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Football in Egypt
CountryEgypt
Governing bodyEgyptian Football Association
National teamMen’s · women's
First played1882; 144 years ago (1882)
National competitions
Club competitions
International competitions

Football is the most popular sport in Egypt, most of the Egyptians gather around to watch various Egyptian clubs and the Egyptian national football team play on an almost daily basis.[1][2][3] Around 60% of the Egyptians are football fans.[4] The Egypt national football team was established in 1920, followed by Egyptian Football Association in 1921. Egypt has been a member of FIFA since 1923 and was a founding member of the CAF in 1957.[5]

Zamalek and Al Ahly are amongst the most popular in the country, both of which are based in Cairo. Both teams compete in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest tier of Egyptian football. These two teams compete in the Cairo Derby. Other notable teams include: Ismaily, Al-Masry, Al Ittihad.

History

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Modern football was introduced to Egypt in 1882. Egyptian youth moved from spectators to become players themselves in the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, and the Suez Canal cities where the occupation forces were stationed. A few years later, football became a popular pastime, and players began forming teams in every neighborhood. These neighborhood teams then competed against each other. The year 1895 marked a significant event in football history when Cairo's football fields witnessed the emergence of the first Egypt national football team. Led by Mohamed Effendi Nashid, this team played for Egypt against British army teams and included Ahmed Rifaat, Mohamed Khairy, and the Gibril brothers.[6][7]

نادي_الزمالك_1917
Zamalek SC squad in 1917.
Zamalek_1921
Zamalek SC team, the first Egyptian club to participate in Sultan Hussein Cup, and the first Egyptian club to win the title in the 1921 edition.

In 1916, the idea of establishing a football league in the Sultanate of Egypt was proposed. The league would include Egyptian teams and teams from the allies' military clubs, including the British. The competition was named after Sultan Hussein Kamel.[8] The first official football tournament was the Sultan Hussein Cup, which was launched in 1917. Zamalek was the only Egyptian club to participate in the tournament as a sign of resistance to the British and a way to display the Egyptian presence in the sport. Zamalek eventually won the cup in 1921. This encouraged other Egyptian clubs to participate including Al Ahly which initially refused to take part, but in 1918, they decided to take part.[9]

Hassan Shehata (1979)
Hassan Shehata lifting the Egypt Cup trophy with Zamalek SC in 1979

The Egypt Cup is the oldest tournament in the history of Egyptian football that is still being held to-date. It is the first association football championship to be organized by the Egyptian Football Association. The first local football tournament in Egypt was the Sultan Hussein Cup. The first team to win the Egypt Cup was Zamalek in 1922.

The tournament was not played between 1967 and 1971 due to the outbreak of the War of Attrition. It was also canceled in the 1973–74 season due to the outbreak of the October War. The tournament was canceled in 1979-80, 1986–87 and 1993–94 seasons due to several reasons, and was canceled in the 1981-82 edition due to Zamalek’s dispute with the Football Association. The cup was also canceled in the 2011-12 season after the Port Said Stadium riot.

Al Ahly SC squad, winners of the first league in 1948–49 season.

The Egyptian Premier League has 20 teams.[10] The translation or title for the Egyptian League is El Dawry. Due to Sponsorships the official name of the league is the ORA League.[11] The Egyptian Premier League has been sponsored since 2005. The sponsors include; Vodafone Egyptian Premier League (2005-2007, Etisalat Egyptian Premier League 2007-2011, Vodafone Egyptian Premier League 2011-204, Presentation Sports 2014-2013, Nile League (Sponsored by Nile Developments) (2023-2026), and ORA League (Sponsored by ORA Developments) 2026-Present.

Men's League system

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The Egyptian football league system is held under the jurisdiction of the nationwide Egyptian Football Association, along with its regional associations around the country. On top of the system sit the level one Egyptian Premier League, the first professional football league in the country. It's followed by level two Egyptian Second Division A, the second professional league. Level three, Egyptian Second Division B, is the top semi-professional league in the country, which is expected to consist of four groups, and is followed on the pyramid by level four, the Egyptian Third Division, is the second-highest semi-professional league in the system. The number of teams and groups in the league change every season due to various reasons. The lowest football league system in Egypt is level five Egyptian Fourth Division, the only amateur league in the system. The number of teams and groups in the league also change every season due to various reasons.

