Egypt made its Olympic hockey debut in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and that remains its only Olympic appearance till the 2004 Olympics.
Egypt qualified for the 2004 Olympics by winning the African Championship, upsetting South Africa in the final. With South Africa also qualifying for the Athens Olympics through the Madrid Olympic Qualifier, this will be the first Olympic hockey tournament since 1972 featuring two teams from the African continent. Back in the 1972 Munich Olympics, both Kenya and Uganda had qualified from Africa.
Since 1999, Cairo has been hosting the annual Akbar El Youm international hockey tournament. While Egypt won the inaugural tournament in 1999, India won the 2001 and 2002 editions of the tournament.
Egypt hosted the men's and women's hockey matches between the FIH World XI and the Olympic champions (men-Netherlands, women-Australia) in Alexandria on October 27, 1999, as part of the FIH's 75th anniversary celebrations. Two Egyptians were part of the World XI team - Abdullah Magdi and Ashraf Shafiq.