Cairo derby

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.

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 14 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.

King Farouk attending Cairo Derby in the 1944 Egypt Cup final, ended with the largest win in the history of the derby with a 6-0 win for Zamalek , 1944

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]

Non-Egyptian referees are often flown in to officiate the derby in order to ensure impartiality.[4] In 2008 , 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]

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 13 July 2023

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:

Al Ahly, then Zamalek

Name	Pos	Al Ahly			Zamalek
		Career	Apps	Goals	Career	Apps	Goals
Hussein Hegazi	FW	1915–1923 1928–1929	?	?	1923–28 1929–31	?	?
Abdel-Karim Sakr	FW	1935–38	?	?	1938–45	?	?
Gamal Abdelhamid	FW	1977–84	?	?	1984–94	?	?
Ayman Shawky	FW	1984–94	?	?	1995–96	?	?
Mohamed Abdel-Galil	MF	1988–95	?	?	1995–97	?	?
Hossam Hassan	FW	1985–99	231	109	2000–04	61	38
Ibrahim Hassan	DF	1985–99	177	4	2000–04	47	4
Felix Aboagye	FW	1993–98	117	47	2001–02	20	5
Ibrahim Said	DF	1998–03	76	18	2004–06	27	4
Osama Hassan	DF	1999–01	0	0	2006–09	30	4
Ahmed Magdy	DF	2004–05	0	0	2007–10	75	6
Sherif Ashraf	FW	2005–07	0	0	2008–09	52	14
Mohamed Abdullah	DF	2005–07	?	?	2008–09	30	0
Hany Said	DF	1997–98	12	2	2008–11	76	4
Hassan Mostafa	MF	2003–09	?	?	2009–11	41	3
Hussein Yasser	MF	2008–10	20	1	2010–11	33	8
Essam El Hadary	GK	1996–08	510	1	2010–11	4	0
Ahmed Hassan	MF	2008–11	58	22	2011–13	26	14
Dominique Da Sylva	FW	2011–13	31	5	2013–14	10	3

Zamalek, then Al Ahly

Name	Pos	Zamalek			Al Ahly
		Career	Apps	Goals	Career	Apps	Goals
Labib Mahmoud	FW	?–1931	?	?	1931–?	?	?
Reda Abdel-Aal	MF	1987–93	?	?	1993–98	?	?
Magdy Tolba	MF	1986–89	?	?	1995–98	?	?
Islam El-Shater	DF	2003–04	?	?	2004–08	?	?
Nader El-Sayed	GK	1992–98	103	0	2005–06	2	0
Tarek El-Said	MF	1998–06	132	23	2006–08	?	?
Mohamed Sedik	DF	2002–06	56	2	2006–07	?	?
Moataz Eno	MF	2002–07	60	5	2007–12	49	2
Hany El-Agazy	FW	2006–07	1	0	2008–11	12	5
Sabry Raheel	DF	2009–13	61	11	2013–19	79	0
Moamen Zakaria	MF	2013–14	51	12	2015–19	93	30
Kahraba	FW	2015–19	56	30	2019–
Yasser Ibrahim	DF	2013–15	10	1	2019–	21	1
Emam Ashour	MF	2019–23	102	15	2023–

• Zamalek - Al Ahly (Results), Football Derbies
• Cairo derby divides an entire nation, Reuters
• Cairo giants get ready for battle, FIFA official website
• Egypt's big two meet in showdown, FIFA official website
• Cairo's ancient rivalry (in Arabic)