Locale Greater Cairo, Egypt | Teams Al Ahly SC
Zamalek SC | |
Other names Clasico El Arab
The Peak First meeting Al Ahly 1–0 Zamalek
Friendly
(9 February 1917) Latest meeting Zamalek 3–1 Al Ahly
2016-17 super cup
(10 Feb 2017) Next meeting Zamalek v Al Ahly
cario League
(29 December 2016) | ||
The Cairo Derby, also known as the Clasico El-Arab, is a football match between Egyptian clubs Al Ahly SC and Zamalek SC. It is a match between arguably the two most successful clubs in Egypt and Africa. Ahly and Zamalek were named by the Confederation of African Football (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 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.
Contents
The rivalry
Ever since their creation, both clubs have been the top clubs in the Egyptian Premier League, the country's top-flight football league. In the first half of the twentieth century. Ahly won their first league title when the Egyptian Premier League was first created in the 1948-49 season and won 37 domestic titles after that. Zamalek managed to win the league 12 times and came second to Ahly in the number of Egyptian Premier League titles won.
The largest winning margin in this derby was 6–0 for Zamalek for two times, The first was in 1942 Cairo League, The Second was in 1944 Egypt Cup Final.
Fans of both clubs can be violent when in anger. 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.
Matches between both teams can be decisive. Whenever they meet in the Egyptian cup the winner usually goes on to win the cup, or at least grab the runners up medal. Moreover, the team which has the aggregate result on its favor in the league rarely misses the chance to win the Egyptian Premier League.
In 2008, World Soccer Magazine selected the Cairo Derby as the 8th most fierce derby in the world.
The Meetings
These meetings are the meetings in the League
Statistics
Top goalscorers
Crossing the divide
Due to the rivalry between the clubs, relatively few players have played for both Ahly and Zamalek. Some of the players who have done so are listed below: