Mohammed Abu Trika
From TheHeroesWiki
Mohammed Abu Trika is an Egyptian football player. His extraordinary talents besides his excellent manners and his sincere belonging to his Arabic & Islamic roots; all this made him score a permanent goal in the hearts of many football fans in the Middle East, Africa, The Arab & Muslim world. Not to mention a huge respect from people who watch football all over the globe.
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His Beginnings
Born in 7th of November 1978, Abu Trika grew up with a simple family in Nahia village in Giza Governorate. Abu Trika started his journey with football at the age of 7 playing the streets of Nahia. He kept playing as an amateur until one of his friends advised him that he should take the fitness test at El-Tersana Club. Indeed, Aboutreika passed all the tests and officially became a football player. In the beginning, Trika's father opposed the idea of his son playing football; since he was afraid that he might be too busy playing football that he might neglect his future and his studying. However,Trika Jr. convinced his father that he will balance between football and his studies. Abu Trika graduated from Cairo University with a bachelor of arts degree in History. He got married and gave birth to Ahmed and Seif.
A Turning point
Abu Trika kept playing for El-Tersana from the year 1991 till 2003. Despite his very good performance with his club and his contributions with his team-mates in elevating El-Tersana to the Egyptian premiership, he was usually unrecognized and wasn't known enough to the Egyptian football fans. But all that changed when he moved to Al-Ahly club which is the most successful club in Egypt & Africa. When he moved to Al-Ahly in the season 2003-2004, he started scoring goals with Al-Ahly since that time. One of his early goals was against Al-Ahly's arch rivals El-Zamalek, which resulted in huge love relationship between him and Al-Ahly fans who started chanting his name in the stadium. As a result of his local success, Trika joined the Egyptian national team and started participating on the African and global scale. Abu Trika achieved in a very short period of time what he didn't achieve in the long period before joining Al-Ahly. However, the money, the fame, the honours, the trophies & the glory that he achieved didn't make him forget his roots ,nor his traditions, nor the teachings of his religion as we shall see in the next few lines
Honourable moments
Abu Trika is denoted for showing a new form of celebrating after scoring goals, which is doing the sajda (Muslim movement for prayer or thanking Allah). A movement he has doing every time after scoring goals until it became very popular between many Muslim football players and made non-Muslims also wonder about the purpose of this movement (which is to thank god for the goal or the victory), such a thing shows us how can any football player (not just Abu Trika) send a positive message and be a good role model for the youth
It seems also that Abu Trika is intelligent in his interaction with the media, he always uses the media spotlight on him to send important messages. For example, after the wave of the insulting Danish cartoons mocking prophet Muhammad, at that time the Egyptian national team was participating in the African cup of nations 2006. In the final match between Egypt and Ivory Coast, after a tie. The 2 teams played penalties & Trika scored the penalty that made Egypt win, as the cameras were moving towards him he took off his team's jersey to show another jersey underneath it written on it in Arabic "We will sacrifice ourselves to defend you, O prophet of god". Another important incident which was more controversial was in the African cup of nations 2008. In a match between Egypt & Sudan Trika was a substitute, after he entered the field with a few minutes he scored a goal and again he used his intelligence by lifting his shirt (FIFA rules have changed since the last tournament, forbiding taking off jersies) to show underneath it a shirt written on it in Arabic & English "Sympathize with Gaza". Here Abu Trika wanted to send a humanitarian message (he himself denied that it was a political statement) about the horrible conditions the people of Gaza strip in occupied Palestine are facing, thus drawing the attention of the whole world who was watching the game to an issue of basic Human rights. Despite the fact that he got a yellow card from the refree who saw this as a political message and the warning he recieved from the CAF, Abu Trika proved once again to be a person who cares for the causes of the Muslim world and not just cares but also interacts and do whatever he cans defend these causes which makes him a great role model for the youth and kids.
