Cairo derby

The Cairo Derby (Arabic: ديربي القاهرة) is a football match between Egyptian clubs Al Ahly SC and Zamalek. It is a match between arguably the two most successful clubs in Egypt and Africa. Ahly and Zamalek were named by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as The 1st and 2nd African Clubs of the 20th Century respectively. Both teams are located in Greater Cairo and their matches are considered the highlight of the football season with a live broadcast to most of the Middle Eastern and North African countries since the 1970s. Usually the derby is played twice each season with 2 matches in the Egyptian Premier League, but it is not uncommon to find the teams meeting each other in the Egypt Cup, especially in the final, and in Africa's most prestigious club competition, the CAF Champions League.

Cairo Derby
Al Ahly and Zamalek historical kits
Other namesClasico El Arab
The Peak القمة
LocationCairo, Egypt
TeamsAl Ahly SC
Zamalek SC
First meetingZamalek 0–0 Al Ahly
Friendly
(17 November 1922)
Latest meetingZamalek 3–5 Al Ahly
2021–22 Egyptian Premier League (5 November 2021)
StadiumsCairo International Stadium
Statistics
Meetings total242
Most winsAl Ahly SC (105)
Most player appearancesHossam Ashour (34)
Top scorerAbdel-Karim Sakr (19)
All-time seriesAl Ahly: 105
Drawn: 79
Zamalek: 58
Largest victoryZamalek 6–0 Al Ahly
(2 January 1942)
1941–42 Cairo League
Zamalek 6–0 Al Ahly
(2 June 1944)
1944 Egypt Cup Final

The rivalry
AL Ahly and Zamalek historical positions in the League

Ever since their creation, both clubs have been the top clubs in the Egyptian Premier League, the country's top-flight football league. In the first half of the twentieth century.[1] Al Ahly won their first league title when the Egyptian Premier League was first created in the 1948–49 season and won 42 domestic league titles after that. Zamalek managed to win the league 13 times.

The largest winning margin in this derby was 6–0 for Zamalek, which has been achieved 2 times. The first time was on January 2, 1942, in 1941–42 Cairo League, and the second time was on June 2, 1944, when Zamalek was known as Farouk back then, at the 1944 Egypt Cup Final.

Fans of both clubs can be violent when in anger, such as a match in the 1971–1972 season, which had crowd violence and caused the rest of the season to be called off.[2] Numerous fights, injuries, and deaths have been reported before matters became more controlled due to Egypt's authoritarian regime. Yet many fights and riots still occur after derby matches between both sets of fans, leading the government to post even higher numbers of Central Security Forces troops in the stadium during the derby. The number of fights have increased with the increasing popularity of the "ultras" movement.[3]

Matches between both teams can be decisive. Whenever they meet in the Egypt Cup the winner usually goes on to win the cup, or at least grab the runners up medal. Moreover, the team which has the aggregate result on its favor in the league rarely misses the chance to win the Egyptian Premier League.

Non-Egyptian referees are often flown in to officiate the derby in order to ensure impartiality.[4] In 2018, World Soccer Magazine selected the Cairo Derby as the 10th most fierce derby in the world.[5] Besides the estimated 50 million domestic TV audience, the game is huge all over North Africa, the Middle East and the entire world.[6] On 24 February 2020, Zamalek forfeited a league match against Al Ahly, a few days after their match at the 2019–20 Egyptian Super Cup.[7]

On 5 November 2020, Zamalek overcame Raja Casablanca 4–1 in the second leg of the 2019–20 CAF Champions League semi-finals, and set up the historic final with Al-Ahly, marking the first time ever in their history that the two clubs faced each other in the final of an international competition.[8]

The single-leg final was played on 27 November 2020, and Al-Ahly won the match 2–1, earning a competition record ninth Champions League title.[9]

The Meetings

League
Zamalek against Al Ahly in the 2015 Egyptian Super Cup
Ultras Ahlawy Tifo before a Cairo derby match in the 2007–08 Egyptian Premier League

These are the meetings in the League:[10]

