Al Ahly SC

"Al Ahly" redirects here. For other uses, see Al-Ahly (disambiguation).
Al Ahly SC
Full name Al Ahly Sporting Club
Nickname(s) The Red Devils
Patriotism Club
The Club of Century
The Masters of The World
Founded 24 April 1907
Ground Cairo Stadium
Capacity 74,000 (record 120,000)
Chairman ‏Mahmoud Taher‏
Manager Juan Carlos Garrido
League Egyptian Premier League
2013–14 1st (Group 1)
1st (Championship Playoff)
Website Club home page

Al Ahly Sporting Club (Egyptian pronunciation: [elˈahli]),[1] commonly known as Al Ahly or El Ahly, is an Egyptian sporting club. Founded in April 1907, Al Ahly was named in 2000 by the Confederation of African Football as the "African Club of the Century".

As of 2014, the club has won 130 official trophies (106 domestic, 4 Arabian and 20 international), more than any other senior team in the world.[2] On winning the 2014 CAF Super Cup, Al Ahly set a record in terms of international titles won.[3] Domestically the club has won the Egyptian Premier League 37 times, the Egypt Cup 35 times and the Egyptian Super Cup 8 times. In continental competitions, Al Ahly hold the record number of wins in the CAF Champions League 8 times, the defunct African Cup Winners' Cup 4 times, the CAF Super Cup 6 times, and the CAF Confederation Cup 1 time respectively.

History

Al Ahly was founded in 1907 as a club where leader of Cairo's students' unions could meet during the struggle against colonisation.[4]

On 25 February 1907, Amine Samy chose the name 'Ahly' for the newly founded club to fit with its purpose. It started out as an Egyptian Limited Liability Company with a capital of 5000 EGP. The club's first chairman was an English man named Mitchell Ince, who facilitated the foundation of the club and issued planning permissions for the land it owned. In the year 1922, electricity was connected to the club's headquarters for the first time to replace gasoline in a major project that cost 52 EGP at the time.

Three years later, the club's congress decided to make membership exclusive to Egyptians, earning them the title of 'the people's club'. From these humble origins, Al Ahly have attracted a large number of followers all over Africa, and claim to have over 50 million supporters, making them one of the most popular clubs in the world.

The club also has a reputation for being one of the most organised and sophisticated in the Middle East, adopting a high moral stance in its business dealings. For this reason it is known as 'the club of values' – a phrase initially coined by the club's all-time idol and former president Saleh Selim.[5]

Al Ahly began to dominate the Egyptian game in the 1940s. In the 1980s the club became successful on a continental level, winning the African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1982 and 1987. They triumphed again in the renamed competition in 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008[6] under the coaching of the Portuguese Manuel José and 2012, then finally 2013 making them the most crowned team in Africa, with 8 Champions League titles, four Cup-Winners' Cups, six Super Cups and one Afro-Asian Club Championship. In 2001, Al Ahly celebrated their crowning of club of the century in Africa by facing the European club of the century Real Madrid which Al Ahly won 1–0

Al Ahly was the first club to reach the FIFA Club World Cup twice following two consecutive appearances in 2005 and 2006 then in 2012 and 2013 winning the Bronze Medal in 2006, becoming the first African club to win a medal in the competition. After qualifying for the 2013 edition, Al Ahly became the team with the most appearances in the FIFA Club World Cup, having qualified for 5 times out of 10 competitions.

Al Ahly supporters were targeted in a post-match riot at Port Said Stadium in February 2012 which resulted in numerous deaths (74) .[7] In 2012, Al-Ahly and Al-Zamalek Ultras opposed the FA's decision to resume the League tournament, and made this clear by staging dozens of protests.

