The Cairo Derby (Arabic: ديربي القاهرة) is a rivalry between Egyptian football clubs Zamalek and Al Ahly, arguably the two most successful clubs in Egypt and Africa. Al Ahly and Zamalek were named by the 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.
Ever since their creation, both clubs have been the top clubs in the Egyptian Premier League, the country's top-flight football league. Also, it was chosen one of the five of the toughest derbies in the world according by the BBC.
On 9 February 1917, the first match between Zamalek and Al Ahly took place on Zamalek Stadium, it ended with Al Ahly winning Zamalek by a score of 1–0, goal scored by Abdel Hamid Moharram. They met again 21 days later, on 2 March 1917, by this time on Al Ahly Stadium, and Zamalek won Al Ahly by a score of 1–0, goal scored by Ali El-Hassani.[1]
In the first half of the 20th century.[2] Zamalek and Al Ahly won almost the same amount of trophies in the Cairo League, with Al Ahly winning 15 titles and Zamalek winning 14 titles. In the newly launched Egyptian Premier League in 1948, Al Ahly won their first league title in the 1948–49 season and won 42 league titles after that. Zamalek managed to win the league 14 times.
On 5 January 1923, Zamalek met Al Ahly in a friendly contest, the match ended by a victory for Zamalek by a score of 5–0, goals scored by Ali Riadh, Hussein Hegazi and Sadek Fahmy (three goals), Fahmy was the first player to score a hat-trick in the history of the derby, but in a friendly match.[3] In the Sultan Hussein Cup, Zamalek and Al Ahly had never met in the final, however, they played six matches. The first match was in the 1924 Sultan Hussein Cup's semifinal on 17 March 1924, the match finished in a 1–1 draw, in the rematch on 21 March, Zamalek won 2–0 and advanced to the final. One of the unforgettable matches in the history of the Sultan Hussein Cup was the 1930 derby, despite that the two belligerents failed to win this season's title, the match was of a high level of intensity and had much media attention. Zamalek faced Al Ahly in a purely Egyptian contest, in which Zamalek knocked Al Ahly out of the competition, after defeating them with a score of 3–1 in the semi-finals. Zamalek's goals were scored by Mohamed Latif and Mostafa Taha (two goals), while Al Ahly's goal was scored by Mahmoud Mokhtar El Tetsh.[4]On November 18, 1932, Zamalek tied with Al Ahly in the 1932-33 Cairo League season, after they played an exciting match that was the talk of the fans at the time and ended with a score of 3-3, Mohamed Latif scored two goals and Sayed Merei for Zamalek, and Labib Mahmoud (two goals) and Hani scored for Al Ahly. On November 3, 1933, the two teams faced each other again in the 1933-34 Cairo League season, and Zamalek won 3-2, with goals scored by Sayed Merei, Mostafa Taha, Saeed Al-Hadary, Al Ahly's goals scored by Lizzo, and Hussein Hamdi.
On March 24, 1933, Zamalek met Al Ahly at the semi-finals of the 1932–33 Egypt Cup, and Al Ahly won Zamalek by a score of 3–1, Al Ahly's goals were scored by Sayed Merei, Murad Fahmy, and Amin Shoair, and Zamalek's goal was scored by Hussein Labib. Zamalek returned on May 11, 1934 and took their revenge against Al Ahly in the semi-finals of the 1933–34 Egypt Cup, defeating their traditional rival with a score of 3-0, Mostafa Taha (two goals) and Ismail El-Samkari scored for Zamalek.
The largest winning margin in this derby was 6–0 for Zamalek, which has been achieved 2 times.[5][6] The first time was the 1942 Cairo Derby on January 2, 1942 in the 1941–42 Cairo League,[7] and the second time was on June 2, 1944, when Zamalek was known as Farouk back then, at the 1944 Egypt Cup Final.[8][9]
In the first season of the Egyptian Premier League, the first derby took place on 10 September 1948, and the belligerents finished in a draw by a score of 2–2. The second leg finished with a 1–0 win for Zamalek. In the Egypt Cup, they met in the 1952 Egypt Cup final, Zamalek won Al Ahly 2–0, the next year Al Ahly won Zamalek 4–1. In 1959 Egypt Cup final, Zamalek won Al Ahly by a score of 2–1.[10]
The longest unbeaten streak in the history of the derby was eleven years, Al Ahly didn't win Zamalek in an official match from 20 April 1962 to 30 March 1973. However, Al Ahly has the longest winning streaks, especially in the league.
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.[11] 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.[12]
After Zamalek won the 1993 African Cup of Champions Clubs and Al Ahly won the 1993 African Cup Winners' Cup. The CAF Super Cup presented the first continental match between two Egyptian clubs. The match took place on 16 January 1994, at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. Zamalek won by a score of 1–0, goal was scored by Ayman Mansour. Zamalek won the 1994 CAF Super Cup for the first time for an Egyptian team and in the 2nd edition of the new tournament.[13]
Non-Egyptian referees are often flown in to officiate the derby to ensure impartiality.[14] In 2008 , World Soccer Magazine selected the Cairo Derby as the 10th most fierce derby in the world.[15] Besides the estimated 50 million domestic TV audience, the game is huge all over North Africa, the Middle East and the entire world.[16] 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.[17]
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.[18] 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.[19]
These are the meetings in the Egypt Cup[21]
These are the meetings in the Egyptian Super Cup
These are the meetings in the CAF Champions league[22]
This is the only meeting in the CAF Super Cup[23]
After Zamalek won the 1993 African Cup of Champions Clubs and Al Ahly won the 1993 African Cup Winners' Cup. The CAF Super Cup presented the first encounter between the two rivals in a continental match. Zamalek were the last Egyptian League winners and Ahly were the last winners of the Egypt Cup as well. The match was highly anticipated and publicized in Africa. It took place on 16 January 1994, at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a neutral stadium. In the 86th minute, Ayman Mansour scored Zamalek's winning goal after firing a shot from 25 yards to the right corner of the net and past Ahmed Shobair. Zamalek won the CAF Super Cup for the first time for an Egyptian team and in the 2nd edition of the new tournament.[24]
On 27 November 2020, Al Ahly and Zamalek for the first time faced off each other in the CAF Champions League final. This match is known as the African Game of the Century as the 2 greatest clubs of Africa were facing off each other for the Champions League trophy. The match was played behind closed doors of the Cairo International Stadium due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has spread around the globe rapidly. El Solia scored the first goal of the match and for Al Ahly on the 5th minute with a header while Shikabala equalized for Zamalek on the 31st minute. after 85 minutes and 45 seconds onto the game, Afsha got the winning goal for Al Ahly, controlling the ball on his knee outside the penalty area after a clearance, before volleying to the right corner of the net and past Gabaski. Al Ahly for the first time since 2013 and for the 9th in total lifted the CAF Champions League trophy, Momen Zakaria who was forced to retire from his football career due to suffering from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis got the chance to lift the cup for Al Ahly. Al Ahly were able to defend their title for the 2021 tournament hence lifted its 10th CAF Champions League trophy.
As of match played 15 April 2024
Due to the rivalry between Al Ahly and Zamalek, relatively few players have played for both clubs. Some of the players who have done so are listed below:
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