Key
Colors

  Al Ahly win
  Draw

  Zamalek win
Al Ahly wins Draws Zamalek wins
47 49 27

Egypt Cup

These are the meetings in the Egypt Cup[11]

Date Venue Score Competition
20 April 1928 ? 0–1 Egypt Cup Final
15 March 1929 ? 0–1 Egypt Cup quarter-final
26 June 1931 ? 1–4 Egypt Cup Final
6 May 1932 ? 2–1 Egypt Cup Final
24 March 1933 ? 3–1 Egypt Cup semi-final
11 May 1934 ? 3–0 Egypt Cup semi-final
10 May 1935 ? 3–0 Egypt Cup Final
30 April 1937 ? 1–1 Egypt Cup quarter-final
14 May 1937 ? 2–2 Egypt Cup quarter-final Replay
30 May 1937 ? 0–5 Egypt Cup quarter-final Replay
13 May 1938 ? 1–1 Egypt Cup Final
2 December 1938 ? 1–0 Egypt Cup Final Replay
17 May 1942 ? 3–0 Egypt Cup Final
2 June 1944 ? 6–0 Egypt Cup Final
21 March 1948 ? 1–2 Egypt Cup semi-final
29 April 1949 ? 1–3 Egypt Cup Final
11 May 1952 ? 2–0 Egypt Cup Final
8 May 1953 ? 4–1 Egypt Cup Final
9 May 1958 ? 0–0 Egypt Cup Final
13 May 1958 ? 2–2 Egypt Cup Final Replay
24 April 1959 ? 2–1 Egypt Cup Final
4 August 1985 Cairo Stadium 3–2 Egypt Cup Final
28 April 1989 Cairo Stadium 2–1 Egypt Cup Final
6 August 1991 Cairo Stadium 2–0 Egypt Cup semi-final
26 June 1992 Cairo Stadium 2–1 Egypt Cup Final
26 June 2006 Cairo Stadium 3–0 Egypt Cup Final
27 July 2007 Cairo Stadium 4–3 Egypt Cup Final
26 May 2010 Cairo Stadium 3–1 Egypt Cup R16
21 September 2015 Petro Sport Stadium 2–0 Egypt Cup Final
8 August 2016 Borg El Arab Stadium 3–1 Egypt Cup Final
Al Ahly wins Draws Zamalek wins
16 5 10

Egyptian Super Cup

These are the meetings in the Egyptian Super Cup

Date Venue Score Season
28 August 2003 Cairo Military Academy Stadium 0–0 (3–1 p) 2003–04
27 July 2008 Cairo International Stadium 2–0 2008–09
14 September 2014 Cairo International Stadium 0–0 (5–4 p) 2014–15
15 October 2015 Hazza bin Zayed Stadium 3–2 2015–16
10 February 2017 Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium 0–0 (3–1 p) 2016–17
20 September 2019 Borg El Arab Stadium 3–2 2018–19
20 February 2020 Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium 0–0 (4–3 p) 2019–20
Al Ahly wins Draws Zamalek wins
3 4 0

CAF Champions League

These are the meetings in the CAF Champions league[12]

Date Venue Score Competition Attendance
25 September 2005 Cairo Military Academy Stadium 1–2 Semi Final 20,000
16 October 2005 Cairo Military Academy Stadium 2–0 Semi Final 20,000
20 July 2008 Cairo Stadium 2–1 Group Stage 56,000
14 September 2008 Cairo Stadium 2–2 Group Stage 50,000
22 July 2012 Cairo Military Academy Stadium 0–1 Group Stage 0
16 September 2012 Borg El Arab Stadium 1–1 Group Stage 0
24 July 2013 El Gouna Stadium 1–1 Group Stage 7,000
15 September 2013 El Gouna Stadium 4–2 Group Stage 0
27 November 2020 Cairo Stadium 1–2 Final 0
Al Ahly wins Draws Zamalek wins
6 3 0

