Are there no photos showing Abdul El-Sayed playing high school football? No, that's not true: The Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan appears in his football gear in a photo posted to his Instagram account in March 2026 and in other photos in his high school yearbook. There is also a newspaper clipping from September 2002 documenting that he played in a game for Bloomfield Hills Andover High School.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) by actor Dean Cain (@Deancain) on X on Aug. 9, 2026. It read:
Here's me in 10th grade, playing football in 1981 at Santa Monica High School. Someone please post a photo of Abdulrahman Mohamed El Sayed playing high school football 20 years later... his website says he was 'captain'. There must be photos if this was the case.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @Deancain on X.)
Has anyone ever seen a photo of Michigan Senate candidate Abdulrahman Mohamed El Sayed (D) playing High School football? He says he was captain of the team, but I can't find a single photo. Internet, please do your thing --
A photo of El-Sayed (archived here) in his football gear was posted to his @abdulelsayed account (archived here) on Instagram on March 17, 2026.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @abdulelsayed on Instagram.)
Another image from the same carousel of photos shows El-Sayed in 2003, his senior year of high school:
(Image source: post by @abdulelsayed on Instagram.)
A football uniform alone does not prove El-Sayed played, but Lead Stories found a Detroit Free Press clipping via Newspapers.com (archived here) that showed he played in the Bloomfield Hills Andover vs. Royal Oak Dondero game in September 2002. El-Sayed's LinkedIn account (archived here) confirms he attended Bloomfield Hills Andover High School. The article read:
Bloomfield Hills Andover 16, Royal Oak Dondero 7: Senior tailback Mikita Sanchez had 9 carries for 103 yards and a touchdown and junior fullback Chris Nielson add[ed] a 2 yard touchdown run for Andover (3-0,1-0). Junior quarterback Max Miller was 10 for 15 for 153 yards, and senior nose tackle Abdul El-Sayed recorded three sacks. Dondero is now 0-3,0-1.
This is what a screenshot of the article looked like on Newspapers.com at the time of writing:
(Image source: Newspapers.com.)
Lead Stories contacted Bloomfield Hills Schools, and the district provided two images from the Bloomfield Hills Andover High School 2002-2003 yearbook in an Aug. 10, 2026, email. The left page shows El-Sayed, No. 61, highlighted in red in a team photo; the right page, also highlighted in red, shows him running onto the field, with a blue arrow pointing to him. The caption reads:
Senior captain Abdul El-Sayed jumps and reaches to touch the banner while he leads the team onto the field.
This is what a screenshot of the yearbook pages looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: Bloomfield Hills Andover High School yearbook.)
