Career
In 2004, Shehata became Egyptian national team coach after the sacking of Italian coach Marco Tardelli. In the 2006 African Cup of Nations, which was hosted by Egypt, he led the team to its first Cup of Nations in eight years, defeating the Ivory Coast in the final. During the African Cup semi-final against Senegal, Shehata had a serious row with Mido, when Mido reacted badly to being substituted.
Shehata was vindicated minutes later when Amr Zaki, the player replacing Mido, scored the winning goal which took Egypt to the final.
Shehata did allow Mido to accept his medal at the closing ceremonies of the African Cup of Nations, after Mido had made a public apology a few days before. He led Egypt to three successive titles at the African Cup of Nations in 2006, 2008 and 2010.
As a result of this, the Egyptian team were ranked as high as 9th in the Fédération internationale de football association World Rankings. In 2008, he was awarded the title of CAF Coach of the Year.
In 2010, he was the highest ranked African Coach as ranked by the IFFHS. He was also selected as one of the top five African coaches. as a player as a manager.