Sobhi’s fall, four-year doping ban, court battle and criminal case rock Egyptian star

By Maxwell Kumoye 

 

 

Egyptian football star Ramadan Sobhi’s career has plunged into its darkest chapter yet, as the Pyramids FC winger prepares an emergency appeal to the Swiss Federal Court after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) slammed him with a four-year doping ban.

Sobhi’s lawyer confirmed on Thursday that the defence team is “preparing an appeal” and “has new grounds” to challenge the CAS ruling that overturned an earlier decision clearing the 28-year-old.

The winger was first provisionally suspended in May 2024 after “atypical findings” were detected by a Barcelona lab. But the Egyptian Doping Organization (EGY-NADO) later absolved him, citing insufficient proof of violations related to banned substances or tampering.

WADA refused to let the case die.

The global anti-doping body escalated the matter to CAS — and won. The verdict has now sidelined Sobhi until 2028, a hammer blow for a player once hailed as Egypt’s next great football ambassador.

But the CAS ruling is only half the storm.

Sobhi is currently detained as he faces a separate criminal investigation in Egypt. Prosecutors accuse him and three others of forgery and exam fraud, alleging they conspired to impersonate Sobhi to help another individual cheat on university exams. A judge will rule on the case on December 30.

It’s a stunning collapse for a player who exploded onto the scene as a teenager at Ahly in 2014, winning the league and CAF Confederation Cup before earning a move to Stoke City in the Premier League. From Ahly to Huddersfield, back to Cairo, then a record switch to money-powered Pyramids FC — Sobhi’s rise was meteoric.

At Pyramids, despite injury setbacks, he collected the Egypt Cup (2024), CAF Champions League (2025), CAF Super Cup, and the FIFA African Asian Pacific Cup, logging 37 goals and 31 assists in 159 appearances.

On the national stage, Sobhi played in two AFCON finals (2017 and 2022), helped deliver Egypt’s long-awaited return to the 2018 World Cup, and featured at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Now, all of that is overshadowed by a career-threatening ban and a courtroom battle that could define his future far beyond football.

From prodigy to Premier League export, from continental champion to detainee — Ramadan Sobhi stands at the brink, fighting to salvage everything his talent once promised.