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Top 10 Amazing Facts about Mohamed Elneny

Mohamed Naser Elsayed Elneny is a professional Egyptian football player. Elneny plays defensive midfield for Arsenal, the Premier League club. He also plays for the Egyptian national team. Born on 11 July 1992, Elneny began his football career when he first played for the Egyptian national team. In January 2013, he moved to the Swiss club, Basel.

While with Basel, Elneny won eight honours. Among the awards is the Swiss Super League which Elneny won in each of his four seasons. After four seasons at Basel, Elneny transferred to Arsenal in January 2016. During the 2012 Summer Olympics, Elneny played for the Egyptian under-23 team. He also played at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2017, 2019 and 2021 as part of the senior team. Additionally, he played at the FIFA World Cup in 2018.

Highlighted below, are ten incredible facts about Mohamed Elneny.

1. He was playing for Al Mokawloon when the Egyptian Football Association cancelled the season

The official logo of Al Mokawloon Al Arab, an Egyptian Sports club. Photo by arabcontclub.com /

During his youth, Elneny played for Al Ahly in Egypt. He later transferred to Al Mokawloon in 2008 and became a regular in the starting line-up. In February 2012, Egypt experienced the Port Said Stadium disaster and all matches were cancelled. The Egyptian Football Association decided to cancel the remaining season.

2. He was invited to the FC Basel training club for his unofficial debut

From 14 to 24 January 2013, Basel invited Elneny to their training club in Estepona. He made his unofficial debut in a friendly match. The match against Steaua București was played on 18 January 2013.

Murat Yakin was impressed with Elneny and signed him on loan on 29 January 2013. The contract ran till the end of June 2013. During the 2012 – 2013 season, Elneny made his debut for Basel in the Swiss Super League Season.

3. He joined Basel and was part of the team that won the Championship title that season

Basel FC supporters at a 2011/2012 UEFA Champions League match against FC Bayern Munich in St.-Jakob-Park. Photo by Luca-bs /

During the 2012 – 2013 season, Elneny won the Championship title. Basel was also runner-up in the Swiss Cup. Basel was paired against Chelsea during the 2012 – 2013 UEFA Europa League. Basel lost both home and away matches and was knocked out on a 2 – 5 aggregate.

4. In December 2020, his goal was the runner-up goal of the month on the Arsenal website

During the 2020 FA Community Shield, Elneny was on the starting line-up for Arsenal. The match which was played on 28 August 2020 saw Arsenal beat Liverpool in the penalty shootout. The game ended in a 1 – 1 draw at full time but the penalties gave Arsenal a 5 – 4 win.

On 1 November 2020, Elneny’s performance helped Arsenal clinch their first win at Old Trafford since 2006. After his return from the international break, Elneny scored his first goal of the season. The remarkable volley was listed on the Arsenal website. It was the runner-up goal of the month. He later received the goal of the season recognition.

5. He signed a four-year contract with Basel in May 2013

Panorama of the St. Jakob Park stadium. Photo by me/Kevin Näf /

Basel signed Elneny in May 2013. He signed a four-year contract permanently. On 16 April 2014, he scored his first goal for Basel against Zurich at St. Jakob-Park. At the end of the 2013 – 2014 season, Elneny was part of the Basel team that won the championship.    

They reached the Swiss Cup final the same season. They however lost to Zurich during extra time. They finished third in the Champions League group stages during the same season. This enabled them to qualify for the Europa League where they made it as far as the quarter-finals.

6. Basel finished runners-up in three consecutive seasons with Elneny scoring 5 goals in the matches

During the 2014 – 2015 season, Elneny and FC Basel had a successful year. That year they won the championship for the sixth time in a row. They also reached the Swiss cup final finishing as runners-up.

During that season, Basel played 65 matches in total. This included 15 test matches, 6 Swiss Cup matches, 8 Champions League and 36 Swiss League matches. Elneny made a total of 51 appearances that season and scored 5 goals.

7. He appeared in the Amazon Original behind the series docuseries for Arsenal

During the 2021 – 2022 season, Elneny appeared in the Amazon Original docuseries All or Nothing: Arsenal. The series highlighted behind-the-scenes episodes for coaching staff and players. The episodes were filmed on and off the football field.

8. Elneny played for the National team and the under-23 team

During the 2012 Olympics, Elneny was instrumental in getting the under-23 team to the Olympics. He played in four matches enabling Egypt to reach the last eight. They however lost to Japan and were knocked out of the competition.

His first international debut was in September 2011 against Sierra Leone. His first goal for Egypt was during a friendly match against Jamaica on 4 June 2014.

He was part of the Egyptian national team that took part in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon. In addition, Elneny helped the Egyptian team qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament held in Russia.

9. He signed with Arsenal in 2016 for more than 5 million GBP

Mohamed Elneny during a game against Burnley. Photo by joshjdss/

After an Arsenal and Liverpool match on 13 January 2016, the Arsenal coach confirmed Elneny’s signing. Official confirmation came the following day and Elneny transferred for an undisclosed fee. The amount is said to be between 5 and 7.4 million GBP.

Arsenal assigned Elneny the number 35 jersey. He is the first Egyptian to play for Arsenal. His debut for Arsenal occurred on 30 January in the fourth round of the FA Cup match. The match was against Burnley and Arsenal won 2 – 1.

His first goal for Arsenal was against Barcelona. This was during the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16. In March, Elneny received an Arsenal’s Player of the Month award.

10. He was on loan to BeÅŸiktaÅŸ and only scored only one goal for the team

Egypt’s Mohammed Elneny during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Photo by Кирилл Венедиктов/

Elneny was on loan to BeÅŸiktaÅŸ J.K. for a full season. He joined the team on 31 August 2019 and the clause had an option for a buyout. During his debut with the Turkish club on 14 September, Elneny was sent off.

During that match, Gazisehir Gaziantep beat Beşiktaş 3 – 2. On 25 July 2020, Elneny made another appearance for Beşiktaş. In the match against Genclerbirligi, Elneny scored his only goal for the team. This ended in a 3 – 0 win for Beşiktaş.