For a young striker far from home, the most valuable currency can be the belief of one man. For Hamza Abdelkarim, that man was Hossam Hassan. The Egypt head coach saw enough in the Barcelona youngster to overlook his age and thin international résumé, naming him in a World Cup squad and handing him a stage few players his age ever reach. Now, according to the Spanish newspaper Sport, that backing is gone. Hassan has left his post, and the change lands on Abdelkarim as a genuine setback at a pivotal moment in his international career.
The trust between coach and player mattered because it produced something rare. Hassan gambled on the teenage forward’s talent, and the bet paid off on the biggest stage in football. Abdelkarim featured in most of Egypt’s matches at the tournament and left a clear impression, even as the team’s run ended in heartbreak. Egypt had led Argentina, the defending champions at the time, by two goals before falling in the round of 16, a result that still stands as a striking campaign for the North Africans.
The timing is what makes the coaching change so consequential for the player. Egypt are preparing for two Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Malawi, and the squad is now in new hands. Sport reports that Ali Maher, previously in charge at Ceramica Cleopatra, will take over from Hassan. Attention immediately turns to the incoming manager’s early choices, above all whether a forward who flourished under one regime will keep the opportunities he was given under the next.
Meanwhile, nothing about the moment is simple for Abdelkarim, because his club life has been moving quickly too. He renewed his contract with Barcelona after a strong start to his time there, then represented the under-19 side against Aston Villa in the UEFA Youth League. From there he was promoted into the first-team setup, where he sat on the bench under German coach Hansi Flick. He has also turned out for Barcelona Atlètic, adding minutes at another level as his rise continues.
The Catalan club has formed its own view of what it has in the young Egyptian, one the Spanish outlet reflects in its assessment. They see a striker with sharp positioning inside the penalty area, the instinct of a natural finisher, and genuine strength in the air. Those are the tools that persuaded Hassan to take a chance on him with Egypt, and the same tools that explain why Barcelona keep finding ways to involve him at multiple levels.
What Hassan offered, though, was not only opportunity but advocacy. The newspaper describes him as one of Abdelkarim’s strongest supporters within the national setup, a coach who pushed for the player precisely when experience might have argued for caution. That kind of patronage is not easily replaced, and a new coach owes no incoming player the benefit of a predecessor’s conviction.
For further detail on how the Spanish outlet framed the situation, see the report carried at https://www.goal.com/en-za/news/spanish-outlet-sport-major-setback-for-hamza-abdelkarim/blt62476c2607611b21.
So the coming months carry a double question for a career still taking shape in Catalonia. Whether Ali Maher sees in Abdelkarim what Hassan saw will shape his place with Egypt ahead of the Malawi qualifiers, while his pathway at Barcelona continues to widen on its own terms. The young forward has lost the coach who trusted him most at a decisive moment, but he has already shown, on a World Cup stage, that the gamble taken on him was not misplaced.