Tewfik Abdallah

Al Ahly's Tewfick Abdallah played for Egypt in the 1920 Olympics alongside Hussein Hegazi. The 23 year old  inside forward then moved to England and joined Derby County. It is likely that this was a result of his knowing the club’s Scottish full-back, Tommy Barbour, who had served in Egypt, where Tewfik had played against the British Army. Tewfik came to the UK to develop his career in engineering, but he was able to play plenty of football during his stay. He spent two seasons at Derby County, playing 15 League games (Division 1 &2) and scoring 1 goal. He then spent a season in Scotland with Cowdenbeath and also turned out for Welsh side  Bridgend Town in The Southern League before returning to League football with Hartlepools United in 1923-24 (11 appearances, 1 goal).
In 1924 Tewfick moved to the United States where he played for a succession of clubs (Providence Clamdiggers, Fall River Marksmen, Hartford Americans, New York Nationals).
He managed the Egypt national team in the 1940s.

Hussein Hegazi

Cairo born Hussein Hegazi came to London as a 19 year old in the summer of 1911 to study Engineering at the University College London. 
He played for Dulwich Hamlet and was soon picked up by Division 2 side Fulham. Hegazi scored  for Fulham against Stockport County on 11.11.11 in what turned out to be his sole appearance for the Craven Cottage club. He felt a sense of loyalty to Dulwich Hamlet, but his situation had also fired a debate on the 'poaching' of players by professional clubs.
Hegazi represented the London FA on 5 occasions.
Hegazi was particularly busy during the spring of 1912 -  in March University College London traveled to Prague, where they were beaten 6-0 and 5-1 by Slavia Prague in successive days . UCL must have grown tired of the sight of Slavia players, as 7 of them also turned out for Bohemian Universities in a game that was drawn 2-2 . 
On the return journey Hegazi scored a hat trick as Olympique Lillois were beaten 3-0.  
In April 1912 he toured Netherlands, playing for Hamlet against Sparta Rotterdam and Hercules Utrecht.
Having won his Cambridge Blue in a 2-1 victory over Oxford, Hegazi returned to Egypt in 1914, initially joining Sekka before moving to Al Ahly. After 8 seasons at Al Ahly he transferred to Zamalek. 
He played for Egypt in the 1920, 1924 and 1928 Olympics as Africa entered the arena of International football.




I am indebted to the work of  Dr Tarek Said and Mr. Jack McInroy.

Egypt

Al Ahly 1911

The development of football in Egypt has a very familiar colonial feel to it.The earliest football was played by Europeans, mainly Britons ( though Kasr El-Nile Club, later known as  Zamalek, was founded by a Belgian in1911).
Then, as national consciousness and anti colonialism evolved more 'home grown' clubs, run by Egyptians for Egyptians, came into being.  For example, Al-Masry was the first club for Egyptians in Port Said, which was full of  clubs for the foreign communities
When, In 1917,  a national football league was begun, foreign military teams were also included.   The competition, Sultan Hussein Cup (1917) was won by British military teams for the first four seasons.
The Egyptian Football Association was established in 1921, but an Egyptian Select XI appeared at the 1920 Olympic games in Antwerp. The 16 man squad included 10 Al Ahly players.They beat Belgium 4-2 in a friendly and then lost 2-1 to Italy before beating Yugoslavia 4-2 in the consolation round.
The 1924 Olympics saw Egypt beat Hungary 3-0 before being tonked 5-0 by Sweden in the quarter finals.
These national teams featured Hussein Hegazi, formerly of Dulwich Hamlet and Fulham.

In the 1928 Olympics Egypt got off to a great start , wins against Turkey (7-1) and Portugal (2-1) putting them in the semi finals, where they lost  6-0 to Argentina. The bronze medal match was a catastrophe, Italy beating Egypt 11-3.

Egypt and Palestine captains Mahmoud Mokhtar  and Gedalyahu Fuchs 

 El-Tetsh (Mahmoud Mokhtar) in action against Palestine

In 1934 Egypt became the first African team to enter the world Cup. They got through to the finals by virtue of  7-1 ( Cairo) and 4-1 (Tel Aviv) victories over Palestine in the qualifying round. 

Egypt  steamed across the Med to Naples where they lost their only game to Hungary. Egypt were managed by a Scotsman, James McRea. Abdel Rahman Fawz became the first African to score in a World Cup finals.
Their goalkeeper, Mustafa Kamel Mansour, who later played for Glasgow side Queens Park, maintained until his death in 2002 that the Egyptians were robbed in this match. 

Egypt en route to Italy, 1934