El-Sayed El-Dhizui

El-Sayed Mohammed Al-Tabei “El-Dhizui” (born September 14, 1926) is a former Egyptian footballer.

He was born in Port Said. Club(s): Al-Masry Port Said (1943-1956), Al-Ahly (1956-1961), Al-Masry Port Said (1961-1964)

The great Egyptian forward El-Sayed Al-Tabei was given the nickname “El-Dhizui” for his likeness to a local-based Italian player called Desi Lucetti. He was first known in his home city of Port Said as “Desi Al-Saghir” or Desi Junior, which later changed to Deswi or El-Dhizui, his name would become one of the most feared in the Arab World for his goal scoring abilities in the six-yard box. Fans, coaches, teammates and even his opponents all expected El-Dhizui to score every time time he walked onto the pitch, whether for club or country, and he usually did. In one memorable game against Norway in Oslo in 1955, the Magician scored an emphatic all five goals for Egypt in their 5-4 win over the Scandinavians, and was offered contracts from various European based clubs, however non were pursued, and eventually joined Al-Ahly winning four league titles and two cups in his five seasons at the famous club. El-Dhizui began his playing career at an early age with his school at the Nile Primary School and later at Port Said Secondary, where he was spotted playing in a school league by Hussein Al-Deeb, coach of the Al-Masry club, who was astounded by the youngster’s ability on the ball. The coach alerted the club’s president Abdel-Rahman Lotfi Pasha and at the age of 16 the player was signed up for the team. He quickly became a regular in the first team helping the club to three Egyptian Cup finals, and was eventually called into the national team for the first time in a friendly game with Hungary in 1947, El-Dhizui ended up on the losing side with a 3-2 defeat but he did however manage to score on his debut, and a year later played at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. One of his greatest accolades with the national side apart from his 5 goals in 3 games helping Egypt to win the 1st Pan Arab Games in Alexandria in 1953, came when he played against the Netherlands, and impressed Queen Juliana of the Netherlands so much that after the game she half-jokingly asked for El-Dhizui’s boots to be checked for magnets! As it seem to her that the ball was glued to his feet for most of the game. The remark earned him another nickname, “El-Magnatis” or the Magnet. With his home club Al-Masry, he was leading scorer in the Egyptian league three times in consecutive years in 1949, 1950 and 1951, and after his move to Al-Ahly in Cairo his 14 goals gave him his fourth title in 1959 and ended his career with Al-Ahly with 49 goals in five seasons for the club. He rejoined his first club Al-Masry in 1961, and retired in 1964 at the age of 37 with a record 112 goals in the Egyptian league.