Ahmed Hassanein made history on Saturday as the first Egyptian ever chosen in the NFL draft.
The Boise State defensive end is now set to become the first man from his country to take to the field in the NFL after the Detroit Lions selected the 22-year-old in the sixth round with the 196th overall pick.
It caps a meteoric rise for Hassanein who was born in Orange County before moving to Cairo aged six. He returned to Southern California at 15 to live with his half-brother Cory Besch but was unable to speak English and had no knowledge of American football whatsoever.
“When I came to America, I’ll tell you this: Nobody believed in me," Hassanein said. “My brother was the only one who believed in me, and everybody told me that I’ll come back in two weeks. ‘You can’t even speak English’. And just look where I’m at now. I’m so grateful.”
The Lions hope Hassanein can develop and eventually fill their hole at edge rusher opposite Aidan Hutchinson.
“I haven’t even reached anything on my top ceiling,” Hassanein added. “I’m just ready to grow, ready to learn and ready to help the team whatever they need, because they believed in me, and whoever believes in me, that means the world to me, especially [head coach] Dan Campbell. I mean, I’ll die for that guy. I’ll run through a wall.”
It is that trademark determination that has helped him move across the world, learn a new language and become a rising star of a ruthless and ultra-competitive sport.
Hassanein credits his brother and the coaches at Loara High School and Boise State for his transformation.
“Knowing his character, knowing his work ethic, knowing his journey, knowing his testimony, I’d be willing to bet everything I have on him,” his half-brother Besch told CNN.
“And I think any team that’s willing to invest in him is going to not just get a football player, but they’re going to get somebody who’s going to represent their team, their culture better than any other prospect in the draft. I will put that part of his skillset against anybody. The leadership, the passion, and the fact that he is an untapped, unrefined diamond that is still being discovered.”
Boise head coach Spencer Danielson says he’s the best edge rusher he has seen emerge from the Mountain West Conference in a long time.
Hassanein racked up 24 sacks as a Bronco and was a first-team all-conference player in the 2023 and 2024 seasons and was captain in his senior season.
“I don’t want people to get it twisted. There’s a phenomenal story about Ahmed, right? Everything we talked about, who he is as a person – Egypt to California to Boise,” Danielson told CNN on the eve of the draft. “I don’t want people to get it twisted: Ahmed’s one of the best football players in the nation.
“There are so many things about his life that just make it an amazing story. But, oh man, he’s going to get drafted because he’s going to have a monster impact on the field in the NFL. I just want that to be known for people – you’re not only just getting a great story, you’re getting a big-time football player.”
Besch, who helped his brother take his first steps in the game, estimates he has developed to about 70 per cent of his full potential as a football player.
“I have a unique perspective as a football coach and as his brother, and seeing where he’s at, I would say he’s 70 per cent of his potential,” Besch added.
“If you take that ability and that coachability, and relentless effort and motor and desire to grow and develop, and you give it to an NFL coach who actually wants to develop him … the sky’s the limit.”
Persuasion
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The%20specs
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ANDROID%20VERSION%20NAMES%2C%20IN%20ORDER
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FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday
Saint-Etienne v Montpellier (10.45pm)
Saturday
Monaco v Caen (7pm)
Amiens v Bordeaux (10pm)
Angers v Toulouse (10pm)
Metz v Dijon (10pm)
Nantes v Guingamp (10pm)
Rennes v Lille (10pm)
Sunday
Nice v Strasbourg (5pm)
Troyes v Lyon (7pm)
Marseille v Paris Saint-Germain (11pm)
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
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Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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