Born June 19, 1947 in Beheira governorate, Egypt Early career *Joined Zamalek at the age of 19 in 1966 but moved to Kuwait's Kazma two years later following the Six-Day Arab-Israeli war. *Made a major impact at then third-division side Kazma, helping them earn promotion to the first division in his third season in Kuwait. *He was loaned to fellow Kuwaiti side Arabi, for whom he produced a string of impressive displays in the Asian Champion Club Tournament, now known as the AFC Champions League, to earn the best player in Asia award in 1970. *Returned to Zamalek in 1971 and remained there until he announced his retirement in 1983. *During that spell, he won with Zamalek two league and three cup titles and finished as the league's top scorer twice in 1977 and 1980. He scored 77 goals in the competition throughout his playing career. *Made his Egypt debut in 1969 and featured in three African Cups in 1974, 1976 and 1980. He was voted best player at the 1974 tournament, which was played on home soil. Coaching career *He spent around a decade managing modest teams without making notable impact until he took charge of Minya in 1997. *He steered Minya to Egyptian Premier League promotion before enjoying similar successes with Sharqeya in 1998 and Suez in 2000. *He was appointed as Egypt's U-20 team coach in 2001, helping them win the African Youth Championship in 2003 before reaching the World Cup quarter-finals few months later. *He nurtured the talents of the likes of Amr Zaki, Emad Meteb and Hosni Abd-Rabou who later formed the backbone of Egypt's senior team. *Shehata, returning to club management, led then second-division side Arab Contractors to Premier League promotion in 2004 and helped them cause a huge upset by beating Cairo giants Ahly in the Egyptian Cup final. Contractors also defeated fellow heavyweights Zamalek in the annual Super Cup. Glory with Egypt *He was named Egypt's senior team manager in late 2004 following the sacking of Italian tactician Marco Tardelli, under whom the team stumbled in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. *Although Shehata failed to rescue the faltering side in the World Cup qualifiers, as they had already dropped many points prior to his arrival, he guided them to African Cup of Nations triumph on home soil in 2006. *Some people attributed that victory to Egyptian fans' support but Shehata proved that it was no fluke when he helped the Pharaohs retain the title in 2008 in Ghana, crushing the likes of Ivory Coast and Cameroon and producing superb displays in the process. *Expectations were sky-high that Egypt would end their World Cup drought but they began their qualifying campaign for the 2010 edition in disappointing fashion, drawing with Zambia in Cairo and losing to Algeria away from home in their first two matches *Egypt made amends in the FIFA Confederations Cup, earning plaudits with a brave display that saw them suffer a last-gasp 4-3 defeat by five-time World Cup winners Brazil before stunning then world champions Italy with a 1-0 win. *Egypt eventually failed to reach the semis following a 3-0 loss at the hands of the United States but they still returned to the World Cup qualifying campaign in a buoyant mood. *They revived their World Cup hopes by recording four consecutive wins to force a one-off playoff game with North African rivals Algeria, who defeated Egypt 1-0 in a bad-tempered game to qualify for the South Africa finals. *Despite another failure to reach the World Cup, Shehata was given a vote of confidence by the Egyptian Football Association (EFA). *He repaid their faith by steering Egypt to an unprecedented third successive Nations Cup title in Angola in 2010 after nearly flawless performances. *However, he was sacked on 6 June after Egypt failed to reach the 2012 Nations Cup after collecting just two points from their first four games in a group which also included South Africa, Niger and Sierra Leone.
