By Amr Shaheen BBC Sport, Cairo

The Egyptian captain Hany Ramzy has been left out of the Pharaohs' squad for the African Cup of Nations.

Coach Mohsen Saleh has dropped him from the provisional list of 23 players for the tournament.

The 34-year-old has not played since August, when he picked up a serious knee injury in the German League with his club Kaiserslautern.

The veteran defender has taken part in all the previous editions of the Nations Cup finals since 1992 in Senegal.

Six Europe-based players have been called into the squad, which is currently training in the Mediterranean city of Port-Said.

The Pharaohs will play friendly matches against Rwanda on Thursday, the DR Congo on 14 January and Burkina Faso on 18 January before the team's departure to Tunisia two days later.

Egypt's opening group match will be against Zimbabwe on 25 January. They will also face holders Cameroon and Algeria in Group C.

Squad:

Goalkeepers:
Nader El Sayed (Ittihad), Abdel Wahed El Sayed (Zamalek), Essam Mahmoud (Enppi).

Defenders:
Bechir El Taby, Medhat Abdel Hady, Wael Qabani and Tarek El Sayed (all Zamalek), Abdel Zaher El Saka (Genclebirligi, Turkey), Emad El Nahas & Amr Faheem (both Ismaili), Amr El Disoki (Ankaragucu, Turkey)

Midfielders:
Hady Khashaba (Ahly, team captain), Hany Said (Viola, Italy), Tamer Abdel Hamid, Tarek El Said & Hazem Emam (all Zamalek), Ahmed Hassan (Besiktas, Turkey), Mohamed Barakat (Al Arabi, Qatar), Ahmed Fathi (Ismaili), Hossam Ghaly (Feyenoord, The Netherlands)