Hamidu

Hamidu joined Ittihad Alexandria in 1925 and was quickly nicknamed “Charlie” for his physical resemblance to Charlie Chaplin, in addition to his comedic personality. He won the Egypt Cup with that team in 1926 and switched to Al-Olympi in 1930, winning the Egypt Cup with them in 1933 and 1934. He was then selected to represent his country at the 1934 World Cup and played in Egypt’s 4-2 loss to Hungary. He then joined Al-Ahly and was with them when he was chosen as a reserve with the Egyptian delegation to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. As Egypt was eliminated by upcoming silver medalists Austria in round one, however, Hamidu did not see any playing time.

Hamidu won the Egypt Cup with Al-Ahly in 1937 and eventually returned to Alexandria to play with the Tram Club, with whom he was runner-up in the Egyptian Cup in 1940. He later coached Tram, although by the end of his life he had faded into obscurity and was working as a telephone operator until shortly before his death. At that time, it was reported that he had no money to pay for his own burial.