Al-Ahly S.C.

This article is about the Egyptian football club. For other uses, see Al-Ahly (disambiguation).

Al-Ahly S.C.

Full name	Al-Ahly Sports Club النادي الأهلي للرياضة البدنية
Nickname(s)	Club of the Century Red Devils (team) Ultras Ahlawy (supporters)
Founded	24 April 1907
Ground	Cairo Stadium (Capacity: 75,000)
Chairman	Hassan Hamdy
Manager	Manuel José
League	Egyptian Premier League
2010–11	Egyptian Premier League, 1st
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Al-Ahly Sports Club (Arabic: النادي الأهلي الرياضي‎), commonly known as simply Al-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".

Al-Ahly is the most successful football club in Africa, closely followed by their rivals Zamalek SC and TP Mazembe from DR Congo.

History

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

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.

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 and 2008 under the coaching of the Portuguese Manuel José making them the most crowned team in Africa, with six Champions League titles, four Cup-Winners' Cups, four Super Cups and one Afro-Asian Club Championship.

Al Ahly was the first club to reach the FIFA Club World Cup twice following two consecutive appearances in 2005 and 2006 winning the Bronze Medal in the latter, becoming the first African club to win a medal in the competition. After qualifying for the 2008 edition, Al Ahly became the team with the most appearances in the FIFA Club World Cup, having qualified for 3 times out of 6 competitions held.

Al Ahly supporters were targeted in a post-match riot at Port Said Stadium in February 2012 which resulted in numerous deaths(74) .

Crest

Al-Ahly Flag

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.

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  Al-Ahly's crest, 1907–1952

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  Al-Ahly's crest, 1952–2007

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  Al-Ahly's crest, 2007–present

Stadiums

For more details on this topic, see Cairo International Stadium.

Cairo International 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. 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 versus Cameroon match in 1986.

Presidents

Name	From	To
Mitchel Ince	April 1907	April 1908
Aziz Pasha Ezzat	April 1908	February 1916
Abdel Khaliq Sarwat Pasha	February 1916	February 1922
/ Jaafar Pasha Wali	February 1922	January 1944
Ahmed Pasha Hasanain	January 1944	February 1947
// Ahmed Pasha Abboud	February 1947	December 1961
Salah Al-Desoky	December 1962	December 1965
Colonel General Abd El-Mohsen Mortagy	December 1965	July 1967
Dr. Ibrahim Kamel El-Wakeel	July 1967	July 1971
/ Colonel General Abd El-Mohsen Mortagy	July 1971	December 1980
/ Saleh Selim	December 1980	December 1988
Mohamed Abdou Saleh El-Wahsh	December 1988	February 1992
Saleh Selim	February 1992	May 2002
Hassan Hamdy	May 2002	Present

Ultras

Al-Ahly had the first ultras fan group in Egypt, the Ahly Fans Club, however the group factionalised in 2007 into two big ultras groups, Ultras Ahlawy (UA07) and Ultras Devils (UD07). Ultras Ahlawy is based in Cairo and is the largest fan group in Egypt; while Ultras Devils is based in Alexandria and has members from other coastal cities near Alexandria. Since then other groups have been formed, such as Curva Red Venom. Then a group was formed from the second class seats called Ultras Red Storm, however it was the smallest group. Despite having several fan groups, they all cheer together from the same part of the stadium they call "Talta Chimal" (Curva Nord section).

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 all possible competitions. 46 matches were played in the: Egyptian Premier League, Egyptian Cup, Egyptian Super Cup and CAF Champions League, with Ahly remaining unbeaten in all of them (as well as winning all 4 trophies). This feat has yet to be emulated.

Honours

Al-Ahly fans celebrating after winning the African Champions League in 2005.

Total number of cups: 122.

Worldwide / Intercontinental

• FIFA Club World Cup
  • Bronze Medalist, 2006
• Afro-Asian Cup
  • Winners (1) : 1988
• Arab Champions Cup
  • Winners (1) : 1996
• Arab Super Cup
  • Winners (2) : 1997, 1998 (record)
• Arab Cup Winners' Cup
  • Winners (1): 1994–1995

African

• CAF Champions League
  • Winners (6) : 1982, 1987, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008 (record)
• African Cup Winners' Cup
  • Winners (4) : 1984, 1985, 1986, 1993 (record)
• CAF Super Cup
  • Winners (4) : 2002, 2006, 2007, 2009 (record)