Crest

Al Ahly has had three crests in its history. The first, adopted in 1907, lasted until the 1952 Revolution. The second crest was used from 1952 until 2007, when the club unveiled a new design to commemorate Al Ahly's first century of existence. The club's main colours, red, white as well as the flying eagle are derived from Egypt's flag during the Khedives era.
The current crest has 3 stars on top of it representing 30+ Egyptian Premier League trophies (each 10 trophies = 1 star), and 8 stars at the bottom representing 8 CAF Champions League trophies.

Colors

Al Ahly's home kit, since the club's founding, has always been the familiar red shirt with white shorts. The team's away kit is the dark blue shirt with dark blue shorts, although the team formerly played with white shorts in the away kit. The old away kit used until the 90s was a green shirt with white shorts and green socks. In 2008, Al Ahly unveiled their third kit for the first time since the club's founding. It was first used in a match against bitter rivals Zamalek SC. The kit is composed of Ahly's home shirt and black shorts. It is still currently in use as a third kit and is still worn by the team in all Al-Ahly versus Zamalek Derbies. This is due to the fact that Zamalek SC wears a white home kit, with two red stripes on the shirt. If Al-Ahly wore their home kit in the derby matches, there would be only a small difference in the shirt colour and no difference in the shorts' colour.

Season Kit providers Sponsors
1993/94–1999/00 Adidas Coca-Cola
2000/01 Nike
2001/02–2003/04 Vodafone
2004/05–2008/09 Puma
2009/10–2010/11 Adidas
2011/14 Etisalat Egypt

Stadium

Al Ahly formerly played their home games at their own ground, Mokhtar El-Tetsh Stadium, but its capacity was too small for the club's support. As a consequence, Al-Ahly now play their home ties at the Cairo International Stadium.[4] Before seats were added to all sections in 2005, the stadium was notorious for holding more people than it was intended to. Cairo Stadium has a record of hosting over 120,000 fans in Egypt vs Cameroon match in 1986.

Ultras

Al Ahly has an "ultras" fan group. Ultras Ahlawy is based in Cairo and is the largest ultras group in Africa while Ultras Devils is based in Alexandria and has members from other coastal cities near Alexandria. Despite having several fan groups, they all support the team from the stadium's North gate.

Perfect season

2005 represented an especially unique season in Ahly's illustrious history. The team would go on to set an unprecedented record of going an entire season being unbeaten in almost all possible competitions. 46 matches were played in the Egyptian Premier League,[8] Egyptian Cup, Egyptian Super Cup and CAF Champions League,[9] with Ahly remaining unbeaten in all of them (as well as winning all 4 trophies). This feat has yet to be emulated. The club only lost 1 match, in the FIFA Clubs World Cup (16 Dec.).

2006 also is considered one of the best seasons for Al Ahly as they were able to win the Egyptian domestic league, Egyptian domestic cup, Egyptian Super Cup, CAF Champions League, CAF Super Cup along with the bronze medal of FIFA Club World Cup to collect an unprecedented set of trophies that year.

Growth

Al Ahly has developed into more than a club over the years. After Al Ahly's original club in Gezira (in Zamalek district), Al-Ahly founded two more clubs, one in Nasr City and one in 6 October City (still under construction); the three of them continuously utilise skilled youth talents day-by-day. Al-Ahly historically formed the first ever TV channel belonging to a club in Africa, Al-Ahly TV. The channel went through great success since its formation, winning Egyptian sports TV channel of the year 2010 award from AlAhram newspaper. Al Ahly also became the first club in Africa (second in Middle-East after Al-Hilal KSA) to form an official store chain, Al-Ahly Official Stores in Nasr City and other locations around Cairo.

