Ghazl El Mahalla SC
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Full name | Ghazl El Mahalla Sporting Club | ||
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Nickname(s) |
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Short name | GMH | ||
Founded | 1 October 1936 | ||
Ground | Ghazl El Mahalla Stadium | ||
Capacity | 14,564 | ||
Chairman | Osama Khalil | ||
Head coach | Khaled Eid | ||
League | Egyptian Premier League | ||
2021-22 | 14th of 18 | ||
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Ghazl El Mahalla Sporting Club (
They are one of seven teams to have won the Egyptian Premier League, having won it once, in the 1972–73 season. The history of Ghazl El Mahalla has witnessed many achievements, most significantly during the era of the golden generation of the club which led the team to reach the finals of the
History
Ghazl El Mahalla is one of the biggest clubs in the history of Egyptian football. It was founded in 1936 after the establishment of Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in El Mahalla El Kubra as an Egyptian national company under the leadership of the patriotic entrepreneur Talaat Harb. The English experts working at the company at that time used to play football with some of the Egyptian workers at the factory which led to the establishment of the club. In 1947, Ghazl El Mahalla Stadium was established and the company club began to participate in the Corporations League at that time. Later, Ghazl El Mahalla began to participate in the Egyptian Premier League in the 1956–57 season. Within years, the club rose through the ranks of Egyptian football and made a name for itself.
Due to its presence in a big city like El Mahalla El Kubra, the club began to have fans from the city and the towns surrounding it. So, even though the club was initially formed as a company club, it became one of the most supported clubs in Egypt and its fan base grew to become one of the biggest fan bases in Egyptian football. The team played in the Egyptian Premier League for 46 seasons and contributed a lot throughout its history to the Egypt national football team with talented players that came out of the club's youth system like Wael Gomaa, Mahmoud Fathalla, Ahmed Elmohamady, and Shawky Gharieb who is the current head coach of the Egypt national under-23 football team, as well as other talented players that rose to prominence during their time at the club like Mohamed Abdel Shafy who became one of the legends of fellow Egyptian club Zamalek SC, and Mohamed El-Atrawy who was in the 2001 squad of the Egypt national under-20 football team that achieved third place at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship.
The history of Ghazl El Mahalla testifies with a lot of achievements, the club won the
Throughout its history, Ghazl El Mahalla has been relegated to the Egyptian Second Division six times. The first time was in the 1960–61 season when Ghazl El Mahalla was relegated instead of Ittihad Suez due to lack of fair play from Ghazl El Mahalla's side in a match against Tersana SC, but the club managed to get promoted to the top tier again the following season. The fall of the club began in the 1994–95 season when the club placed twelfth in the Egyptian Premier League, the worst placing the club ended up with in 23 years. Although, it could be argued that the fall of the club began in the season prior to that when the club placed ninth, the worst placing the club ended up with in 15 years. Nonetheless, the following season, 1995–96, the club got relegated for the second time in its history, but yet again managed to get promoted to the top tier again the following season. Only to get relegated for the third time the following season, 1998–99, and to yet again manage to get promoted to the top tier again the following season. After that third promotion to the Egyptian Premier League, the performance of the club began to fluctuate over the course of the following nine seasons beginning in the 2000–01 season and placing anywhere between fourth and twelfth positions. This eventually resulted in the fourth relegation of the club to the Egyptian Second Division in the 2009–10 season, it took the club three seasons to get promoted back to the Egyptian Premier League in the 2012–13 season, only for it to get relegated for the fifth time and spend one more season in the Egyptian Second Division before getting promoted once again the following season. The club played its last season of 2015–16 in the Egyptian Premier League before being relegated to the Egyptian Second Division that season for the sixth time in its history, and to spend its longest consecutive seasons in the second level of Egyptian football having spent four seasons in the Egyptian Second Division before earning a promotion. On 13 October 2020, Ghazl El Mahalla, under the leadership of head coach Khaled Eid, earned a promotion to the Egyptian Premier League after defeating Olympic Club of Alexandria 2–1, the Alexandrian team scored first only for Mohamed Sami to score the equalizer within minutes and then Mahmoud Salah scored the winning goal for Ghazl El Mahalla, in an away match in the final matchday of the 2019–20 Egyptian Second Division to top their group (Group C) with 47 points, two points clear of the second-placed team, and officially announce their promotion to the Egyptian Premier League after four harsh years in the Egyptian Second Division. That night, thousands of Ghazl El Mahalla supporters filled the streets of El Mahalla El Kubra in celebration of the promotion of the club and gathered at the entrance to the city awaiting the arrival of the team from Alexandria, at the arrival of the team's bus the players stood above the bus and celebrated with the supporters as a huge parade took place which was decorated by the sounds of drums and the chants of the supporters that expressed their overwhelming happiness, "Oh Mahallawi (El Mahalla supporter)", "Play oh Mahalla", "Say it again, Say it again, Ghazl El Mahalla is back again", "Say oh world, Say oh people, Ghazl El Mahalla is back in the Premier". The supporters gathered at Ghazl El Mahalla Stadium as well and the celebrations continued all night and up till the next morning.