Domestic

League

• Egyptian Premier League
  • Winners (36) :1948/1949, 1949/1950, 1950/1951, 1952/1953, 1953/1954, 1955/1956, 1956/1957, 1957/1958, 1958/1959, 1960/1961, 1961/1962, 1974/1975, 1975/1976, 1976/1977, 1978/1979, 1979/1980, 1980/1981, 1981/1982, 1984/1985, 1985،1986, 1986/1987, 1988/1989, 1993/1994, 1994/1995, 1995/1996, 1996/1997, 1997/1998, 1998/1999, 1999/2000, 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2006/2007, 2007/2008, 2008/2009, 2009/2010, 2010/2011 (record)
• Cairo League
  • Winners (17) :1924/25, 1926/27, 1927/28, 1928/29, 1930/31, 1932/33, 1933/34, 1934/35, 1935/36, 1936/37, 1937/38, 1938/39, 1941/42, 1942/43, 1947/48, 1949/50, 1957/58 (record)

Cup

• Egypt Cup
  • Winners (35) : 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1937, 1940, 1942, 1943, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1966, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2007 (record)
• Egyptian Super Cup
  • Winners (6): 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 (record)
• Sultan Hussein Cup
  • Winners (7): 1923,1925,1926,1927,1929,1931,1938 (record)
• United Arab Republic Cup (during the United Arab Republic era)
  • Winners (1) : 1961 (record)
• Confederation Cup refresher
  • Winners (1) : 1989

Competitive record

African Club Competitions

African Club Competitions
Year	CAF Champions League	African Cup Winners' Cup	CAF Super Cup
1964–74	Did not enter	Did not enter	Started in 1993
1976	Second round	Did not enter
1977	Quarter-Finals	Did not enter
1978	Withdraw after qualify	Did not enter
1979	Did not enter	Did not enter
1980	Did not enter	Did not enter
1981	Withdraw from Semi-Finals	Did not enter
1982	Winner	Did not enter
1983	Runner-up	Did not enter
1984	Did not enter	Winner
1985	Did not enter'	Winner
1986	Did not enter	Winner
1987	Winner	Did not enter
1988	Semi-Finals	Did not enter
1989	-	-
1990	Did not enter	Second Round
1991	Quarter-Finals	Did not enter
1992	Did not enter	Quarter-Finals
1993	Did not enter	Winner	Runner-up
1994	Did not enter	Did not enter	Did not enter
1995	Did not enter	Did not enter	Did not enter
1996	Did not enter	Did not enter	Did not enter
1997	Did not enter	Did not enter	Did not enter
1998	First round	Did not enter	Did not enter
1999	Group Phase Runners-up	Did not enter	Did not enter
2000	Group Phase Runners-up	Did not enter	Did not enter
2001	Winner	Did not enter	Did not enter
2002	Group stage	Did not enter	Winner
2003	Did not enter	Quarter-Finals	Did not enter
2004	Second round	Stopped in 2003	Did not enter
2005	Winner		Did not enter
2006	Winner		Winner
2007	Runner-up		Winner
2008	Winner		Did not enter
2009	Second round		Winner
2010	Semi-Finals		Did not enter
2011	Group stage		Did not enter

Domestic Competitions

Egyptian Clubs Competitions
Year	Premier League	Egypt Cup	Super Cup
1921–22	Started in 1948	-	Started in 2001
1922–23		-
1923–24		Winner
1924–25		Winner
1925–26		Runner-up
1926–27		Winner
1927–28		Winner
1928–29		-
1929–30		Winner
1930–31		Winner
1931–32		-
1932–33		-
1933–34		-
1934–35		Runner-up
1935–36		-
1936–37		Winner
1937–38		-
1938–39		-
1939–40		Winner
1940–41		Runner-up
1941–42		Winner
1942–43		Winner
1943–44		Runner-up
1944–45		Winner
1945–46		Winner
1946–47		Winner
1947–48		-
1948–49	Winner	Winner
1949–50	Winner	Winner
1950–51	Winner	Winner
1951–52	not held	Runner-up
1952–53	Winner	Winner
1953–54	Winner	-
1954–55	not finished	-
1955–56	Winner	Winner
1956–57	Winner	-
1957–58	Winner	Winner
1958–59	Winner	Runner-up
1959–60	Third place	Winner
1960–61	Winner	-
1961–62	Winner	-
1962–63	Third place	-
1963–64	Group Fifth	-
1964–65	Fourth place	-
1965–66	Sixth place	Winner
1966–67	Runner-up	-
1968–69	not held	not held
1969–70	not held	not held
1970–71	not finished	not held
1971–72	not held	not held
1972–73	Fourth place	Runner-up
1973–74	not finished	not finished
1974–75	Winner	-
1975–76	Winner	Runner-up
1976–77	Winner	-
1977–78	Runner-up	Winner
1978–79	Winner	-
1979–80	Winner	not held
1980–81	Winner	Winner
1981–82	Winner	not held
1982–83	Third place	Winner
1983–84	Runner-up	Winner
1984–85	Winner	Winner
1985–86	Winner	-
1986–87	Winner	not held
1987–88	Runner-up	-
1988–89	Winner	Winner
1989–90	not finished	-
1990–91	Runner-up	Winner
1991–92	Fourth place	Winner
1992–93	Runner-up	Winner
1993–94	Winner	not held
1994–95	Winner	-
1995–96	Winner	Winner
1996–97	Winner	Runner-up
1997–98	Winner	Semifinal
1998–99	Winner	Round of 32
1999–00	Winner	Semifinal
2000–01	Runner-up	Winner
2001–02	Runner-up	Round of 16	Withdrew
2002–03	Runner-up	Winner	Winner
2003–04	Runner-up	Runner-up	Did not enter
2004–05	Winner	Round of 16	Winner
2005–06	Winner	Winner	Winner
2006–07	Winner	Winner	Winner
2007–08	Winner	Round of 32	Winner
2008–09	Winner	Round of 16	Runner-up
2009–10	Winner	Runner-up	Winner
2010–11	Winner	Round of 16	Withdrew
2011-12	Withdrew	Withdrew

