Mido

Birth Date: Feb 23 1983
Birth Place: Cairo
Birth Nation: Egypt
Height: 190cm
Weight: 81Kg
Nationality: Egyptian
Position: Forward

A huge star in Egypt and winner of the African Youth Player of the Year award in 2002, he even has his own football academy.

He started his professional career at one of Egypt's biggest clubs, Zamalek, before Belgian club, Gent, spotted him and took him to Europe. After just one season there Ajax Amsterdam bought him and he spent two turbulent years in Holland.

His time there was marked by falling outs with the then coach, Ronald Koeman, and fellow players (he reportedly threw a pair of scissors at then strike partner Zlatan Ibrahimovic). He eventually was moved on to Olympic Marseille and during an unsuccessful time there he was was farmed out to Celta Vigo on loan.

2004 was an eventful year for him, not only did he complete a 4.5 million Euros move to AS Roma, but he also had a massive falling out with Egypt's coach of the time, Marco Tardelli. He had claimed to be unavailable for the national side due to injury but managed to play in a friendly for Roma just 24 hours later. The national federation announced he would no longer play for the national side.

In the January 2005 transfer window he signed for Tottenham Hotspur on an 18 month loan period. He scored twice on his debut. With Tardelli no longer in charge of the Egyptian side the national federation announced he would be able to be considered for the side if he would agree to apologise for past indiscretions. So, in February while his team were playing a cup match he was ineligible for, he flew to Egypt and offered his apologies publicly.

He was recalled to the side in March but his recall only lasted till the following Feb (2006) when he was thrown out of the side after an argument with the new coach, Hassan Shehata. Mido had reacted badly to being substituted during the African Cup of Nations semi-final game against Senegal, and he was ruled out of contention for 6 months by the Egyptian FA. He later apologised to the coach and his team-mates for the incident, who won the cup without him.
Mido finished the 2005/6 season as Spurs second highest scorer with 14 goals, but, despite manager Martin Jol's claims to being close to signing him on a permanent basis, Spurs signed Dimitar Berbatov and then announced they would not be signing Mido.

He has since turned down a move to Blackburn Rovers stating he wished to stay at Roma and fight for his place.

Mido