Egyptians Abroad

Have a look at the nine Egyptians featuring for their overseas clubs in a busy weekend of football.

The English Premier League season kicks off with Sunderland’s Ahmed Elmohamady travelling to face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

The Championship also starts as Adam El-Abd is expected to feature for Brighton against the Egyptian-owned Hull City, but Mido is out injured for Barnsley.

Egypt defender Ahmed Hegazi could be making his debut for Fiorentina, who host Novara in the early stages of the Italian Cup.

In Switzerland, the increasingly impressive Mohamed Salah is expected to start again for Basel against Lausanne in the Super League.

International trio Ahmed Samir Farag, Ahmed Saied ‘Ouka’ and Mohamed Al-Gabbas will be looking to help Lierse register their first league win when they host Genk.

Striker Amr Zaki is set to make his bow for Elazigspor when the newly-promoted side take on Fenerbahce in the Turkish Super Lig opener.

Finally, Egypt number one Essam Al-Hadari leads Merreikh in a crunch derby against fierce Sudanese rivals Hilal in the African Confederation Cup.

Egypt forward Mohamed Salah scored a goal and set up another in Basel’s 2-0 Swiss league win over Lausanne.

In his second league game, Salah assisted captain Marco Streller with the opener before scoring the second goal himself eight minutes from time.

The win put Basel in second place, one point behind leaders Sion.

Salah and Co. prepare for a crucial Champions League playoff game on Tuesday against CFR Cluj of Romania.

Other Egyptians

Elsewhere in Europe, Egyptian trio Ahmed Saied 'Ouka', Ahmed Samir Farag and Mohamed Al-Gabbas featured in Lierse's third straight Belgian league draw.

In Turkey, Amr Zaki was not fit to play for new club Elazigspor, who grabbed an impressive 1-1 draw against Fenerbahce.

Egypt number one Essam Al-Hadari was also in action with Sudan's Merreikh, who were held by a 1-1 draw with arch-rivals Hilal in the African Confederation Cup.

Mohamed Salah will miss Basel’s next two games due to a thigh injury, the Swiss champions said on their website.

The Egypt forward sustained the injury in Saturday’s league defeat against St. Gallen and was rated doubtful for Wednesday’s decisive Champions League visit to Romania’s Cluj.

But Basel confirmed that he will at least miss the Cluj trip as well as the weekend’s league clash with Zurich.

Salah has been named for Egypt’s two friendly games against Benin and Nigeria next month but is now likely to pull out of the squad.

Shikabala has been recalled by Egypt manager Bob Bradley for the two friendlies against Benin and Nigeria next month as the proposed clash with Saudi Arabia has been cancelled.

Egypt were initially supposed to meet Saudi Arabia but are now set to take on Benin on September 7 before facing Nigeria four days later, although the venues of both games have yet to be announced.

Newly-signed Al-Wasl midfielder Shikabala was recalled for the first time since his infamous touchline row with former Zamalek boss Hassan Shehata back in May as Bradley declared few days ago he was willing to call up the temperamental star.

Brighton & Hove Albion defender Adam El-Abd has also been named and is poised to make his international debut for the Pharaohs.

Mohamed Salah, Ahmed Hegazi, Hosni Abd-Rabou, Ahmed Elmohamady and Essam Al-Hadari were expectedly included, while Lierse duo Ahmed Saied ‘Ouka’ and Ahmed Samir Farag completed the nine-man list of foreign-based players.

Bani Yas forward Mohamed Zidan remains out of favor after falling out with Bradley ahead of a qualifier against Central African Republic in June.

Egypt’s next competitive game takes place in March 2013 against Zimbabwe after they had failed to make it past the CAN 2013 qualifying preliminaries.