Statistics

As of match played 5 November 2021

Matches Wins Draws
Al Ahly Zamalek
League 123472749
Cup 3116105
Super Cup 7304
Sultan Hussein Cup 6132
Cairo League 4221912
CAF Champions League 9603
CAF Super Cup 1010
All competitions 219945075
Friendly 231184
All matches 2421055879
Results of Al Ahly and Zamalek in the 21st century
SeasonASCZSC
2000–0121
2001–0223
2002–0321
2003–0421
2004–0516
2005–0612
2006–0712
2007–0812
2008–0916
2009–1012
2010–1112
2013–1413
2014–1521
2015–1612
2016–1712
2017–1814
2018–1912
2019–2012
2020–2121
League champions135
Top three1916
  League champions
  Egypt Cup
  League/Cup double

Records

Biggest wins (4+ goals)
6 Zamalek 6–0 Al Ahly 2 January 1942 Cairo League[13]
Zamalek 6–0 Al Ahly 2 June 1944 Egypt Cup[14]
5 Al Ahly 5–0 Zamalek 30 May 1937 Egypt Cup[15]
Al Ahly 6–1 Zamalek 16 May 2002 Egyptian League[16]
4 Al Ahly 4–0 Zamalek 28 November 1930 Cairo League[17]
Al Ahly 5–1 Zamalek 8 January 1937 Cairo League
Al Ahly 5–1 Zamalek 25 February 1938 Cairo League[18]

Top goalscorers

[19]

Player Club Goals
Abdel-Karim Sakr Al Ahly
Zamalek		 19
Mostafa Taha Zamalek
Al Ahly		 17
Aboutrika Al Ahly 13
El Tetsh Al Ahly 13
Ahmed Mekawi Al Ahly 11
Emad Moteab Al Ahly 10
El-Sayed Ateya Toto Al Ahly 10
Labib Mahmoud Al Ahly
Zamalek		 10
Alaa El-Hamouly Zamalek 9
El Dhizui Al Ahly 9
Hossam Hassan Al Ahly
Zamalek		 9

Hat-tricks
# Player For Score Date Competition
1. Mokhtar El Tetsh Al Ahly 4–0 28 November 1930 Cairo League
2. Abd El Karim Sakr Al Ahly 5–0 30 May 1937 Egypt Cup
3. El Sayed Ateya Toto Al Ahly 4–2 26 March 1953 Egyptian League
4. Khaled Bebo Al Ahly 6–1 16 May 2002 Egyptian League

Honours
Al Ahly Competition Zamalek
Domestic
42Egyptian Premier League13
37Egypt Cup27
11Egyptian Super Cup4
7Sultan Hussein Cup (defunct)2
16Cairo League (defunct)13
1United Arab Republic Championship (defunct)0
1Egyptian Confederation Cup (defunct)0
0October League Cup (defunct)1
115Aggregate60
African and Worldwide
10CAF Champions League5
1CAF Confederation Cup1
8CAF Super Cup4
1Afro-Asian Club Championship (defunct)2
4African Cup Winners' Cup (defunct)1
24Aggregate13
UAFA competitions
1Arab Club Champions Cup1
1Arab Cup Winners' Cup (defunct)0
2Arab Super Cup (defunct)0
4Aggregate1
143Total Aggregate74

Crossing the divide

Due to the rivalry between the clubs, relatively few players have played for both Ahly and Zamalek. Some of the players who have done so are listed below:

Al Ahly, then Zamalek
Name Pos Al Ahly Zamalek
CareerAppsGoals CareerAppsGoals
Hussein HegaziFW 1915–1923
1928–1929		?? 1923–28
1929–31		??
Abdel-Karim SakrFW 1935–38?? 1938–45??
Gamal AbdelhamidFW 1977–84?? 1984–94??
Ayman ShawkyFW 1984–94?? 1995–96??
Mohamed Abdel-GalilMF 1988–95?? 1995–97??
Hossam HassanFW 1985–99231109 2000–046138
Ibrahim HassanDF 1985–991774 2000–04474
Felix AboagyeFW 1993–9811747 2001–02205
Ibrahim SaidDF 1998–037618 2004–06274
Osama HassanDF 1999–0100 2006–09304
Ahmed MagdyDF 2004–0500 2007–10756
Sherif AshrafFW 2005–0700 2008–095214
Mohamed AbdullahDF 2005–07?? 2008–09300
Hany SaidDF 1997–98122 2008–11764
Hassan MostafaMF 2003–09?? 2009–11413
Hussein YasserMF 2008–10201 2010–11338
Essam El HadaryGK 1996–085101 2010–1140
Ahmed HassanMF 2008–115822 2011–132614
Dominique Da SylvaFW 2011–13315 2013–14103