Titles

Total number of trophies: 130 (Record). [10]

Worldwide / Intercontinental

African

UAFA competitions

Domestic

League

Cup

Competitive record

African Club competitions

African Club Competitions
Year CAF Champions League African Cup Winners' Cup CAF Cup CAF Super Cup
1964–74Did not enterDid not enterStarted in
1992
Started in
1993
1976Second roundDid not enter
1977Quarter-finalsDid not enter
1978Withdrew after qualifyingDid not enter
1979Did not enterDid not enter
1980Did not enterDid not enter
1981Withdraw from semi-finalsDid not enter
1982WinnerDid not enter
1983Runner-upDid not enter
1984Did not enterWinner
1985Did not enterWinner
1986Did not enterWinner
1987WinnerDid not enter
1988Semi-finalsDid not enter
1989--
1990Second roundDid not enter
1991Quarter-finalsDid not enter
1992Did not enterQuarter-finalsDid not enter
1993Did not enterWinnerDid not enterRunner-up
1994Did not enterDid not enterDid not enterDid not enter
1995Did not enterDid not enterDid not enterDid not enter

African Club Competitions
Year CAF Champions League African Cup Winners' Cup CAF Cup CAF Super Cup
1996Did not enterDid not enterDid not enterDid not enter
1997Did not enterDid not enterDid not enterDid not enter
1998First roundDid not enterDid not enterDid not enter
1999Group Phase Runners-upDid not enterDid not enterDid not enter
2000Group Phase Runners-upDid not enterDid not enterDid not enter
2001WinnerDid not enterDid not enterDid not enter
2002Group stageDid not enterDid not enterWinner
2003Did not enterDid not enterQuarter-finalsDid not enter
CAF Confederation Cup
2004Second roundDid not enterDid not enter
2005WinnerDid not enterDid not enter
2006WinnerDid not enterWinner
2007Runner-upDid not enterWinner
2008WinnerDid not enterDid not enter
2009Second roundRound of 16Winner
2010Semi-finalsDid not enterDid not enter
2011Group stageDid not enterDid not enter
2012WinnerDid not enterDid not enter
2013WinnerDid not enterWinner
2014Second roundWinnerWinner

Domestic competitions

Egyptian Clubs Competitions
Year Premier League Egypt Cup Super Cup
1921–22Started in
1948
-Started in
2001
1922–23-
1923–24Winner
1924–25Winner
1925–26Runner-up
1926–27Winner
1927–28Winner
1928–29-
1929–30Winner
1930–31Winner
1931–32-
1932–33-
1933–34-
1934–35Runner-up
1935–36-
1936–37Winner
1937–38-
1938–39-
1939–40Winner
1940–41Runner-up
1941–42Winner
1942–43Winner
1943–44Runner-up
1944–45Winner
1945–46Winner
1946–47Winner
1947–48-
1948–49WinnerWinner
1949–50WinnerWinner
1950–51WinnerWinner
1951–52not heldRunner-up

Egyptian Clubs Competitions
Year Premier League Egypt Cup Super Cup
1952–53WinnerWinner
1953–54Winner-
1954–55not finished-
1955–56WinnerWinner
1956–57Winner-
1957–58WinnerWinner
1958–59WinnerRunner-up
1959–60Third placeWinner
1960–61Winner-
1961–62Winner-
1962–63Third place-
1963–64Group Fifth-
1964–65Fourth place-
1965–66Sixth placeWinner
1966–67Runner-up-
1968–69not heldnot held
1969–70not heldnot held
1970–71not finishednot held
1971–72not heldnot held
1972–73Fourth placeRunner-up
1973–74not finishednot finished
1974–75Winner-
1975–76WinnerRunner-up
1976–77Winner-
1977–78Runner-upWinner
1978–79Winner-
1979–80Winnernot held
1980–81WinnerWinner
1981–82Winnernot finished
1982–83Third placeWinner
1983–84Runner-upWinner

