Egyptian Premier League

The Egyptian Premier League (

The Egyptian Premier League was founded in 1948, unifying the local leagues that had existed previously. 70 clubs have competed in the league since its founding. Al Ahly have won the title 43 times, more than any other club. Their closest rivals, Zamalek, have won the league 14 times. Only five other clubs have won the league; those clubs are Ghazl El Mahalla, Ismaily, Al Mokawloon Al Arab, Olympic Club, and Tersana.

The Egyptian Premier League is one of the top national leagues, ranked second in Africa according to CAF's 5-year ranking for the 2022–23 season, based on performances in African competitions over the past five seasons. Egyptian teams have won the CAF Champions League a record 16 times, and Al Ahly was named the African Club of the Century by CAF.^[1] Two clubs have also won the CAF Confederation Cup.

The Egyptian Premier League once had among highest average stadium attendance in Africa and the Middle East until the Port Said Stadium riot occurred on 1 February 2012 after a league match involving Al Masry and Al Ahly, where 74 people were killed and more than 500 were injured.^[2] Since that date, all domestic football matches were played behind closed doors until 2017, when the local security authorities started to allow fans to attend selected matches with gradually increasing numbers starting from 100 attendance only and in 2021, the league started to welcome back thousands of supporters.

History

Association football was introduced to Egypt while it was occupied by the British. The first football club in Egypt was El Sekka El Hadid, which was founded in 1903. The Sultan Hussein Cup was founded in 1917, and though it was dominated by English clubs in its first years, Egyptian clubs quickly gained power.^[3] The Egypt Cup, which no British teams competed in, began in 1922.^[4]

The first major football league in Egypt also began play in 1922; consisting of clubs from

The first match, played on October 22, was between Zamalek and Al Masry SC, and finished in a 5–1 victory for Zamalek. The match featured the first goal in the Egyptian Premier League, scored by Zamalek's Mohamed Amin, and the first hat-trick in the new league, by Zamalek's Saad Rustom.^[6]

During this time, Priemer League results in matches between clubs from Cairo were counted as Cairo League results as well. The Cairo League ceased play in the 1952-53 season and was once played again in the 1957-58 season and cancelled after that season with a narrow difference in the list of title winners between Cairo rivals, 15 titles for Al Ahly and 14 titles for Zamalek. Zamalek was focused on the Cairo League, winning three consecutive titles from 1949 to 1952, while Al Ahly was dominating the newly born Egyptian League. Despite the importance for this league, few informed and statistics are available.^[5]

Few players rose to prominence in Egyptian football in the 1950s, such as;

1952 Egyptian revolution, in which King Farouk was overthrown. Farouk had allowed his name to be used by his favourite club, which quickly renamed itself Zamalek after the revolution.

Gamal Abdel Nasser, who led the coup and took power after Farouk, was a supporter of Al-Ahly, and was named club's honorary president soon after he came to power. This increased the intensity of the already fierce Cairo derby between Al-Ahly and Zamalek.^[8] Al Ahly won the competition every season until the 1959–60 season, with the majority in a narrow difference with Zamalek. The 1954–55 season was even stopped when Al Ahly conflicted with the Egyptian Football Association and refused to play. No title was awarded.

Turbulent Times (1960–1974)

In the 1959–60 season, Zamalek finally won their first title after consistently being runners-up, and Tersana were runner-ups and Al Ahly finished third. Zamalek won three titles this decade with the help of a new generation lead by Hamada Emam, Nabil Nosair, Raafat Attia, Abdou Noshi and others.

