Egypt is Africa's oldest national football team and has won the African Cup a record seven times.

Their former goalkeeper Essam El Hadary also holds the record for the oldest player to have played at a World Cup.

[7] For the 1965 Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt qualified for the tournament, but withdrew because of their diplomatic relationship with hosts Tunisia.

[9] In the 1970 Africa Cup of Nations, hosted again in Sudan, Egypt were in Group B along with Ghana, Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as Congo-Kinshasa back then.

Egypt eventually lost their first game in the Africa Cup of Nations by a scored of 2–1, then in the third place match, won against Ivory Coast 3–1.

[15] For the Four years later, Egypt defeated Cameroon and Ivory Coast, and drew Togo, eventually finishing fourth behind Algeria.

[25][26] Egypt faced Morocco at the quarter-final stage, and defeated them for the first time in 31 years to set up a semi-final clash with Burkina Faso.

[27] Mohamed Salah's goal against the Stallions was canceled out by an Aristide Bancé strike; however, veteran goalkeeper Essam El Hadary saved two spot-kicks in the penalty shootout to earn a spot in the final for Egypt.

[29] In the 2021 Africa Cup, Egypt went to the final despite dire performances in the group stage and beating Ivory Coast on penalties after a 0–0 draw.

They lost to Hungary 4–2 in their first and only match in 1934, the two goals scored by Egypt's forward Abdulrahman Fawzi.

Since the Egyptians favored defensive tactics,[citation needed] they scored only one goal in the 1990 World Cup.

A 1–1 draw with UEFA Euro 1988 champions Netherlands gave the Egyptians their first point in the World Cup.

On 8 October 2017, Egypt qualified for the 2018 World Cup after topping Group E over Uganda, Ghana and Congo.

They started their first game against Uruguay, without Salah, who was injured in the UEFA Champions League final.

Egypt's third and final match was a Red Sea Derby against Saudi Arabia, also out of contention after two losses.

[33] Héctor Cúper, who was criticised due to his defensive strategies against Saudi Arabia, was sacked.

[34] The Egyptian Football Association was also criticised due to having its base in Chechnya, far from where Egypt's matches were played.

The following players were called up for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Cape Verde and Botswana on 15 and 19 November 2024.

In 2017, Egypt set a new record of 24 consecutive Africa Cup of Nations matches played without defeat, dating back to their last tournament appearance in 2010.

Egypt appeared in two of the ten FIFA Confederations Cups contested, being eliminated in the group stage on both occasions.