Zamalek, then Al Ahly
Name Pos Zamalek Al Ahly
CareerAppsGoals CareerAppsGoals
Labib MahmoudFW ?–1931?? 1931–???
Reda Abdel-AalMF 1987–93?? 1993–98??
Magdy TolbaMF 1986–89?? 1995–98??
Islam El-ShaterDF 2003–04?? 2004–08??
Nader El-SayedGK 1992–981030 2005–0620
Tarek El-SaidMF 1998–0613223 2006–08??
Mohamed SedikDF 2002–06562 2006–07??
Moataz EnoMF 2002–07605 2007–12492
Hany El-AgazyFW 2006–0710 2008–11125
Gamal Hamza*FW 2000–0915050 201000
Sabry RaheelDF 2009–136111 2013–
Moamen ZakariaMF 2013–145112 2015–3011
KahrabaFW 2015–195630 2019–
Yasser IbrahimDF 2013–15101 2019–211

References
  1. Grant Wahl, American Pharaoh: Ex-U.S. coach Bradley has Egypt on brink of World Cup, Sports Illustrated, Published 9 October 2013, Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  2. "«شغب» الملاعب المصرية: بدأ 1971.. و«بورسعيد» و«الدفاع الجوي» الأكثر دموية". almasryalyoum.com (in Arabic). 9 February 2015.
  3. Shenker, Jack (28 June 2011). "New Egypt sees old sporting rivalry resume". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 June 2011.
  4. "The world's most violent derby: Al Ahly v Zamalek". The Guardian. 18 July 2008. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  5. "World Soccer's 50 Greatest Derbies". World Soccer. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  6. April 2016, Gary Parkinson 29. "FourFourTwo's 50 Biggest Derbies in the World, No.10: Al Ahly vs Zamalek". fourfourtwo.com.
  7. "Zamalek to face penalties after Cairo derby incidents, confirms EFA". kingfut.com. 25 February 2020.
  8. "LDC CAF: Défait au Caire face à Zamalek, le Raja quitte la compétition aux portes de la finale". Hespress Français. November 4, 2020.
  9. "Mosimane guides Al Ahly to record-extending ninth Caf Champions League title". Goal.com. 27 November 2020.
  10. "Dr.Tarek Said's Homepage - All About Zamalek VS Ahly Matches". www.angelfire.com. Retrieved 2017-06-05.
  11. "Dr.Tarek Said's Homepage - All About Zamalek VS Ahly Matches". www.egyptianfootball.net. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
  12. "Dr.Tarek Said's Homepage - All About Zamalek VS Ahly Matches". www.egyptianfootball.net. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  13. "Cairo League 1941 1942 Zamalek 6 0 Ahly". Dr.Tarek Said’s Homepage.
  14. "Egyptian Cup Final 1943/44". Dr.Tarek Said’s Homepage.
  15. "1936/37 Egyptian Cup Quarter Final". Dr.Tarek Said’s Homepage.
  16. "Zamalek 1 6 Ahly Date: 16 May 2002". Dr.Tarek Said’s Homepage.
  17. "Cairo Zone 1930/1931 Zamalek 0 4 Ahly". Dr.Tarek Said’s Homepage.
  18. "1937 38 Cairo Zone League Zamalek 1 5 Ahly". Dr.Tarek Said’s Homepage.
  19. "Dr. Tarek Said's Homepage - All About Zamalek vs Ahly Matches". www.egyptianfootball.net. Retrieved 2020-08-22.
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