Egyptian Clubs Competitions
Year Premier League Egypt Cup Super Cup
1984–85WinnerWinner
1985–86Winner-
1986–87Winnernot held
1987–88Runner-up-
1988–89WinnerWinner
1989–90not finished-
1990–91Runner-upWinner
1991–92Fourth placeWinner
1992–93Runner-upWinner
1993–94Winnernot held
1994–95Winner-
1995–96WinnerWinner
1996–97WinnerRunner-up
1997–98WinnerSemi-final
1998–99WinnerRound of 32
1999–00WinnerSemi-final
2000–01Runner-upWinner
2001–02Runner-upRound of 16Withdrew
2002–03Runner-upWinnerWinner
2003–04Runner-upRunner-upDid not enter
2004–05WinnerRound of 16Winner
2005–06WinnerWinnerWinner
2006–07WinnerWinnerWinner
2007–08WinnerRound of 32Winner
2008–09WinnerRound of 16Runner-up
2009–10WinnerRunner-upWinner
2010–11WinnerRound of 16Winner
2011–12not finishednot heldWinner
2012–13not finishedWithdrewnot held
2013–14WinnerSemi-finalWinner

CAF Club rankings

Current
CAF Club Points
1 Egypt Al-Ahly 97
2 Tunisia Espérance Tunis 60
3 Tunisia Étoile du Sahel 55
4 Democratic Republic of the Congo TP Mazembe 53
5 Egypt Zamalek 52
6 Ghana Asante Kotoko 44
7 Ivory Coast ASEC Mimosas 44
8 Algeria JS Kabylie 39
9 Cameroon Canon Yaoundé 36
10 Morocco Raja Casablanca 35

Ranking of 21st Century

CAF Club Points
1 Egypt Al-Ahly 57
2 Tunisia Étoile du Sahel 36
3 Tunisia Espérance Tunis 31
3 Democratic Republic of the Congo TP Mazembe 31
5 Tunisia Sfaxien 22
5 Nigeria Enyimba 22
7 Cameroon Coton Sport 18
7 Morocco Raja Casablanca 18
9 Sudan Al-Hilal 17
9 Ivory Coast ASEC Mimosas 17
9 Algeria JS Kabylie 17

Ranking of the 20th Century

ACUC Points
1 Egypt Al Ahly 40
2 Egypt Zamalek 37
3 Ghana Asante Kotoko 34
3 Cameroon Canon Yaoundé 34
5 Tunisia Espérance Tunis 27
5 Ivory Coast ASEC Mimosas 27
7 Ghana Hearts of Oak 26
8 Ivory Coast Africa Sports 25
9 Algeria JS Kabylie 22
10 Democratic Republic of the Congo Englebert 20

Players and coaching staff

Current first team squad

As of 1 February 2015.

Egyptian Football Association (EFA) rules are that a team may only have 3 foreign born players in the squad.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Egypt GK Sherif Ekramy
2 Egypt DF Sherif Hazem
3 Egypt MF Moamen Zakaria
4 Egypt DF Sherif Abdel-Fadil
5 Egypt MF Ahmed Khairy
6 Egypt DF Sabri Raheel
7 Egypt DF Hussein Sayed
8 Egypt MF Islam Roshdi
9 Egypt FW Amr Gamal
10 Egypt FW Emad Moteab (Vice-captain)
11 Egypt MF Walid Soliman
12 Egypt DF Louay Wael
13 Egypt GK Ahmed Adel Abd El-Moneam
14 Egypt MF Hossam Ghaly (Captain)
15 Egypt FW Gedo
No. Position Player
16 Nigeria FW Peter Ebimobowei
17 Ethiopia FW Saladin Said
18 Egypt MF Mohamed Rizk
19 Egypt MF Abdallah Said
20 Egypt DF Saad Samir
21 Egypt FW Ahmed Abd El-Zaher
23 Egypt DF Mohamed Nagieb
24 Egypt DF Basem Ali
25 Egypt MF Hossam Ashour
26 Egypt MF Karim Bambo
27 Egypt MF Trezeguet
28 Germany MF Hendrik Helmke
29 Egypt GK Mossad Awad
32 Egypt MF Ramadan Sobhy
35 Egypt DF Mohamed Hany

