The Joan Gamper Cup match ended with a 2-1 victory for Barcelona, but its most important result for the Egyptian striker was to confirm his name among coach Hansi Flick’s options before the start of the season. The 18-year-old player finished the pre-season as the team’s top scorer, having scored four out of ten goals scored by Barcelona, or 40 percent of his offensive tally. Barcelona.
Abdel Karim joined Barcelona on February 1, 2026, on loan from Al-Ahly until the end of the season, with the Spanish club giving the option to buy him. He thus became the first Egyptian player to join Barcelona in its history. But its start was delayed due to the administrative procedures for registering it. After the problem was resolved, his name was included with the under-19 team, and not with Barcelona Athletic as was planned when the deal was announced.
He played his first match on March 8 against Huesca and scored in a 2-2 draw. During the following months, he participated in nine league matches and scored six goals, including a hat-trick in a 9-0 win over Montecarlo, a match in which the youth team won the league title. He also played two matches in the Spanish King’s Youth Cup, which Barcelona finished as runner-up.
His tally reached six goals in 11 matches
These numbers prompted Barcelona to activate the purchase option and sign a permanent contract with him until June 30, 2029. The club did not announce the value of the deal, while Spanish reports estimated the fixed part at about 1.5 million euros, in addition to financial variables.
From Barcelona’s youth to the World Cup
Youth team matches were not usually enough to move directly to the Egyptian senior national team, but Hossam Hassan placed Abdel Karim in the 2026 World Cup squad, even though he had not played an official match with Barcelona’s first team or even with the reserve team.
He participated as a substitute for Mohamed Salah in the 76th minute of the Belgium match, and at the age of 18 years and 165 days, he became the youngest player to represent Egypt in the history of the World Cup. He appeared in four of the team’s five matches during the tournament, in which the Egyptians reached the round of 16 for the first time.
This rise came after strong numbers with the age group teams. He scored 12 goals in 19 matches with the Egyptian U-17 national team, and participated in the African Cup and the Junior World Cup, before moving within a few months to the first team. After Egypt’s defeat against Argentina on July 7, Abdel Karim shortened his vacation and joined Barcelona’s preparations from the beginning, while a number of first team players were still on vacation after the World Cup.
Four goals in four ways
Abdel Karim started his matches for Barcelona’s first team against Birmingham City on July 31. He won a penalty kick and scored it himself, then followed up on a ball that bounced off the goalkeeper and put it into the net, finishing his debut with two goals in the 2-2 draw.
He did not score in the two matches of the tripartite tournament in Udine, but he returned against Basel. He came on at the start of the second half, and needed just four minutes to score Barcelona’s second goal in a 5-2 win.
The fourth goal came against Al-Ahly in the 29th minute of the Gamper Cup. The attack began with a pass from Rafinha to Balde, before Abdelkarim outran the defender and converted the ball with his first touch. The four goals were not the same: a penalty kick that he earned himself, a follow-up to a rebound, an end to a quick attack, then a move inside the penalty area and a direct kick in front of Al-Ahly.
Al-Masry participated in five matches during preparation, starting four of them. Adding his numbers with the youth team, he has scored ten goals in 16 appearances for Barcelona since March, with a clear difference between the level of youth competitions and friendly matches for the first team.
What did Fleck see?
Flick did not focus on the number of goals alone. After the Birmingham match, he talked about Abdel Karim’s positioning and attention inside the penalty area, and said that the player “does everything I ask of an outspoken striker.”
His opportunity comes at an important time. Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres left, and Barcelona did not finalize the signing of a new striker until August 22. Therefore, Abdul Karim’s participation in training is no longer just a reward for a young player, but rather has become part of the calculations for a position that the club needs to strengthen.
Thus, in his first international steps, Abdel Karim will be the first Egyptian in the history of Barcelona, and the youngest Egyptian player in the World Cup, and he has a contract until 2029, and six goals with Al-Shabab and four with the first team in preparation. The next step is to transform this beginning into achievements and goals in official matches.