Abu Trika also participates in a lot of charity and humanitarian works."Every athlete has a humanitarian role in society." Trika says, " He doesn't live solely for himself, but for others too. I like to participate in charity work and try my best to help the poor and penniless. I'm also seeking to use football in humanitarian work."
Based on that idea, Aboutreika joined UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors the Brazilian player Ronaldo, and French player, Zinedine Zidane, in addition to 40 international football stars in 2005 for a ‘Match Against Poverty’ in Germany, with the aim of raising funds and increasing awareness about the issue worldwide. He scored in that match.
"In that humanitarian match, sports people said ‘no to poverty’ in one strong voice, standing up to beat it once and for all," Abu Trika explains. The match was held in Düsseldorf, Germany with the support of the FIFA.
He volunteered to appear in a WFP 30-second Public Service Announcement (PSA) in which he draws attention to the tragic fact that 25,000 people die from hunger every day, 18,000 of them children.
"Hunger takes away a child every five seconds. We have to move immediately and lend each other a hand because every second counts. This is a game we have to win," says Abu Trika in the PSA. The PSA is being aired on Middle Eastern TV stations which are broadcasting it for free.
Abu Trika is a WFP Ambassador Against Hunger. He believes that poverty is a double-edged weapon, as it can either give rise to feelings of despair, or help the poor person to persevere and be determined. Abu Trika wishes that all those who suffer from despair could develop determination and face their difficulties with strength.
"Islam deals with the problem of poverty through Zakat (spending a fixed portion of one's wealth for the poor or needy), where the rich feel the plight of the poor," says Abu Trika. "We have to help the poor as much as we can so that they don’t feel alienated in their own society" he says.
Abu Trika shoted another PSA in Egypt, for helping the children with cancer. He made it for free, and donated funds to help build a hospital for them.
In January 2007, Abu Trika led the Blood Donation Campaign held by Egyptian Ministry of Health. He appeared in PSAs for free and donated with his blood.
Honours
With the National Team
* Winner of African Cup of Nations Ghana 2008 playing for Egypt.
* Winner of African Cup of Nations Egypt 2006 playing for Egypt.
With Al-Ahly Club
* Bronze Medalist at FIFA Club World Cup 2006.
* Winner of CAF Champions League 2006.
* Winner of CAF Champions League 2005.
* Winner of Egyptian League (2008-2009).
* Winner of Egyptian League (2007-2008).
* Winner of Egyptian League (2006-2007).
* Winner of Egyptian League (2005-2006).
* Winner of Egyptian League (2004-2005).
* Winner of African Super Cup (2007).
* Winner of African Super Cup (2006).
* Winner of Egyptian football Cup (2007).
* Winner of Egyptian football Cup (2006).
* Winner of Egyptian Super Cup (2008).
* Winner of Egyptian Super Cup (2007).
* Winner of Egyptian Super Cup (2006).
* Winner of Egyptian Super Cup (2005).
Individual
* Winner of the 2006 CAF Best African player in Club Competitions.
* Nominated for the 2006 CAF African Footballer of the Year award.
* Nominated for the 2006 BBC African Footballer of the Year award.
* Top scorer in the Egyptian League (2005-2006) with 18 goals.
* Top scorer in the Egyptian football Cup (2007) with 4 goals.
* Top scorer in the CAF Champions League 2006 with 8 goals.
* Top scorer in the FIFA Club World Cup 2006 with 3 goals.
* Best Player in Egypt 2006.
* Best Player in Egypt 2005.
* Best Player in Egypt 2004.
* Named in the CAF Starting XI in the ACN Ghana 2008.
* Man of the final match in the ACN Ghana 2008 after scoring the winning goal.
* Ranked among top 50 2009 football players in the world according to Eurosport.
Sources and some external links
Mohamed Aboutreika from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mohamed Aboutrika: scoring against poverty
Egyptian footballer Aboutrika plays against hunger
Aboutreika Warned Over Gaza Sympathy
Aboutrika, Egypt's crown prince