Honours
Domestic
- Egyptian Premier League:
- Egypt Cup:
- Runners-up (6): 1975, 1979, 1986, 1993, 1995, 2001
- Egyptian Super Cup:
- Runners-up (1): 2001
Continent
- African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League:
- Runners-up (1): 1974
Performance in CAF competitions
- FR = First round
- SR = Second round
- QF = Quarter-final
- SF = Semi-final
Season | Competition | Round | Country | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
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1974 | African Cup of Champions Clubs | SR | ![]() |
Al Hilal | 4–1 | 1–4 | 5–5 (4–2 p) |
QF | ![]() |
Abaluhya | 3–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 | ||
SF | ![]() |
Simba | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 (3–0 p) | ||
Final | ![]() |
CARA Brazzaville | 1–2 | 2–4 | 3–6 | ||
1975 | African Cup of Champions Clubs | SR | ![]() |
Express | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
QF | ![]() |
Al Merrikh | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | ||
SF | ![]() |
Enugu Rangers | 3–1 | 0–3 | 3–4 | ||
2002 | African Cup Winners' Cup | FR | ![]() |
Express | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–3 (4–1 p) |
SR | ![]() |
Al Ahli Tripoli | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–2 | ||
QF | ![]() |
Asante Kotoko | 4–2 | 0–3 | 4–5 |
Performance in domestic competitions
Egyptian Clubs Competitions | ||||
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Year | League | Position | Egypt Cup | Super Cup |
2003–04 | Egyptian Premier League | 4 | Round of 16 | |
2004–05 | Egyptian Premier League | 8 | Quarter Final | |
2005–06 | Egyptian Premier League | 11 | Round of 32 | |
2006–07 | Egyptian Premier League | 6 | Round of 32 | |
2007–08 | Egyptian Premier League | 8 | Round of 32 | |
2008–09 | Egyptian Premier League | 12 | Round of 16 | |
2009–10 | Egyptian Premier League | 14 | Round of 32 | |
2010–11 | Egyptian Second Division | 1 (Group C) | Round 4 | |
2011–12 | Egyptian Premier League | not finished | not held | |
2012–13 | Egyptian Premier League | not finished | Round of 16 | |
2013–14 | Egyptian Premier League | 10 (Group 1) | Round of 16 | |
2014–15 | Egyptian Second Division | 1 (Group C) | 6 Preliminary Round | |
2015–16 | Egyptian Premier League | 18 | Round of 32 | |
2016–17 | Egyptian Second Division | 5 (group C) | Round of 16 | |
2017–18 | Egyptian Second Division | 7 (group C) | 5 Preliminary Round | |
2018–19 | Egyptian Second Division | 5 (group C) | Round of 32 | |
2019–20 | Egyptian Second Division | 1 (Group C) | 1 Preliminary Round | |
2020–21 | Egyptian Premier League | 14 | Round of 32 |
Rivalries
El Mahalla Derby
The El Mahalla derby is a
Players
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Managers
Sherif El-Khashab (March 21, 2009–Aug 26, 2009)
Mohamed Radwan (Aug 27, 2009–???)
Salah El-Nahy (Aug 19, 2011–Oct 20, 2011)
Ibrahim Youssef (Oct 25, 2011–April 26, 2013)
Abdel-Latif El-Doumany (April 26, 2012 – June 12, 2013)
Farouk Gaafar (Sept 9, 2013–Jan 19, 2014)
Ashraf Kasem (Jan 30, 2014–June 15, 2014)
Mohamed Fayz (Jan 30, 2015–???)
Khaled Eid (Dec 16, 2018–present)
Mohamed Ouda