Al Ahly's grip on the league loosened; though they did win some titles, in the 1965–66 edition, they finished in 6th out of 12, closer to relegation than to the championship.^[9] The decade had five different champions: Ismaily won their first title during this decade, and El-Olympi and Tersana won the league for the only time. Also, the 1962–63 and 1963–64 seasons featured 24 teams, a higher number than ever before.^[5]

The league ceased play in 1967 due to the Six-Day War between Egypt and Israel and league play was not resumed until the 1971-72 season. In 1969, Ismaily were allowed to play in the CAF Champions League (then the African Cup of Champion Clubs) as the most recent champions (1966-67 champions).^{[note 3]} They became the first Egyptian club to win that competition in 1969, though both Al Ahly and Zamalek have now won it many more times.^[10]

In 1971, the league was restarted, only to be swiftly suspended again due to fighting at a match between Al Ahly and Zamalek. A controversial penalty for Zamalek which was scored by Farouk Gaafar, this resulted in a pitch invasion from Al Ahly fans after Al Ahly goalkeeper Marwan Kanafany asked the fans to protest, and the dispute was so intense that the league was not allowed to continue, and no winner was declared, despite Zamalek finishing 1st in. the table..^[11] Ghazl El Mahalla won the league in the 1972–73 season for the only time in their history, but the league was then suspended again for the 1973–74 season because of the Yom Kippur War, and replaced with the October League Cup, which was played once and won by Zamalek.^[5]

Post-war Period (1974–2002)

In the 1970s, a new generation of talented players emerged in the Egyptian football such as; Hassan Shehata, Mahmoud El Khatib, Taha Basry, Farouk Gaafar, Ali Abo Gresha, Mussad Nur and others. Although this generation did not achieve positive results with their country's national team in the 1970s, the league was a strong tournament and full of talents.

After the Yom Kippur War, Al Ahly won three championships straight, followed by a single championship for Zamalek. This pattern would continue until 1990: Al Ahly would win many championships, followed by a single win for Zamalek, who won their single title in the 1977–78 season with a narrow lead over Al Ahly. This was only interrupted by Al Mokawloon winning the 1982–83 edition. This is the latest time a team has won the League for the first time.^[5] The league returned to its 24-team format for the 1975–76 season, but it quickly reverted to a format featuring between 12 and 16 teams. Tersana were close of winning the 1974–75 season and lost in the final week to Al Ahly with a narrow difference. Top goal scorers fluctuated between Hassan Shehata, Mahmoud El Khatib and Ali Khalil. The 1978–79 season was a 12 teams format.

In The 1980s, selected foreign players were chosen to play in the league such as Zamalek's Emmanuel Quarshie, and Al Mokawloon's Joseph-Antoine Bell, until the rules were changed with new limitations on foreign players in 1985. Zamalek and Al Ahly also dominated the CAF Champions League, starting with a 1982 triumph for Al Ahly, and Zamalek in 1984 and 1986, followed by Afro-Asian Club Championship for Zamalek in 1987, which Al Ahly won the next year. Al Ahly also won the African Cup Winners' Cup for three consecutive times from 1984 to 1986. Al Mokawloon won the 1983 African Cup Winners' Cup as well. The Egyptian Premier League became the most successful league in that tournament when Zamalek won in 1993, followed by their win in the CAF Super Cup over Al Ahly in 1994, with two Egyptian contenders for the first time in a continental final.^[10]

The league was not played in 1990 because of Egypt's qualification for the 1990 World Cup. After this delay, Ismaily won the 1990–91 season, followed by Zamalek winning twice in a row in the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons, and after that Al Ahly won every season until the turn of the century. Zamalek and Ismaily briefly rose in power once again between 2000 and 2004, with Zamalek winning 2000-01, 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons and Ismaily's 2001–02 win is the latest time that a team other than Zamalek and Al Ahly have won the title.^[5]

Normalcy, then Disaster (2002–2013)

Between 2004 and 2011, Al Ahly won every edition of the Egyptian Premier League, occasianally being challenged by Zamalek or Ismaily. They also continued to dominate the CAF Champions League, becoming the most successful team in the competition.

