahalla – he made the most appearances for the first team.
2018–19: Loan to Haras El Hodoud On 22 July 2018, according to Youm7, Ashour signed for Haras El Hodoud on a three-year deal. However, FilGoal, and another report from Youm7, wrote that the transfer was intended to be a two-season loan. Ghazl El Mahalla disclosed that the deal involved a clause necessitating that Haras host the Ghazl El Mahalla team at a hotel in Alexandria during four of their Second Division league matches in the 2018–19 season. Ashour made his debut on 1 August in a 2–1 league defeat to El Entag El Harby in the league, playing for 62 minutes and receiving a yellow card in the 12th minute. On 14 October, Hisham Mohaisen of Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that Ashour was a target for Al Masry SC, acting upon the request of head coach Hossam Hassan. On 19 October, Ashour scored the equaliser for Haras in a 1–1 draw against Smouha. On 26 November, Ashour scored the third goal for Haras in the 88th minute of a 4–1 win over Wadi Degla, in the sixteenth round match of the league competition. On 12 August 2023, Mohamed Fadl, Al Ahly's former Director of Transfers, revealed that Ashour had almost signed with the club in 2018, saying: "The opportunity arose while he was on loan at Haras El Hodoud from Ghazl El Mahalla, but the deal did not go through because of those who succeeded us; ultimately, every coach has their own perspective on players."
On 14 January 2019, Ashour scored the deciding goal in the 94th minute of a 0–1 win against El Dakhleya. On 21 May, Ashour scored another goal against Wadi Degla – an equaliser in the 81st minute – helping Haras to a 1–1 draw. Amidst his 2018–19 campaign, Ashour scored four goals and made one assist in 32 games. On 2 August 2019, Haras' head coach Tarek El Ashry stated that Ashour had left the Haras training camp for Zamalek, and had signed a five-season contract with the Cairene team. He noted that Zamalek had offered Haras players to secure Ashour, and added: "Emam Ashour is a very talented player and a valuable addition to Zamalek, especially given his young age and promising future."
Zamalek 2019–20: Egypt Cup and Egyptian Super Cup On 4 August 2019, Zamalek announced the signing of Ashour on a 5-season contract for a reported EGP 11 million. Ashour himself was due to pay EGP 2 million to activate his release clause. However, Hossam Ezzo, Ghazl El Mahalla's chairman, later said that Ashour "only paid EGP 500,000 and there is EGP 1,500,000 left. When we asked him to pay us in three separate checks, he hasn’t done it and has been avoiding our calls." Ezzo added El Mahalla had received a verdict to imprison Ashour. On 28 August, Ashour made his debut for Zamalek, playing for 33 minutes in a 1–0 win against Misr Lel Makkasa in the quarter-finals of the Egypt Cup. On 8 September, Ashour won the 2019 Egypt Cup final 3–0 against Pyramids, coming off the bench in the 72nd minute. On 20 September, Ashour's Zamalek lost 3–2 to Al Ahly in the 2019 Egyptian Super Cup final. On 23 September, Ashour played his first league match for Zamalek, starting in a 1–0 win over Al Ittihad. He played his second league match on 3 October in a 0–1 win over Misr Lel Makkasa; Ashour appeared visibly angry as he was substituted off in the 37th minute. He reacted heatedly towards assistant coach Ayman Abdel-Aziz, who had urged him to leave the pitch quickly, and his teammates attempted to calm him down. On 3 January 2020, a club source reportedly claimed that Ashour had been excluded from the squad, since manager Patrice Carteron preferred Zizo and Mohamed Ounajem. On 20 February, Ashour won the 2020 Egyptian Super Cup final as an unused substitute. After the match, cameras recorded Ashour assaulting Walid Soliman, an Al Ahly player. Consequently, the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee of the Egyptian Football Association decided to suspend Ashour until the end of the season and fine each those involved 100,000 Egyptian pounds (approximately €5,000). Following appeals, the exclusion was ultimately reduced to a ten-match ban.
On 22 September 2020, Ashour scored the third goal for Zamalek against Tanta in the 96th minute of a league match; it ended with a score of 3–1 in favour of Zamalek. On 5 October 2020, Ashour scored the equaliser in the 81st minute of Zamalek's round of 16 match in the Egypt Cup against Smouha, helping his team to a 2–1 win. Ali Ismail of KingFut labelled him "the main protagonist in helping Zamalek reaching the quarter-finals of the Egypt Cup". On 1 October, Zamalek secured a 1–0 league victory against Al Masry and Ashour played a prominent role in a brawl between the players from both sides. On 6 October 2020, the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee of the Egyptian Football Association announced that Ashour was suspended for one match and fined 50,000 pounds.
