Mahmoud Abdelrazek Hassan Fadlala ( ; born 5 March 1986), commonly known as Shikabala ( ), is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays for Egyptian Premier League club Zamalek and the Egypt national team. Shikabala is titled "El Apache" by Zamalek fans. Growing through the youth ranks of Zamalek, he served the Egyptian club for many years and is considered to be one of the legends of the club. He previously had stints with PAOK and Sporting CP. He predominantly plays as a right-winger but can play as a central attacking midfielder and as a left winger. Career Early career Shikabala joined the youth academy of Zamalek SC when he was 8-years-old and made his first team appearance in a cup match early in 2002, scoring the winning goal at the age of 16. He remained with the first team squad since then but had very limited playing time and no professional contract, which is why he was able to leave Zamalek and join PAOK FC in January 2005 for no transfer fee. He enjoyed one relatively successful season with PAOK; however, despite the Greek club being adamant that Shikabla would remain at the club until the end of his contract in 2009, he subsequently returned to Zamalek for the 2006–07 season to fulfill army duty in Egypt. Zamalek When Shikabala initially returned to Egypt from Greece in January 2007, it was amidst controversy as he signed for arch rivals Al Ahly. "I wanted to return to Zamalek," Shikabala later recalled, "but at this time they had many administrative problems and they refused to sign me." After the best transfer went viral, Zamalek chairman Mamdouh Abbas and teammate Gamal Hamza were able to convince Shikabala to return to Zamalek. Shikabala enjoyed a phenomenal start with Zamalek scoring once again on his second debut for the club the winner in a 1–0 match. Shika quickly carved a place for himself in Henri Michel's starting line-up gradually replacing club legend and fans' idol Hazem Emam. On 2 July 2007, Shikabala scored his first goal in the derby against Al Ahly in the cup final which ended 4–3 for Al Ahly. By the start of the 2007–08 season Shikabala had already become the ultimate fan favorite for the curva sud section which belongs to the Zamalek supporters. The fans sang his name before every game and had special chants solely for him. He