Hazem Emam and Mohamed Aboutrika

The league was one of the strongest and best-attended in Africa,^[12] ranking near the top of the CAF 5-year ranking since its inception. In 2011, another revolution began, part of the Arab Spring, which eventually resulting in the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. Football featured heavily in the popular uprising, as ultras from clubs such as Al Ahly took part in the revolution.^[11]

Port Said Stadium Disaster

On 1 February 2012, a riot began at Port Said Stadium at a match between Al Masry and Al Ahly. Fans of Al Masry had brought weapons and stormed the field after their team won the match. These fans then charged Al Ahly fans, who could not flee because the gates behind them were locked.^[13] 74 people, mostly fans of Al Ahly, died of stab wounds, concussions, and suffocation.^[14] Over 500 people were injured.^[2] In the days after the riot, the police response was questioned—they appeared to do little to protect Al Ahly fans.^[13] It was widely speculated that the police themselves had incited the riot,^[15][16] perhaps as revenge for the role of Al Ahly ultras in the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak the previous year.^[17]

The violence and resulting trial tore Egypt apart for weeks.^[2] The season was cancelled,^[18] with Haras El Hodoud at the top of the table and possibly heading for a surprise victory.^[19] Fans were to be barred from entering matches for years afterwards,^[20] but the Egyptian Premier League attempted to get back on its feet the next season.

Behind Closed Doors (2013–2021)

The 2012–13 season was cancelled as a result of the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état. After this, the Egyptian Premier League gradually returned to power. Al Ahly has won most seasons since 2013, and have also won two CAF Champions Leagues. Zamalek has won two league titles as well. An attempted return of fans was cancelled when a riot at a match between Zamalek and ENPPI resulted in 19 deaths.^[21] Fans were finally going to be let back into stadiums when the COVID-19 pandemic began, delaying the return until 2021.^[20]

In general, AL Ahly and Zamalek are seen as dominant forces in the league, with budgets that dwarf those of all the other clubs, and Ismaily seen as a distant third place club, occasionally challenging the big teams.^[22] In 2018, Al Assiouty Sport were bought by Saudi billionaire Turki Al-Sheikh and renamed Pyramids FC.^[23] They have since become a strong competitor in the Premier League and also the CAF Confederation Cup, replacing Ismaily as the third-strongest team in the league.^[24]

Partial fans return (since 2021)

At the beginning of the

Zamalek defended their title after they won the 2021–22 edition of the league, while Al Ahly witnessed a mass deterioration and even finished the league in the 3rd place (behind Pyramids FC and Zamalek) to be out of the top two since 1992 when the club ended the league in the 4th place. Ismaily was on the verge of relegation to the second division but the club eventually managed to improve its results and finished the season in 9th place, while the newly founded Future FC finished in 5th place and managed to qualify for the CAF Confederation Cup, as it was in fourth place in most of the 2021–22 season but lost the position to Tala’ea El Geish right at the end of the season. At the start of the 2022–23 season, 3000 fans per team were allowed to attend matches.

Competition format and sponsorship

Competition

There are 18 clubs in the Egyptian Premier League. The season lasts from August to May. During the course of the season, each club plays the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 34 games. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then the head-to-head record between the teams in question, then goal difference, and then goals scored. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned champion. If points are equal, the head-to-head record between the teams in question, then goal difference, and then goals scored determine the winner. At the end of the season, the three lowest placed teams are relegated into the Egyptian Second League. The Egyptian Second League consists of three groups; the winner of each group is promoted. This system has been around since 2015; before then, the number of teams and relegation places was variable.

Sponsorship

The Egyptian Premier League has been sponsored since 2005. The sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. The list below details who the sponsors have been and what they called the competition:

• 2005–07: Vodafone Egyptian Premier League
• 2007–11:
  Etisalat
  Egyptian Premier League
• 2011–14: Vodafone Egyptian Premier League
• 2014–present: Egyptian Premier League (Sponsored by Presentation Sports)

Qualification for African competitions

Association ranking for 2022–23 CAF competitions

Legend

• CL: CAF Champions League
• CC: CAF Confederation Cup
•   Associations ranked 1–12 and eligible to enter two teams in each CAF tournament (Champions League and Confederation Cup)

Rank			Association	2018 (× 1)		2018-19 (× 2)		2019–20 (× 3)		2020–21 (× 4)		2021–22 (× 5)		Total
2022	2021	Mvt		CL	CC	CL	CC	CL	CC	CL	CC	CL	CC
1	1	—	Morocco	5	7	5	7	8	8	4	6	9	5	194
2	2	—	Egypt	5	3	4	5	11	6	8	3	7	4	176
3	4	+1	Algeria	5	2	5	1	3	1	6	5	7	1	115
4	3	-1	Tunisia	9	0	8	6	6	0	4	3	5	1	113
5	5	—	South Africa	2	0	6	0	3	0.5	8	2	5	4	109.5