2020–21: First league title On 9 January 2021, Ashour scored a brace in Zamalek's 3–0 league win over Talaea El Gaish. Ahmed El-Ramady of KingFut wrote that his first goal was "a rocket from long range", whilst his second came from "a sublime combination play with Ahmed Sayed Zizo". On 12 January, Ashour scored again, netting Zamalek's only goal in a 1–0 victory against Al Masry; with "an unstoppable shot from outside the penalty area that found the top right corner." The win moved Zamalek to the top of the league. Ashour recorded 3 assists in five games between 19 January and 7 February, making these contributions against El Gouna on 19 January, Ghazl El Mahalla on 2 February, and Al-Ittihad Alexandria on 7 February. Ashour scored in a 2–0 league win over Ceramica Cleopatra on 11 March.
On 3 April 2021, Ashour was an unused substitute as Zamalek won 2–0 against MC Alger. Ashour reportedly refused to warm up during the second half, and insulted head coach Patrice Carteron; he was then suspended and temporarily demoted to the U-23 side. On 12 April, after an Egyptian Premier League Youth game in which Zamalek lost away to Al Ahly 2–1, Ashour was filmed leading offensive chants against Al Ahly during the post-match celebrations alongside teammate Ahmed Eid, directed towards Al Ahly's board members, fans, and former president Hassan Hamdy. Al Ahly submitted an official complaint against him; in a statement, the club said: "the player, Ashour, got used to performing such intolerable actions as he previously assaulted Walid Soliman, Al Ahly’s player, during the 2020 Egyptian Super Cup final in the UAE while Soliman was down on the pitch. ... the player is known for his unacceptable behaviour, and the previous penalties didn’t stop him from performing such actions." Former Al Ahly centre-back Wael Gomaa labelled Ashour "still a nobody in the Egyptian footballing scene", and added: "Unfortunately, some people are defending this stupid behaviour from a player who didn’t accomplish anything in Egyptian football". Ashour was ultimately punished with a 12-game suspension, which Zamalek appealed. The Egyptian Football Association allowed him to play the title decider in the U-19 youth league between Zamalek and Al Ahly, scheduled for 26 May, but the match was later postponed. Ashour was included in Zamalek's travelling squad for their match against Al Masry on 24 May, which he was not eligible to play, for the purpose of joining the team at their closed training camp before his imminent return. He returned on 30 May in a goalless draw to El Gouna. On 14 August 2021, Ashour opened the scoring in a 2–0 win against Ismaily; his powerful shot deflected off Ismaily defender Marouane Sahraoui into the goal. On 24 August, Zamalek won the league title with a 2–0 win over Entag El Harby.
2021–22: Domestic double On 7 March 2022, Ashour scored and assisted in a 2–1 league win over Gouna; he scored from the edge of the box in the 16th minute, and assisted Zizo with a long ball two minutes later. He repeated the feat the next league match, scoring and assisting again in a 2–3 win against Pyramids on 6 April. He scored in a third successive league match, netting the sole goal against Makkasa with a long-range shot, on 9 April. On 10 May, Ashour missed a league fixture against ENPPI due to his accumulation of yellow cards.
On 28 June 2022, Ashour scored in a 3–2 win over Ceramica Cleopatra. On 21 July, Emam Ashour scored the winner against Al Ahly in the final of the 2021 Egypt Cup; he "exchanged passes with [Ahmed] El-Sayed on the edge of the area and then curled a low shot into the far corner". Ashour missed Zamalek's league match against Smouha on 24 July owing to suspension, having previously picked up three yellow cards in three successive games. On 5 August, Ashour scored in a 1–4 win over Gouna. He received two yellow cards in the same game and was sent off, prompting a one-match suspension. On 23 August, title rivals Pyramids lost 1–0 to Modern Future, handing Zamalek the league title.
2022–23: 100th appearance and departure
On 1 December 2022, Ashour scored in a 2–2 league draw against Al Masry, opening the scoring in the 20th minute. Ashour scored again in his next match, a 0–4 rout of Tala'ea El Gaish, on 7 December. This streak meant that Ashour had scored in two consecutive league matches for the third season in a row since joining Zamalek. He also assisted in the match; Ahmed Fatouh scored Zamalek's third goal "following a brilliant combination play with Emam Ashour." Ashour made two more assists on 20 and 29 December, against former club Haras El Hodoud and Ismaily respectively.