The young Pharaohs will host Zambia on 22 March, with the return leg set to take place away from home, four days later. The winner will qualify for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, which will be held in Morocco next June.

Ashraf, who previously represented the U-16 and U-18 German national teams before switching allegiances to Egypt, played for the U-20 team against Ghana in December 2022. However, he was unable to participate in the outgoing U-20 African Championship, as his club did not allow him to play in the continental competition.

The list includes 13 players from Ahly, Zamalek, Pyramids FC, and Future FC who have represented Egypt in the CAF club competitions.

According to a statement released by the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), these players will join the Egypt camp after finishing their club commitments. While Ahly and Zamalek will play in the Champions League on Friday, Pyramids FC and Future FC will end their mission in the Confederation Cup two days later.

Egypt advanced to the final round of qualifiers after defeating Eswatini 1-0 on aggregate last October.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Hamza Alaa, Aly El-Gabry, Youssef Nader, Mohamed Ahmed

Defenders: Mohamed Ashraf , Mohamed Maghraby, Mohamed Tarek, Ahmed Eid, Mohamed Tarek, Hossam Abdel-Muegid, Hatem Mohamed, Abdel-Rahman Gouda, Mohamed Hamdi, Omar Fayed, Ahmed Sayed, Zeyad Asqallani

Midfielders: Mohamed Hossam, Mostafa Saad, Ahmed Nabil, Mahmoud Saber, Raafat Khalil, Mahmoud Gehad, Aly Zazaa, Abdel-Ghany Mohamed, Emad Mayhoub, Mohamed Shehata, Araby Badr, Zeyad Farag,

Forwards: Abdel-Rahman Atef, Hossam Ashraf, Osama Faisal, Ahmed Atef.  

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