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
22 Egypt FW Mohamed Farouk (on loan to Wadi Degla until 30 June 2015)
30 Egypt MF Amr Warda (on loan to Ittihad until 30 June 2015)
No. Position Player
44 Egypt MF Karem Nedvid (on loan to Smouha SC until 30 June 2015)
Egypt DF Islam Serry (on loan to Petrojet until 30 June 2015)

Youth academy squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
33 Egypt GK Ragab Abdel Kafi
37 Egypt MF Nasser Maher
38 Egypt DF Mostafa Ezzat
No. Position Player
47 Egypt MF Abdel Rahman Eltawil
Egypt MF Ehab Yasser Rayan
Egypt MF Ahmed Ramdan

Coaching staff

Position Staff
Manager Spain Juan Carlos Garrido
General coach Egypt Ahmed Ayoub
Assistant coach Egypt Ali Maher
Goalkeepers coach Egypt Tarek Soliman
Fitness coach Spain Jorge Semo
Football Director Egypt Wael Gomaa
General Director Egypt Alaa Abdel Sadek
Club doctor Egypt Dr. Ehab Ali
Doctor Egypt Dr. Tarek Abdel-Aziz
Dietician Egypt Dr. Hany Wahba

Source:

Managers List

Notes

Presidents

Al Ahly had only one non-Egyptian president, he was the first, Mitchell Ince.[12][13] The club was created for revolutionary purposes, to unite the youth of the country, especially university students, versus the English colonization, but due to the country rules at that time, the club should have had an English president.

Gaafar Waly Pacha, 19 years, the club icon, El Maestro, Saleh Selim, 18, and Hassan Hamdy, 12, were the only presidents more than 10 years in office. Saleh Selim was the first to apply the maximum presidential term length of 2 rounds in the club. It was not followed since, till the rules of the Ministry of Sports were manipulated in 2013 to enforce the maximum presidential term length.

The club won most titles in the Hassan Hamdy era, on both Domestic (7 Egyptian Premier League titles, 3 Egypt Cup, 6 Egyptian Super Cup) and International (5 CAF Champions League titles, 5 CAF Super Cup) levels, as well as being named the World's Most Successful club, on both Domestic and International basis.

Presidents list

  • 01- England Mitchel Ince (1907–08)
  • 02- Egypt Aziz Ezzat Pacha (1908–16)
  • 03- Egypt Abdelkhaleq Tharwat Pacha (1916–24)
  • 04- Egypt Gaafar Waly Pacha (1924–40)
  • 05- Egypt Mohamed Taher Pacha (1940–41)
  • 06- Egypt Gaafar Waly Pacha (1941–44)

  • 07- Egypt Ahmed Hasanein Pacha (1944–46)
  • 08- Egypt Ahmed Aboud Pacha (1946–61)
  • 09- Egypt Salah Desouky Sheshtawy (1961–65)
  • 10- Egypt Abdelmohsen Kamel Mortagy (1965–67)
  • 11- Egypt Ibrahim El Wakil (1967–72)
  • 12- Egypt Abdelmohsen Kamel Mortagy (1972–80)

Captains

  • 01- Egypt Ahmed Fouad Anwar
  • 02- Egypt Hussein Hegazi
  • 03- Egypt Riyad Shawki
  • 04- Egypt Ali El-Hassany
  • 05- Egypt Mahmoud Mokhtar El-Tetch
  • 06- Egypt Mohamed Ali Rasmi
  • 07- Egypt Ahmed Soliman
  • 08- Egypt Amin Shoa'air
  • 09- Egypt Moustafa Kamel Mansour
  • 10- Egypt Saleh El-Sawwaf
  • 11- Egypt Hussein Madkour
  • 12- Egypt Mohamed El-Guindi
  • 13- Egypt Ahmed Mekawi
  • 14- Egypt Abdel Galil Hemaida
  • 15- Egypt Saleh Selim

Other sports

Al Ahly club compete in different other sports. Al Ahly's Handball, Athletics, Volleyball and Basketball teams have won many national, African and Arabic competitions.

Sponsors

See also

References

External links