The structure of the football league system in Egypt was changed ahead of the start of the 2023–24 season. The old Egyptian Second Division, which was a semi-professional league, was abolished and replaced with the Second Division A and Second Division B, a new professional and semi-professional leagues, respectively.[12]

Level Division
1 Egyptian Premier League
18 teams
↓ 3 relegation spots
2 Egyptian Second Division A
20 teams
↑ 3 promotion spots
↓ 4 relegation spots
3 Egyptian Second Division B
56 teams
↑ 4 promotion spots
↓ 12 relegation spots
Group A
(Upper Egypt)
14 teams
↑ 1 promotion spot
↓ 3 relegation spots		 Group B
(Cairo and neighboring cities)
14 teams
↑ 1 promotion spot
↓ 3 relegation spots		 Group C
(Northern Egypt)
14 teams
↑ 1 promotion spot
↓ 3 relegation spots		 Group D
(North-eastern governorates)
14 teams
↑ 1 promotion spot
↓ 3 relegation spots

Men's Cup competitions

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There are several cup competitions for clubs at different levels of the football pyramid. The two major cup competitions are the Egypt Cup and the Egyptian League Cup, with the winners of the Egypt Cup Cup qualifying for the CAF Confederation Cup.

National football team's achievements

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The Egypt national football team, also known under the nickname of The Pharaohs, is, as their name states, the national team of Egypt and is administered by the Egyptian Football Association. The team was founded in 1921,[14] although a team had been fielded in the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Egyptian Olympic football team at the 1920 Summer Olympics
Egyptian Olympic football team, 4th of the World at 1928 Summer Olympics

Internationally, Egypt is the first country in the world outside Europe and the Americas to participate in the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. The Egyptians qualified to 13 Olympic Games (an African record), as well as 4 World Cups. Egypt’s first Olympic football participation came in 1920 Antwerp, while the first World Cup participation was in the 1934 edition.

Egypt achieved the 4th place at 3 Olympics in 1928 Amsterdam, 1964 Tokyo, and 2024 Paris. The Egyptians have also reached the Quarter-finals of Olympic football at 5 other editions. Moreover, Egypt earned the honour of becoming a bronze medalist at the 2001 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina.[15]

Egypt has won multiple cups over the years. They won the African Cup of Nations 7 times. Egypt won the inaugural Cup in 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008 and 2010,[16] making them record holders of most African cup wins and most wins in a row (for winning 3 times in a row).

Their highest FIFA ranking was in July 2010 where they were ranked 9th in the world, making it their greatest achievement.[14] They were the first from an African country and also, from an Arab country to participate in the World Cup when they played in 1934,[17] losing to Hungary 4-2.

Egypt played their second World Cup in 1990, where they didn't pass through the first stage after tying Ireland, Netherlands and losing to England 1-0.

Egypt Qualified for the 2018 World Cup which was the first time in 28 years. They were placed in Group A with hosts Russia, Uruguay and KSA. Egypt lost to Uruguay in the 90th minute and then lost 3-1 to Russia and scored the goal Mohamed Salah from a penalty in the last game against Saudi Arabia, Egypt lost 2-1 and scored the goal Mohamed Salah in the 22nd minute.[citation needed]

Africa

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Winners (7): 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008, 2010 (Most successful team)
Runners-up (2): 1962, 2017, 2022
Third place (3): 1963, 1970, 1974
Fourth place (3): 1976, 1980, 1984
Champions (2): 1987, 1995
Third place (1): 1973
Runners-up (2): 1988, 2007
Champions (1): 2011 (Most successful team)

Other

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Women's football

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Women's football in Egypt is governed by the Egyptian Football Association (EFA). The Egypt women's national football team was established in 1998, and then participated in the Women's Africa Cup of Nations.[18][19][20][21][22] The Egyptian Women's Premier League is the top-tier women's professional association football league system in Egypt, organized and overseen by the Egyptian Football Association. Originally founded in 1998, the league has experienced a major transformation and spike in visibility, especially following Confederation of African Football directives that mandated top-tier men's clubs establish women's sides.[23] The Egyptian Women's Cup was also founded in 1998 as the main women's knockout competition.

Stadiums

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Egypt has a total of 27 football stadiums spread around the country.[24] The main stadium is the Cairo International Stadium, where the national team play all of their matches, while Egypt's largest football stadium is Misr Stadium in The New Capital. The second most used stadium is the Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria which is primarily used by Ittihad Alexandria and the B team of the national team.[25] The reason that this stadium was built was for Egypt's bid for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The Alexandria Stadium, the oldest stadium in Egypt and Africa.
The 94,000-capacity Misr Stadium.

Egypt has hosted 5 African Cups in 1959, 1974, 1986, 2006 and 2019. The country also hosted the 1997 U-17 World Cup and the 2009 U-20 World Cup.

