The Cairo derby (Arabic: ديربي القاهرة) or the Arab Classico (Arabic: كلاسيكو العرب) is a rivalry between Egyptian football clubs Al Ahly and Zamalek, 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. It is considered one of the fiercest sports encounters, and its matches attract a large audience. This match is known for its intensity since 1917 until now.
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. The best-attended football match between Al-Ahly and Zamalek in Cairo attracted a crowd of 120,000.[1]
The rivalry
Al Ahly and Zamalek's 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. 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.[2]
In the first half of the 20th century.[3] 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 44 league titles after that. Zamalek managed to win the league 14 times.
Cairo derby ending with a 3–0 victory for Zamalek on 30 November 1928
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.[4] 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.[5]
The largest winning margin in this derby was 6–0 for Zamalek, which has been achieved 2 times.[6][7] The first time was the 1942 Cairo Derby on January 2, 1942 in the 1941–42 Cairo League,[8] and the second time was on June 2, 1944, when Zamalek was known as Farouk back then, at the 1944 Egypt Cup Final.[9][10]
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.[11]
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.[12] 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.[13]
Zamalek's president Helmy Zamora receiving Al Ahly's president Saleh Selim at Zamalek's headquarters in 1980
Non-Egyptian referees are often flown in to officiate the derby to ensure impartiality.[15] In 2008 , World Soccer Magazine selected the Cairo Derby as the 10th most fierce derby in the world.[16] Besides the estimated 50 million domestic TV audience, the game is huge all over North Africa, the Middle East and the entire world.[17] 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.[18]
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.[19] 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.[20]
The first African encounter between the two Egyptian rivals took place 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.[26]
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.,on the other hand Zamalek failed to qualify from the group stage in the following three tournaments 2021 tournament and 2022 tournament and 2023 tournament and failed to qualify to 2024 tournament and 2025 tournament
after being third in the league ranking
On 27 September 2024, Zamalek and Al Ahly met for the second time in a CAF Super Cup final and a third time in a continental final encounter between the two greatest Egyptian teams.[27] The first time was on 16 January 1994 in the 1994 CAF Super Cup which Zamalek won. This match is known as the African Super of the 21st Century as the two greatest clubs of Africa were facing off each other for the continental title.[28] The match was to take place between Al Ahly, the CAF Champions League winners against Zamalek, the title holders of the CAF Confederation Cup on Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.[29] Al Ahly scored the first goal in the first half by Wessam Abou Ali from a penalty kick on the 44th minute, a penalty kick decision which resulted of arguments from Zamalek players. In the second half and from the first touch, the 76th minute substitute Nasser Mansi equalized for Zamalek on the 77th minute. After a dramatic penalty shootout, Zamalek won the match by a score of 4–3 on penalties. This match was considered a revenge for the 2020 CAF Champions League final which Al Ahly won.[30] It was Zamalek's fifth title and the second time beating Al Ahly with 30 years in between the two Super Cup finals in two different centuries.[31]
^League, Zamalek SC, the reigning champion of the CAF Confederation Cup, triumphed over their arch-rivals Al Ahly, the champions of the CAF Champions. "Zamalek Claim CAF Super Cup After Defeating Al Ahly". beIN SPORTS. Retrieved 2024-10-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