CAF Club rankings

Current

CAF	Club	Points
1	Al-Ahly	81
2	Étoile du Sahel	50
3	Zamalek	47
4	Asante Kotoko	44
5	ASEC Mimosas	42
6	Espérance	42
7	Canon Yaoundé	36
8	JS Kabylie	35
9	Hearts of Oak	31
10	Africa Sports	30

Ranking of the Century

ACUC	Club	Points
1	Al Ahly	40
2	Zamalek	37
3	Asante Kotoko	34
4	Canon Yaoundé	34
5	Espérance Tunis	27
6	ASEC Mimosas	27
7	Hearts of Oak	26
8	Africa Sports	25
9	JS Kabylie	20
10	Englebert	19

Players and coaching staff

Current first team squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Sherif Ekramy 4 DF Sherif Abdel-Fadil 5 DF Ahmad El-Sayed 6 DF Wael Gomaa (Vice-captain) 7 MF Shehab El-Din Ahmed 10 MF Moataz Eno 11 MF Walid Soliman 12 DF Ahmad Shedid Qinawi 13 GK Ahmed Adel Abd El-Moneam 14 MF Hossam Ghaly (Captain) 15 FW Mohamed Nagy "Geddo" 17 MF Sayed Moawad 18 FW Al-Sayed Hamdy

No. Position Player 19 FW Abdallah Said 20 MF Mohamed Shawky 21 FW Fábio Junior 23 DF Mohamed Nagieb 24 MF Ahmed Fathy 25 MF Hossam Ashour 26 FW Dominique Da Silva 28 DF Mohamed Abdel Fattah 34 DF Ahmed Nabil "Manga" 35 MF Ramy Rabia 38 MF Amr Warda 39 DF Ayman Ashraf

Out on loan

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

No. Position Player - GK Mahmoud Abou El-Saoud (at Al Mokawloon Al Arab) - DF Mohamed Samir (at Smouha) - DF Saad Samir (at Al Masry) - DF Ahmed Ali (at Ittihad El-Shorta) - MF Ahmed Shoukry (at Telephonat Bani Sweif) - MF Hussein El-Sayed (at Misr El Makasa)

No. Position Player - MF Mahmoud Tobah (at Al Masry) - MF Mostafa Afroto (at Al Ittihad) - MF Hesham Mohamed (at Ittihad El-Shorta) - MF Amir Sayoud (at MC Alger) - FW Mohamed Talaat (at Ittihad) - FW Abdul Hameid Shabana (at Telephonat Bani Sweif)

Youth academy squad

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

No. Position Player GK Mohamed Mokhtar DF Adel Bekhit DF Ahmed Said "Mido" DF Mohamed Abo Saif DF El-Sayed El-Araby DF Abdullah Abdul-Azim MF Ahmed Mamdouh "Toota" MF Ahmed Abdel-Aziz MF Mohamed El-Sayed MF Reda Shehata MF Abdel-Rahman Ahmed MF Mahmoud Mohamed MF Ahmed Nasser

