Essam Kamal Tawfiq El Hadary (Arabic: عِصَام كَمَال تَوْفِيق الْحَضَرِيّ; born 15 January 1973) is an Egyptian goalkeeping coach and former professional footballer.

[5] After his retirement, he was very close to being the goalkeeping coach of Étoile Sahel of Tunisia, to be part of the technical staff under the leadership of Jorvan Vieira after agreeing to sign the contract, but his mother's illness forced him to step back in the end.

[3] He made his first team debut for Damietta in 1993 at the age of 20, and after two seasons signed a pre-contract with Egyptian champions Al Ahly.

[8][9] El Hadary was fined and suspended by Al Ahly,[10] before world governing body FIFA gave permission for Sion to complete the deal.

[14] In July, while his suspension was stayed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS),[15] El Hadary moved to Egyptian Premier League side Ismaily.

[20] After boycotting practices due to a pay dispute, he was loaned to Al-Ittihad Alexandria,[21] but after a stadium riot in Port Said led to the suspension of the 2011–12 Egyptian Premier League season he returned to Sudan again.

[26] Throughout this period, he continued to be acclaimed one of the best footballers ever to play for Egypt or anywhere in Africa; in 2013 he was included in Bleacher Report's "50 Greatest African Players of All Time" list, ranked number 6.

On 4 June 2016, El Hadary played the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 win against Tanzania which secured Egypt's qualification for 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

[38] On 25 June, El Hadary was handed a start in Egypt's final group match against Saudi Arabia to become the oldest player ever to play in and debut at a World Cup at the age of 45 years and 161 days, once again breaking Mondragón's record of 43 years and three days.