Egypt's players sacrificed a cow during a training session on Friday to bring them luck at the African Nations Cup.
A Reuters photographer at the practice session said the players surrounded the cow when it was released on to the field and pulled it to the ground before one of them killed it by stabbing it in the neck.
Team sources said the ritual was to bring them luck and that the meat would be donated.
Nations Cup holders Egypt face Angola in their quarter-final in Kumasi on Monday.