No. Position Player MF Salah El-Din Farouk MF Osama Abdel-Mageed MF Mohamed Gamal FW Reda Bekhit FW Mahran Megahed FW Marwan Hesham FW Alaa Shaaban FW Islam Abdel-Latif FW Abdel-Rahman Ahmed FW Ahmed Mamdouh Mabrouk FW Mohamed Mostafa Zidan FW Islam Magdy

Retired numbers

Main article: Retired numbers in association football

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

No. Position Player 3 DF Mohamed Abdelwahab (posthumous honour)

Since 2006, Al Ahly have not issued the squad number 3. It was retired in memory of Mohamed Abdelwahab, who died of a heart attack while he was in a training with Al-Ahly in Cairo and since then no one wore the number three.^{[citation needed]}

Coaching staff

Position	Staff {{Fb cs staff |bg= |p=Manager |s=style="background: #DDF; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="no table-no2"|To Be Announced
Football Director	Sayed Abdel Hafeez
General coach	Pedro Barny
Assistant coach	Mohamed Youssef
Goalkeepers coach	Ahmed Nagy
Fitness, strength and conditioning coach	Fidalgo
Performance Analyser	Oscar Elizondo
Administrative Director	Emad El-Yamani
Club doctor	Dr. Ehab Ali
Doctor	Dr. Tarek Abdel-Aziz
Dietician	Dr. Hany Wahba
Masseur	Attia Bassiuny
Masseur	Sameh Mohamed
Masseur	Tarek Hussien
Masseur	Ahmed Mahmoud

Source:^{[citation needed]}

Managers List

• 01- Gamil Osman
• 02- Mahmoud Mokhtar El-Tetch
• 03- Labib Mahmoud
• 04- Hussein El-Far
• 05- Mohamed El-Guindi
• 06- Moustafa Kamel Mansour
• 07- Foad Sedki
• 08- Ahmed Mekawi
• 09- Mohamed Abdou Saleh El-Wahsh
• 10- Abdel Aziz Hammami
• 11- Foad Shaaban
• 12- Both
• 13- Fritz Pimperl
• 14- Jitcos

• 15- John McBrid
• 16- Brosicz
• 17- Horvatek
• 18- Tadicz
• 19- Nándor Hidegkuti (1973–80), (1983–85)
• 20- Géza Kalocsay (1980–82)
• 21- Mahmoud El-Gohary (1982–84), (1985–86), (1991–93)
• 22- Don Revie (1984–85)
• 23- Mahmoud El-Sayes
• 24- Taha Ismail
• 25- Geoff Butler
• 26- Anwar Salama
• 27- Dietrich Weise (1988–89)
• 28- Michael Evert

• 29- Shawky Abdel-Shafy
• 30- Allan Harris (1993–95)
• 31- Reiner Hollmann (1995–97)
• 32- Reiner Zobel (1998-00)
• 33- Hans-Jürgen Dörner (2000–01)
• 34- Manuel José (2001–02)
• 35- Jo Bonfrere (2002)
• 36- Toni Oliveira (2003)
• 37- Manuel José (Nov 2003-09)
• 38- Nelo Vingada (2009)
• 39- Hossam El-Badry (2009–10)
• 40- Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Shafi
• 41- Manuel José (Jan 2011–present)

Captains

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

• 14- Abdel Galil Hemaida
• 15- Saleh Selim
• 16- Rifaat El-Fanageely
• 17- Taha Ismail
• 18- Mimi El-Sherbini
• 19- Essam Abdel Monem
• 20- Hany Moustafa
• 21- Anwar Salama
• 22- Hassan Hamdy
• 23- Moustafa Younis
• 24- Moustafa Abdou
• 25- Mahmoud El-Khateeb
• 26- Thabet El-Batal

• 27- Taher Abouzaid
• 28- Ahmed Shobair
• 29- Osama Orabi
• 30- Ibrahim Hassan
• 31- Hossam Hassan
• 32- Walid Salah El-Din
• 33- Hady Khashaba
• 34- Sayed Abdel Hafeez
• 35- Essam El-Hadary
• 36- Shady Mohamed
• 37- Ahmed Belal
• 38- Hossam Ghaly
• 39- Mohamed Aboutrika

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

• Adidas Egypt
• Chevrolet Egypt
• Etisalat Egypt
• Juhayna
• Egypt Air

See also

• Egyptian Premier League
• Egypt Cup
• Egyptian Super Cup
• Cairo derby

External links

• Official website
• BBC World Service: African Footballer of the Year 2008
• BBC News article referencing "Club of the Century"
• BBC News article referencing unbeaten streak
• Al-Ahly Legends 1907–2011 (Arabic)