Media coverage

As the two most powerful clubs, Al Ahly and Zamalek were, before 2014, allowed to negotiate their own television deals. This allowed them to gain the largest television revenue of any club. In 2014, the league negotiated a £E 70,000,000 ($10,160,000) deal with the state-owned Nile Sport Network. However, the deal still guaranteed a great deal of money for Al Ahly and Zamalek, with 10% of revenue going to the team that had won the most Egyptian Premier Leagues (which is, comfortably, Al Ahly), and 10% going to the teams who appeared on television most frequently. Still, the deal did break the tradition of allowing the two clubs to negotiate deals that produced far more profit than the rest of the clubs in the league.^[22]

In 2016, ON Sport TV was granted the rights to televise Egyptian Premier League games. The network is part of the state-owned Egyptian Media Group, which also controls EPL sponsor Presentation Sports.^[25] On Sport launched TIME SPORTS to televise the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations which was hosted by Egypt, right and after the end of the tournament, ON sport TV merged with TIME SPORTS and became known as ON TIME Sports.

Clubs

A total of 70 clubs have played in the Egyptian Premier League from its inception in 1948–49 up to and including the 2020–21 season. But only two clubs have been members of the Egyptian Premier League for every season since its inception. These are Al Ahly and Zamalek, meanwhile Al-Ittihad and Al Masry have been absent only for two seasons of the League since its inception.

Egyptian Premier League current clubs

The following 18 clubs are competing in the Egyptian Premier League as of the 2023–24 season.

locations

Greater Cairo

Baladiya

El Gouna

Ismaily

Al Ittihad

Al Masry

Pharco

Smouha

Greater Cairo teams
Al Ahly
Ceramica Cleopatra
El Dakhleya
ENPPI
Modern Future
Al Mokawloon Al Arab
National Bank of Egypt
Pyramids
Tala'ea El Gaish
Zamalek
ZED

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Locations of the 2023–24 Egyptian Premier League teams

Ahly

Cleopatra

Dakhleya

ENPPI

Modern Future

Mokawloon

NBE

Pyramids

Gaish

Zamalek

ZED

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Locations of Egyptian Premier League teams from Greater Cairo (Cairo and Giza)

Current stadiums

List of seasons

The following table provides a summary of seasons:^[26]

Performance

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Third places	Winning Seasons
Al Ahly	43	12	4	1948–49, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2022–23
Zamalek	14	34	10	1987–88, 1991–92, 1992–93, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2014–15, 2020–21, 2021–22
Ismaily	3	7	17	1966–67, 1990–91, 2001–02
Tersana	1	5	7	1962–63
Ghazl El Mahalla	1	1	5	1972–73
El Olympi	1	–	2	1965–66
Al Mokawloon	1	–	1	1982–83
Pyramids	–	2	3
ENPPI	–	1	2
Smouha	–	1	1
Misr Lel Makasa	–	1	–
Al Masry	–	–	6
El Ittihad El Sakndary	–	–	2
El Qannah	–	–	1
El Mansoura	–	–	1
Haras El Hodoud	–	–	1
Petrojet	–	–	1

Performance by city

Doubles

Two teams have won the double of the Egyptian Premier League and the Egypt Cup.

