Background and career
Essam Kamal Tawfiq El Hadary (Arabic: عصام كمال توفيق الحضري; born 15 January 1973) is an Egyptian goalkeeping coach and former professional football goalkeeper. Nicknamed the "High Dam", El Hadary has been described as amongst the greatest Egyptian players of all time.
El Hadary spent the largest portion of his club career with Al Ahly, with whom he won seven Egyptian Premier Leagues, four Egypt Cups, four Egyptian Super Cups, three CAF Champions Leagues, three CAF Super Cups, one Arab Club Champions Cup, and two Arab Super Cups.
Third on the list of all-time appearances for Egypt, El Hadary made 159 international appearances for his nation between 1996 and 2018. He won the Africa Cup of Nations four times, and was named the tournament's best goalkeeper on three occasions. In the 2018 World Cup, at the age of 45 years and 161 days, he became the oldest player in history to play in a World Cup match.
After his retirement, he was very close to being the goalkeeping coach of Étoile Sahel of Tunisia, to be part of the technical staff under the leadership of Jorvan Vieira after agreeing to sign the contract, but his mother's illness forced him to step back in the end.
