Al Ahly announced on Tuesday 1 September 2026 that they had extended goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir's contract until 2029, according to Ahram Online. The new deal contains no release clause: Al Ahly turned down a request from the 26-year-old's representatives for a $3 million exit fee to be written into the contract, according to KingFut.
The extension closes off months of speculation about Shobeir's future at the club. It continues a policy at Al Ahly of tying down homegrown talent rather than letting academy graduates leave on favourable terms, and it locks in one of the club's own products for a further two seasons beyond the length of his previous deal.
No release clause despite Como's interest
The new contract contains no release clause, KingFut reported, after Al Ahly refused to grant one during the negotiations that produced the extension. Shobeir's camp pushed for the $3 million figure during negotiations over the new terms, but the club held to that position in the deal signed this week, according to KingFut. Without a release clause, any club that wants to sign Shobeir before 2029 will have to negotiate a transfer fee directly with Al Ahly rather than trigger a fixed price written into the contract, leaving the Cairo club in control of any future sale.
Al Ahly had already rejected outside interest in Shobeir before the renewal was agreed. The club turned down a $2 million offer for the goalkeeper from Italian side Como in August, KingFut reported. That bid came and went before the two sides sat down to finalise an extension on Al Ahly's own terms rather than under pressure from an imminent departure.
Salary and incentives in the new deal
The contract sets Shobeir's base annual salary at EGP 25 million, with performance and trophy incentives worth up to EGP 10 million more, according to KingFut. The deal also regulates his commercial rights: Shobeir keeps 60% of advertising revenue from deals secured through Al Ahly's football company and 70% of revenue from deals that reach him directly, with Al Ahly taking the remaining share in each case, KingFut reported. Combined, the full annual package could reach EGP 35 million, according to KingFut's reporting on the deal.
Egypt's goalkeeper at the World Cup
Shobeir was Egypt's goalkeeper at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where the national team reached the round of 16, according to Ahram Online. He has 15 caps for the senior national team, adding international tournament minutes to a club career that has made him one of Al Ahly's most established young players. The World Cup appearance came in the same year Al Ahly moved to secure his contract, tying the club's most prominent young goalkeeper down just months after he represented Egypt on football's biggest stage.
Shobeir's record at Al Ahly
Shobeir is a product of Al Ahly's youth academy, promoted to the first team in September 2019, and the terms of his new deal reflect how the club treats players who have come through its own ranks rather than joined from elsewhere. He has made 72 appearances for Al Ahly, conceding 46 goals, according to Ahram Online. In that time he has won 16 trophies with the club, including five Egyptian Premier League titles, three CAF Champions League trophies and four Egypt Cups, the paper reported.
The rejected Como offer came in August, while the release-clause request was under discussion as part of the same round of contract talks. Al Ahly's response, turning down the transfer bid and then extending Shobeir's contract by two years without an exit clause, leaves the club free to set its own valuation of the goalkeeper for as long as the deal runs, rather than working from a fixed release figure agreed in advance. That settles, for now, a transfer question that had run alongside Shobeir's club form since the offer from Como first emerged.
The numbers behind Shobeir's Al Ahly career
The extension caps a rapid rise for a goalkeeper who has become one of Al Ahly's key figures both domestically and on international duty, and settles a transfer question that had followed the club through the second half of the close season. Key figures from Shobeir's contract and his time at the club, as reported by Ahram Online and KingFut:
- Contract: extended to 2029, with a base salary of EGP 25 million plus up to EGP 10 million in performance and trophy incentives
- Release clause: none; Al Ahly rejected a proposed $3 million exit fee sought by Shobeir's representatives
- Transfer offers: a $2 million bid from Italian club Como was turned down in August 2026
- Appearances for Al Ahly: 72, conceding 46 goals
- Egypt caps: 15, including as the team's goalkeeper at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where Egypt reached the round of 16
- Trophies won with Al Ahly: 16, including five league titles and three CAF Champions League titles
For Al Ahly, the deal removes any near-term uncertainty over a goalkeeper who has become a fixture in a squad built around retaining, rather than selling, its most productive academy graduates. For Shobeir, it delivers a guaranteed income package built around the new salary and incentive terms, without opening a fixed price tag that a foreign club could simply meet to force a move, keeping the terms of any future departure squarely in Al Ahly's hands rather than his own.
