Al Masry SC

History

Al-Masry was founded in 1920 after the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 not only to assert the Egyptian national identity facing the foreign communities clubs in Port Said, but also to resist the colonization in the sports field.

The club's name "Al-Masry" means "The Egyptian" originated from the patriotic song ("Qwm Ya Masry" – "Rise you Egyptian") sang and composed by the great musician Sayed Darwish who truly expressed national feelings against the British occupiers.

Al-Masry was one of the leading founder members of the Egyptian Football Association in 1921 which was considered a significant phase of the national struggle against colonization seeking independence and national liberation from foreign dominance in various fields.

The team witnessed a golden era since 1932 until 1948 as, it won many championships including three Sultan Hussein Cup in 1933, 1934 and 1937 before losing the final of 1938. Meanwhile, Al-Masry won the Canal Zone League 17 consecutive times (from 1932 to 1948).

Al-Masry participated in the Egyptian Premier League since its inception in 1948. Throughout its history, Al-Masry has missed only two seasons of the Egyptian Premier League (1958–59 and 1959–60) as it was relegated to the Second Division for the only time in its history in 1957-1958 season due to the repercussions of the Suez Crisis on Port Said which affected the club severely and caused many key players to leave the team including the legendary striker El-Sayed El-Dhizui who moved to Al Ahly. Al-Masry was promoted back up to the top division after two seasons in the second division (1958–59 and 1959–60), since then it maintained its position in the Egyptian Premier League conquering the third rank in terms of participation in the Premier League after both Al Ahly and Zamalek. Nevertheless, Al-Masry has never won the Egyptian Premier League, it came in the third place for six times.

By the beginning the professional era, Al-Masry was among the first clubs to buy foreign players; in season 1983-1984 it bought the first foreign players, Iranians called Ebrahim Ghasempour and Abd al-Rida Brzkri who led the team under the coaching of the Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskás reaching the Egyptian Cup Final losing the match to Al Ahly of Cairo (1–3) in extra time.

Al-Masry won the Egyptian Federation Cup in 1992 but the greatest achievement for the team remains the winning of the Egypt Cup for the first time in 1998 after beating El Mokawloon in the final (4–3) in Cairo International Stadium.

After the accident of the Port Said Stadium disaster in February 2012, the remainder of the 2011–12 Egyptian Premier League season was cancelled by the Egyptian Football Association. Al-Masry decided to refrain from competing in 2012–13 season as a sign of respect to the relatives of the victims of the disaster, although it obtained a decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirms the right of the club to participate in the Egyptian Premier League and all the other activities of the Egyptian Football Association. Nevertheless, 2012–13 season was not completed and was cancelled due to the political situation in Egypt.

Al-Masry resumed participation in the Egyptian Premier League in 2013-2014 season, the club suffered from unstable performance and results for two consecutive seasons although it maintained its position in the Egyptian Premier League. Al-Masry started 2015-2016 season under the coaching of the Egyptian legend and former player of the team Hossam Hassan who adopted a new policy depending on youth and unknown players, the team made a great performance and results during this season, it came at the fourth place in the Egyptian Premier League and succeeded to qualify to the CAF Confederation Cup after 14 years of absence from African completions.

Colours and crest

Al-Masry's crest is composed of a green pharaonic Horus eagle that holds the Sun disk over its head in between its two upraised wings; the crest was inspired by the shape of Tutankhamun's pendants referring to challenge and strength, so the team is nicknamed the green eagles. The club's main colours, green and white come from Egypt's flag after the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 as a symbol of patriotism.

Stadiums

Al-Masry formerly played their home games at a small stadium in Port Said, but its capacity was too small for the club's support. As a consequence, Al-Masry built its own new stadium which is named Port Said Stadium in 1953 and was officially inaugurated in 1955.

Sayed Metwally Complex

The Sayed Metwally Complex is the training center of Egyptian multi-sport club Al-Masry SC. It has two grass pitches and is mainly used by the senior squad and the youth teams. It was renovated in 2011 to be ready to host the training sessions of the first team and its friendly matches. In November 2013 Al-Masry board of directors took a decision to name the Pitches after the club's late president Sayed Metwally who took the office for almost 26 years.

Fans and Ultras group

Al-Masry is considered one of the popular teams in Egypt and the most popular in Port Said. Al-Masry's fans believe that they had the honor of forming the first organized fans group for a football team in the Middle East when they formed the "Association of Al-Masry Club Fans" in 1960 and registered it at the Egyptian ministry of social affairs under (No. 102 of 1960). An Ultras group was formed on 4 May 2007 for Al-Masry fans and was called Ultras Green Eagles or simply (UGE). Their slogan is "Descendants of 56" meant to highlight the historic role of Port Said residents in resisting the tripartite aggression on the city during the Suez Crisis in 1956. They sit in the north curve behind the goal they call "El Modarag El gharby" (Curva Nord section).

Honours

Total number of cups: 22

Performance in CAF competitions

Performance in Arab competitions

Club statistics and records

El-Sayed El-Dhizui is the all-time leading goalscorer for Al-Masry in the Egyptian Premier League, with 89 goals since 1948. Mosaad Nour, comes in second in the all-time topscorer for Al-Masry in the league with 87 goals.

The biggest ever victory recorded by Al-Masry in the Egyptian Premier League was 11–0 against Beni Suef FC on 31 January 1964, this score is the record for the heaviest ever victory and the biggest winning margin by a team in the Egyptian league throughout the history.

Al-Masry has contributed players to the Egyptian national team in its two appearances FIFA World Cup, as it contributed to the Egyptian national team in 1934 FIFA World Cup by two players; Abdulrahman Fawzi and Mohammed Hassan, it also contributed to Egypt's team in 1990 FIFA World Cup by Tarek Soliman.

Al-Masry star during the Thirtieth Abdulrahman Fawzi was the first African and Arab footballer to score in the FIFA World Cup when he scored twice for Egypt in their 2–4 loss against Hungary at the 1934 FIFA World Cup.

Two players from Al-Masry was the top Scorers of the Egyptian Premier League; the first was El-Sayed El-Dhizui who was the top scorer for three consecutive seasons in 1948-49, 1949–50 and 1950–51 while the second was Gamal Gouda who was the top scorer of the league in 1981-82 season.

Current first team squad

Egyptian Football Association (EFA) rules are that a team may only have 3 foreign born players in the squad.

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

Out on loan

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

Other sports

Al-Masry SC also competes in other sports such as handball, athletics, swimming, gymnastics, billiards, table tennis and field hockey.

Al-Masry FM Radio

Al-Masry FM is the official Radio station of the club which was launched as an Internet radio on 28 December to be the first ever Radio Station belonging to a club in Egypt.

Sponsors