Statistics

All seasons top goalscorers

Season	Player	Club	Goals
1948–49	Mohamed Diab El-Attar "Ad-Diba"	El Ittihad El Sakandary	15
	El-Sayed El-Dhizui	Al Masry
1949–50	El-Sayed El-Dhizui	Al Masry	13
1950–51	El-Sayed El-Dhizui	Al Masry	13
1952–53	Ahmed Mekkawi	Al Ahly	12
1953–54	Abdel Nabi	Tersana	18
1955–56	Sayed Saleh	Al Ahly	12
1956–57	Alaa El-Hamouly	Zamalek	16
1957–58	Hamdi Abdel Fattah	Tersana	19
1958–59	El-Sayed El-Dhizui	Al Ahly	16
1959–60	Hamdi Abdel Fattah	Tersana	15
1960–61	Ali Mohsen	Zamalek	16
1961–62	Moustafa Reyadh	Tersana	18
1962–63	Hassan El-Shazly	Tersana	32
1963–64	Moustafa Reyadh	Tersana	27
1964–65	Hassan El-Shazly	Tersana	23
1965–66	Hassan El-Shazly	Tersana	16
1966–67	Ali Abo Greisha	Ismaily	15
1972–73	Omasha Omasha	Ghazl El Mahalla	11
1974–75	Hassan El-Shazly	Tersana	34
1975–76	Ossama Khalil	Ismaily	17
1976–77	Ali Khalil	Zamalek	17
	Hassan Shehata	Zamalek
1977–78	Mahmoud El Khatib	Al Ahly	11
1978–79	Ali Khalil	Zamalek	12
1979–80	Hassan Shehata	Zamalek	14
1980–81	Mahmoud El Khatib	Al Ahly	11
1981–82	Gamal Gouda	Al Masry	8
1982–83	Mahmoud El-Mashaqui	Ghazl El Mahalla	9
1983–84	Ayman Shawky	Koroum	8
1984–85	Mohamed Hazem	Ismaily	11
1985–86	Mohamed Hazem	Ismaily	11
1986–87	Emad Soliman	Ismaily	11
1987–88	Gamal Abdel-Hameed	Zamalek	11
1988–89	Mahmoud El-Mashaqui	Ghazl El Mahalla	11
1990–91	Mohamed Ramadan	Al Ahly	14
1991–92	Ahmed El-Kass	El Olympi	14
1992–93	Ahmed El-Kass	El Olympi	16
1993–94	Ahmed El-Kass	El Olympi	15
	Bashir Abdel Samad	Ismaily
1994–95	Abdullah El-Sawy	El Qannah	10
	Ahmed Sary	El Ittihad El Sakandary
1995–96	Mohamed Salah Abo Greisha	Ismaily	14
1996–97	Ayman Moheb	El Mansoura	17
1997–98	Abdul-Hamid Bassiouny	Zamalek	15
1998–99	Hossam Hassan	Al Ahly	15
1999–00	John Utaka	Ismaily	17
2000–01	Tarek El-Said	Zamalek	13
2001–02	Hossam Hassan	Zamalek	18
2002–03	Ahmad Belal	Al Ahly	19
2003–04	Abdel Halim Ali	Zamalek	20
2004–05	Emad Moteab	Al Ahly	15
2005–06	Mohamed Aboutrika	Al Ahly	18
2006–07	Flávio Amado	Al Ahly	17
2007–08	Alaa Ibrahim	Petrojet	15
2008–09	Ernest Papa Arko	Tala'ea El Gaish	12
	Flávio Amado	Al Ahly
2009–10	Minusu Buba	Ittihad El Shorta	14
2010–11	Ahmed Abd El-Zaher	ENPPI	13
	Shikabala	Zamalek
2013–14	John Antwi	Ismaily	11
2014–15	Hossam Salama	El-Dakhleya	20
2015–16	Hossam Salama	Smouha	17
2016–17	Ahmed El Sheikh	Misr Lel Makasa	17
2017–18	Walid Azaro	Al Ahly	18
2018–19	Ahmed Ali	Al Mokawloon	18
2019–20	Abdallah El Said	Pyramids	17
2020–21	Mohamed Sherif	Al Ahly	21
2021–22	Ahmed Sayed (Zizo)	Zamalek	19
2022–23	Mabululu	El Ittihad El Sakandary	16

All time top goalscorers

Last updated 15 February 2023.

All time top appearances

See also

• Football in Egypt
•  Football in Africa portal
•  Egypt portal

References

Notes

1. ^ Bahary is an area of Alexandria, but it is not clear whether the league represented that area or not
2. ^ first named El-Mokhtalat and then King Farouk Club
3. ^ They won in the 1966–67 season.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Egyptian Professional League.

• Official website
• RSSSF competition history