Mohamed Zidan, young Zidane in the making

Mohamed Abdulla Zidan (Arabic: محمد عبدالله زيدان‎) (born December 11, 1981 in Port Said) is an Egyptian footballer who is a striker for German club Hamburger SV and the Egyptian national team.

History

Initially Zidan's footballing career started as a striker for his hometown club Al-Masry in 1998.[1] His family moved to Denmark when he was dropped from the Al-Masry club due to his lack of passing skills. Zidan was scouted by the Danish Superliga side Akademisk Boldklub (AB) while he was juggling a ball at a Danish park in 1999. In June 2003, he moved to the league rivals FC Midtjylland (FCM), as AB experienced financial hardship.

At FCM, he became the league's top scorer in the 2003-04 season, and he was awarded the Rookie of the year award, becoming Player of the Year the following season. In all, he scored 12 goals in 47 appearances for FC Midtjylland,[2] and especially his three goals in the first three games of FCM's newly built SAS Arena stadium, made the stadium colloquially known as "Zidan Arena".[3]