Of all the Barcelona players going to the World Cup this summer, not many will have been considered surprise inclusions by their national teams. Nor will many have sparked the same debate and excitement that the call-up of uncapped 18-year-old Hamza Abdelkarim has stirred in Egypt.
With more familiar names overlooked, the choice of rising star Abdelkarim was the headline news from coach Hossam Hassan's Pharaohs squad last week. Hassan still reigns as Egypt's all-time leading scorer and knows a thing or two about strikers.
With Abdelkarim, the potential is obvious, and could lead to him playing more than a bit-part role this summer. He has already hit the ground running in Barcelona, and his promising displays in the youth ranks have more than justified the decision to bring him over from Al Ahly and make him the first Egyptian player to sign for the Blaugrana.
At 18, Abdelkarim is one for the future, but he’s also a contemporary of Lamine Yamal, the wunderkind born in Catalonia to a Moroccan father, a phenomenon who has impacted hugely on the present, already a European Championship winner with Spain. Lamine’s youthful success at Barca was certainly a stimulus to Abdelkarim to press for a move to the reigning La Liga champions in the January window.
Likewise the progress made by Roony Bardghji, the son of Syrian parents who moved the family from Kuwait to Sweden when their gifted firstborn was six. Bardghji signed for Barca in the summer 2025 transfer window as a teenager, and in the time since has eased himself quickly from the club’s feeder squad, Barcelona Atletic, into the plans of Hansi Flick, head coach of the first team. He has already scored goals, assisted more, and made his senior international debut for Sweden.
Barca’s intention with Abdelkarim, who had made only a handful of first-team appearances, mainly in domestic cups, for Al Ahly, is that he should adapt to the club’s style and expectations at La Masia, the nursery that steers young footballers up the development ladder to Barcelona Atletic and, then, if they thrive, to Barca itself.
The club’s recruitment executives believe he will make that final step quickly, hence the determination with which they negotiated with Al Ahly for Abdelkarim’s signature.
He fits a particular profile Barcelona were seeking, a centre-forward who, in years ahead, could complement the wing play of Lamine and Bardghji in a future Barca where the likes of Pedri, the elegant midfield creator, and playmaker Fermin Lopez, both 23, would still be maintaining the influence they currently have in the side.
It’s a captivating vision. This being Barcelona, there was also a short-term presentational aspect to the capture of Abdelkarim, who shone at the Under-17 World Cup for Egypt last November, alerting various European clubs to the fact here was a genuine prospect.
The Catalan club were delighted to have landed the prize, and to have signed a coveted young goalscorer in the same week that, to their disappointment, an outstanding La Masia graduate, Dro Fernandez, 18, chose to quit Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain.
At Barca, the club’s world-class youth development system is a great source of pride and key to their identity. Abdelkarim can be part of that. His promise is exceptional.
He has already acquired the nickname "The Egyptian Haaland", after Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, for his height, his speed escaping a marker, the power of his left-footed shooting and his confidence and appetite for goals.
There’s a tactical nous to his game, too, apparent in his leadership of the age-group teams he has spearheaded for club and country. The likes of Lamine and Bardghji should soon be taking enthusiastic note of how Abdelkarim’s runs open space for players around him.
Like Haaland – the son of a Norwegian international footballer, Alfie – Abdelkarim has strong sporting genes. His father was a talented volleyball player, renowned for his leap, a quality evident in Hamza, strong in the air and an imposing target for crosses. Two of his aunts also excelled at volleyball.
Coming from a sporting family had its advantages, as did a comfortable Cairo home and relatively elite education. Struck by his maturity, some close observers of Egyptian football made a case that, in spite of his limited appearances for the Al Ahly first team, he should have been at least considered for a place in the full Egypt squad for the Africa Cup of Nations.
He might have been a useful option from the Pharaohs’ bench, or at least benefited from a month practicing alongside, and learning, from the likes of Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush.
“I personally pushed for him to be called up for the Afcon camp and make his international debut even before his senior club debut,” says Amr Nageeb Fahmy, the respected journalist and author of The Pharaohs Hegemony, about Egypt’s pre-eminence in African football. He cites a precedent: “The striker Mido, who was similar to Hamza, was capped for Egypt at 17.”
Mido, whose club career spanned spells in the Netherlands, France, Italy and England, had played a handful of games for Zamalek, when, at 17, he moved to Gent in Belgium. Salah joined Basel of Switzerland, a launch pad for a glorious career, above all with Liverpool, when he was 19. Abdelkarim may never reach the heights of a Salah but, carefully managed by Barcelona, he has the chance to accelerate his development.
That progress will also no doubt be helped by a summer of international experience, and the possibility of making his full Egypt debut at a World Cup finals no less.
