Sarah Essam

Sarah Essam Hassanin (سارة عصام; born 6 April 1999) is an Egyptian footballer who plays as a midfielder, winger, or attacker for English club Rugby Borough in the National League South and the Egypt women's national team.

College career
Essam enrolled in the University of Derby where she studied civil engineering. She also played for her university team, alongside Stoke, and was awarded a football scholarship for her senior year.

Club career
Essam played soccer with her siblings when she was a child and also played basketball. She joined the academy at Wadi Degla. She made her debut for the first team at age 15 and was the youngest player in the Egyptian Women's Premier League.

After playing in Egypt, Essam became the first Egyptian woman to play competitive football in the UK when she signed with Stoke City FC in 2017. She also tried out at Sunderland, Derby County, and Birmingham. In 2018-19, she was the Stoke City Ladies' Development Team's top scorer, scoring 12 goals in 12 matches and receiving their Golden Boot award. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the English FA's Women's National League season results were expunged, and Essam returned to Egypt to train.

In 2022, she signed with Fundacion Albacete in the Primera Federacion, the second division of Spanish women's football.

In 2023, she signed with Rugby Borough FC as part of the team's rebranding efforts.

International career
Essam played with the Egypt U-17 national team in 2016 World Cup qualifiers. At age 16, she was called up to the national team in 2016 to participate in 2016 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, before being dropped for the tournament itself.

Essam featured in Egypt's third-place finish at the 2021 Arab Women's Cup, scoring one goal in Egypt's 2-5 semifinal defeat to Jordan.

She was called up for 2024 Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualification in September 2023. She scored in both legs of Egypt's 8-0 aggregate victory over South Sudan.

Personal life
Essam's brother is a former goalkeeper for Al Mokawloon.

Essam has worked with fashion designer Deana Shaaban, helping to showcase Shaaban's womenswear collection. She counts Mo Salah as one of her role models.

In 2018, Essam was received the Arab Woman of the Year: Achievement in Sport award by the Arab Federation in London.

She served as part of the BBC's commentating team for the 2017 CAF Award ceremony, the 2019 Women's World Cup and the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Essam was an ambassador for the 2022 World Cup, working alongside David Beckham.

Essam also signed with Adidas, making her the first Egyptian footballer the sporting giant has signed.