Essam Baheeg (Arabic: عصام بهيج; 26 February 1931 – 4 December 2008) was an Egyptian football manager and former footballer who played as a winger for Zamalek. He also played for the Egyptian national team, and represented his country and was part of the team that won the 1959 Africa Cup of Nations, and scored the two winning goals for his country in the final.

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Essam Baheeg

Baheeg in 1964
Personal information
Full name	Essam Baheeg
Date of birth	(1931-02-26)26 February 1931
Place of birth	Alexandria, Egypt
Date of death	4 December 2008(2008-12-04) (aged 77)
Place of death	Cairo, Egypt
Position(s)	Winger
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1949–1960	Zamalek
International career
1953–1960	Egypt		(4)
Managerial career
1987–1988	Zamalek
1999–2000	Qanah
2000–2001	Sharqiya
	Sohag
Medal record Men's football Representing  Egypt (as player) Mediterranean Games Winner 1955 Africa Cup of Nations Winner 1959
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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As a player, he was an iconic player in Egypt and one of the best of his generation. As a manager, Baheeg coached Zamalek for only one season in his career, succeeding to win the Egyptian Premier League, Egypt Cup, Afro-Asian Club Championship and the Friendship International Cup.

Baheeg was born on 26 February 1931 in Alexandria, Egypt to a middle class family. He started playing football in the streets of the city. Afterwards, he played for Mansoura youth teams. He then moved to Cairo to enlist to Egyptian Military Academy in mid-1940s.^[1]

Baheeg coached the National Bank of Egypt SC in the 1970s, and coached Zamalek in the 1987-88 season and achieved the 1987–88 Egyptian League, the 1988 Egypt Cup, and the 1987 Afro-Asian Club Championship, in addition to winning the Friendship Cup. He coached El Qanah FC in the 1999-2000 season, coached El Sharkia SC in the 2000-01 season, and Sohag SC in the 2001-02 season. He won the elections and was a board member of Zamalek. Baheeg holds the record for Zamalek as the only coach who achieved 10 consecutive wins in the Egyptian League, and this number has not been broken yet with any other coach.^[8]

Baheeg was known for his numerous relationships with women during his football career, he was a rich topic for tabloids in the 1950s.^[9] He presented his personal experience in the film Talk of the City (1964) alongside Shwikar.^[10] He starred in the film alongside his colleague Hanafy Bastan and Ali Mohsen who appeared in the film, but Bastan and Baheeg acted in the film after their retirement from football.^[9][11]

While filming Talk of the City in 1964, Baheeg met actress Nahed Gabr, and quickly they fell in love with each other and got married in Cairo and had a son and a daughter, but they separated and divorced later, however, they remarried again in the 1980s and remained married until his death.^[12]

Baheeg was an influential star in Egypt, as he was one of the most prominent players in the national team. He was connected in the Egyptian movie business and had close relationships in the Egyptian intellectual community at that time. He had several film stars and singers as friends such as Sabah.^[13]

Baheeg died on 4 December 2008 at the age of 77, in Cairo, Egypt.

• Talk of the City (Hadeeth Al-Madina Arabic: حديث المدينة): 1964.^[15]