El Shaarawy Stephan
Stephan Kareem El Shaarawy is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Italy national team. He is nicknamed Il Faraone (The Pharaoh), as his father is Egyptian. He began his career at Genoa, and was signed by Milan in 2011 after a successful loan at Padova. Frequently regarded as one of the most promising youngsters of his generation, in 2012 El Shaarawy was named one of the top players born after 1991 by Don Balón, and he was listed 52nd in The Guardian’s list of the best footballers in the world. Internationally, he represented Italy from under-16 to under-21 levels. In August 2012, he made his senior international debut for Italy during a friendly match against England, and in November 2012 scored his first international goal against France. He represented Italy at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, where they finished in third place, and at UEFA Euro 2016.
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Italy-Japan was played in Recife at the Arena Pernambuco on June 19th 2013 and it was a game of the Group A of the first “Confederation Cup 2013” stage. Italy defeated Japan 4-3 with Sebastian Giovinco tap-in snatched at minute 86 securing the victors, and Brazil, semi-final places, in one of the greatest games in FIFA Confederations Cup history.
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Since his breakthrough season, El Shaarawy is considered to be an up-and-coming, potentially world-class player, and one of the most promising and talented young Italian players. A versatile and hard-working forward, he primarily plays as a left winger, a position which allows him to cut into the centre onto his stronger right foot and either attempt a shot at goal or create chances for teammates; he can also play as an attacking midfielder, as a second striker, on the right flank, as a centre forward, or even as striker, due to his eye for goal. Eric Steitz has noted that El Shaarawy is mainly known for his pace and agility, as well as his “outstanding dribbling ability and technical skill”. He has also stated that El Shaarawy has often demonstrated his shooting power and goalscoring ability with strikes from outside the box, and has described the player as an “above-average passer”, who “creates space with a solid first-touch”. El Shaarawy’s playing style has drawn comparisons with FIFA World Player of the Year winner Cristiano Ronaldo. El Shaarawy cites former Milan playmaker Kaká as his role model. Milan legend José Altafini compared El Shaarawy to Brazilian international Neymar and five-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi: “El Shaarawy reminds me of Neymar and Messi. They have a low center of gravity. They play with the ball glued to their feet. He has already proven that he’s a good player. The important thing is not to bulk him up too much”. In spite of his talent, however, he has often struggled with injuries.
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On 15 August 2012, El Shaarawy made his senior debut for Italy, in a 2–1 defeat in a friendly against England. El Shaarawy scored his first goal for Italy on his third appearance, on 14 November 2012 in a 2–1 friendly win against France. He represented Italy at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, and made his tournament debut in the country’s final group game against hosts Brazil, replacing Alessandro Diamanti for the final 19 minutes of a 4–2 defeat. He returned in the third-place play-off, playing the entire match and scoring a penalty in the shootout which Italy won against Uruguay. El Shaarawy was not included in Italy’s 2014 FIFA World Cup squad, after missing most of the 2013–14 season through injury. On 10 October 2015, El Shaarawy, ended a three-year goal drought, scoring the winning goal in Italy’s 3–1 away win over Azerbaijan in a European qualifying match; this was his first international goal since November 2012, and the win guaranteed Italy a place at Euro 2016. On 31 May 2016, he was named to Antonio Conte’s 23-man Italy squad for the upcoming tournament. He made his only appearance of the tournament on 22 June, coming off the bench in Italy’s final group match, which ended in a 1–0 defeat to Ireland.
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The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 June to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tournament, along with hosts Brazil and UEFA Euro 2012 runners-up Italy, who qualified because the Euro 2012 winners, Spain, had also won the most recent FIFA World Cup in 2010 thus securing a spot in the tournament. Host nation, Brazil successfully defended their title with a 3–0 win over Spain in the final. It was their fourth Confederations Cup title and third in a row, after previous wins in 1997, 2005 and 2009. According to then FIFA president Sepp Blatter, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the best version of the tournament ever played. The competition was the first national team tournament to employ goal-line technology, which was also used at the 2014 World Cup.
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In 2012, El Shaarawy signed a sponsorship deal with American sportswear and equipment supplier, Nike. He appeared in an advert for the new Nike Green Speed II alongside Mario Götze, Eden Hazard, Raheem Sterling, Christian Eriksen and Theo Walcott in November 2012. El Shaarawy appears on the Italian cover of FIFA 14, alongside global cover star Lionel Messi.
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This shirt was worn by Stephan El Shaarawy during the “Euro 2020” qualifying game between Italy and Greece which took place in Rome, “Stadio Olimpico”, on October 12th 2019. This is the first time that Italy team used this green Puma kit. This is the Italy 2019-2020 third kit, which is inspired by the Renaissance period and therefore also called ‘Renaissance jersey’. Italy Team is not going to use it at “Euro 2020” competition as UEFA does allow only two player kits usually (home + away). The green kit for the Italy National team that draws inspiration from the Renaissance period and celebrates the many young talents who are increasingly becoming protagonists of the Azzurri’s successes.The green color of the kit dates back to the “Maglia Verde” worn once by Italy during the 2-0 win against Argentina in December 1954 at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. The front of the shirt features a subtle graphic pattern inspired by the traditional mosaics of Italian fabrics and architecture of the Renaissance. Before the game against Greece there were a lot of complaints by Italian fans against Puma because following the tradition the Italy shirt for home games should be “azzurra” (sky blue) and they didn’t like this marketing strategy by Puma who released this new kit for an important home game like this against Greece.
