Photo Gallery

Egypt have been one of the leading lights in African Volleyball since they won the African Nations Championship in 1983 to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984, where they finished 10th.

The next appearance of the Egyptians in the Summer Games was at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, where they finishing 11th, They succeeded in advancing to the Summer Games in Beijing once again in 2008 by beating Algeria in a pulsating five-set final in Durban, South Africa, to win the African Olympic Qualification Tournament with a 100 percent record.

From 2005 to 2007, the team has started to reap the benefits of the plan to constantly feed and rejuvenate with up-and-coming youth and junior players.

A hot streak of form started in 2005 when Egypt won the golden medal in Mediterranean Games in Almaria, Spain. They then claimed the African Nations Championship to qualify for the 2005 World Grand Champions Cup in Japan.

Nowadays, Egypt can lay claim to be the best African nation, considering their participation in the 2006, 2007 and 2008 World League.

An appearance in the 2006 World Championship in Japan supports this claim.

In 2007, the team further proved their worth by winning all matches in the All African Games, also winning the 2007 African Nations and qualifying for 2007 World Cup in Japan.

At the World Cup, Egypt, whose ranks are usually dominated with players from the mighty Al Ahly Club, stepped up a level and was highly competitive against world-class teams. The North Africans won their last three matches to finish in ninth place, an excellent result for an African Volleyball team.

They were inspired by captain Hamdy Awad (Elsafi) and exciting young attacking talent Ahmed Abd Elnaeim (A. Salah).

As of January 5, 2008, Egypt ranked 14th in the FIVB World Ranking. Their previous position was 18th.

The team has made a huge leap in the last few years. The ambition now is to reach an even higher level and become one of the world's top teams.

Ahmed Zakaria became Egypt Men's Head Coach in 2005 but has been a familiar face on the Egyptian Volleyball scene for many years as he was one of the most famous Volleyball players in Egypt in the 1980s.

Zakaria was a highly skilled middle blocker for the mighty "Al Ahly," the dominant Club team in Egypt. Zakaria also enjoyed a 10-year career for the Egyptian National team from 1980 till 1990 and was member of the golden generation which won the African Nations Championship in 1983 to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984.

After Zakaria retired from playing, he started his coaching career with the Al Ahly Youth Team.

He then coached in the United Arab Emirates, Al Ahly and Petrojet.

In 1999 he was appointed Assistant Coach of the Egyptian National Team which defeated archrivals Tunisia to qualify for the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.

He took courses in Data Volley and worked in this field for three years before returning to the Egyptian National Team in January 2005 as Assistant Coach to the famous Serbian Vecelin Vukovic.

Under Vukovic's supervision, the Egyptians achieved historic success, starting with qualification for the 2006 World Championship in Japan.

They then won the gold medal at the 15th Mediterranean Games in Spain before winning the African Nations Championship in Cairo to qualify for the 2005 Grand Champions Cup in Japan.

At this point, Zakaria stepped in to take over as Head Coach for the Grand Champions Cup when Vukovic retired.

Egypt finished fifth at the Grand Champions Cup and then, in 2007 at the World Cup in Japan, Zakaria led his team to three victories including one against a strong Australian team.

Zakaria's most recent success is leading Egypt to victory at the African Olympic Games Qualification Tournament. They defeated top African teams Tunisia, Algeria and Cameroon to qualify for the Beijing Games.