The Egypt national under-23 football team (Arabic: منتخب مصر الأوليمبى), sometimes called the Egypt Olympic Team, nicknamed The Pharaohs (Arabic: الفراعنة), is the national team of Egypt Under-23 and is administered by the Egyptian Football Association. The team's main objectives are to qualify and play at the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations and Olympic Games. As of Los Angeles 2028, players need to be born on or after 1 January 2005 to participate but the team may be supplemented with 3 over-age players.
The team has played at the Olympic Games 13 times, with four of these being after the tournament became age capped. They're also the top-medalist at the U-23 African Cup.
History
Egypt's first ever appearance in football was in Antwerp 1920 where they played one match against Italy. This was the first official international match for the Pharaohs as they lost 2–1 on August 20, 1920. Egypt would later qualify for 9 straight tournaments from 1920 to 1964. With their best result achieved being Fourth Place in Amsterdam 1928 and Tokyo 1964, this means that Egypt is the best team that never won a medal at the Olympics (most 4th-place finishes without a higher finish).
Egypt has had limited success since 1992, when the tournament first became locked for U-23 players. Egypt qualified to the 2012 Olympics after beating Senegal in the Bronze Metal Match. In the Olympics, they placed second in their group after a loss against Brazil, a draw with New Zealand and a win against Belarus. Their run was abruptly stopped by a 3-0 loss to Japan in the quarterfinals. They missed out on Rio 2016 but reached Tokyo 2020 as African Champions after winning the U-23 tournament at home. They placed second in their group after a nil-nil draw with European Champions Spain, a loss against South American Champions Argentina and a 2-0 win against Australia. They lost 1-0 at the quarterfinals to eventual gold-medalist Brazil.
Egypt qualified for the 2024 tournament after placing second in the 2023 U-23 African Cup. This marks the first time they play in successive tournaments since Tokyo 1964.