#StadiumCapacityLocationHome teamOpened
1Misr Stadium 93,940 New Administrative Capital Egypt football team 2024
2Borg El Arab Stadium86,000Borg El ArabEgypt football team & Al-Masry SC2007
3Cairo International Stadium75,000CairoEgypt football team & Al Ahly SC & Zamalek SC23 July 1960
4Egyptian Army Stadium45,000SuezPetrojet FC2009
5Arab Contractors Stadium35,000CairoAl Mokawloon & FC Masr1979
630 June Stadium30,000CairoWadi Degla SC2009
7Al-Salam Stadium30,000CairoEl-Entag El-Harby SC2009
8Beni Ebeid Stadium30,000Beni EbeidBeni Ebeid SC

Attendances

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The average attendance per top-flight football league season and the club with the highest average attendance:

SeasonLeague averageBest clubBest club average
2010-116,561Al-Ahly22,370
1996-975,997Al-Ahly18,333

Source: League page on Wikipedia

Support

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Al Ahly and Zamalek leaded the top six most popular football clubs on social media from Africa on 12 October 2022:[26]

#Football clubCountryFollowers
1Al AhlyEgypt33 million
2ZamalekEgypt22 million
3Raja CAMorocco7 million
4Kaizer ChiefsSouth Africa6 million
5Orlando PiratesSouth Africa4 million
6Simba SCTanzania4 million

English Premier League

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Currently, the most popular English Premier League club in Egypt is Liverpool, largely thanks to Egyptian player Mohamed Salah, who captains the Egypt national team.[27][28] Previously, Salah's old club Chelsea was more popular.

Twitter research from 2015 found that the most popular Premier League club in Egypt was Chelsea, with 26% of Algerian Premier League fans following the club, followed by Manchester United (18%) and Arsenal (17%).[29]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ Mohamed El-Sayed (2004). "When life began". Ahram Weekly. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  2. ↑ Youssef Hamza. "Egypt's Ultras have shown military rule the red card". The National. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  3. ↑ Lavric, Eva (2008). The Linguistics of Football. BoD – Books on Demand. ISBN 9783823363989. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "(Soccer) Football Fans by Country 2025". 4 April 2024.
  5. ↑ "CAF History". CAF History. Retrieved 2026-07-29.
  6. ↑ "Olympics Site Closed | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". www.sports-reference.com. Retrieved 2026-02-23.
  7. ↑ عزت, محمود (2021-10-08). "حسين حجازي - أبو الكرة المصرية الذي كتب الإنجليز فيه الشعر.. وإشادة خاصة من ملك إسبانيا". FilGoal.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 2026-02-23.
  8. ↑ "بطولات صاموا عنها.. كأس السلطان حسين". العين الإخبارية (in Arabic). 2022-04-11. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  9. ↑ "بطولات صاموا عنها.. كأس السلطان حسين". العين الإخبارية (in Arabic). 2022-04-11. Retrieved 2025-01-12.
  10. ↑ "Egyptian Premier League to kick off on 21 August, Cairo derby set for 11 October - Egyptian Football - Sports". Ahram Online. Retrieved 2026-08-06.
  11. ↑ "الموقع الرسمي لرابطة الأندية المحترفة المصرية". egyptianproleague.com. Retrieved 2026-06-20.
  12. ↑ "تطبيق دوري المحترفين! نظام الصعود والهبوط في الدرجة الثانية" [New professional league! EFA announce second division new promotion and relegation rules]. Yalla Kora (in Arabic). 2 October 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  13. ↑ "Egypt to organise first ever EFA Cup tournament during AFCON 2021". Al Ahram Online. Archived from the original on 2022-01-03. Retrieved 2022-01-05.
  14. 1 2 "Country info". FIFA World Cup. Archived from the original on June 3, 2007. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  15. ↑ Egypt U-20 return to South America, a decade after 2001 glory
  16. ↑ Aaron Ross (18 August 2012). "The man at the epicentre of Egyptian football". The National. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  17. ↑ Mahfoud Amara (May–August 2014). "Sport and Political Leaders in the Arab World" (PDF). Histoire@Politique. 23. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  18. ↑ Mazhar, Inas (2004-03-30). "BBC SPORT | Football | African | Egyptian woman honoured". BBC News. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
  19. ↑ "Faces of Africa 2012-02-20 Sahar´s goal CCTV News - CNTV English". Retrieved 2012-08-02.
  20. ↑ Yasmine El-Rashidi (2004-01-21). "Al-Ahram Weekly | Sports | Women on top". Weekly.ahram.org.eg. Archived from the original on 2013-03-27. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
  21. ↑ "Shedding light on Egypt women football". The Egyptian Gazette. Archived from the original on 2012-01-04. Retrieved 2012-07-29.
  22. ↑ Parrish, Charles; Nauright, John (21 April 2014). Soccer around the World: A Cultural Guide to the World's Favorite Sport. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781610693035. Retrieved 28 February 2017 – via Google Books.
  23. ↑ "Al-Ahram Weekly | Sports | The fairest of them all". Weekly.ahram.org.eg. 2000-04-12. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
  24. ↑ "Stadiums in Egypt". Bugarri. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  25. ↑ "Stadiums in Egypt". FIFA World Cup. 3 January 2013. Archived from the original on September 26, 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  26. ↑ "CardBiz.ca".
  27. ↑ "Liverpool growing in Egypt thanks to Salah".
  28. ↑ "Mohamed Salah made Liverpool change in Egypt after la Liga interest". 7 October 2021.
  29. ↑ "Which is Africa's favourite Premier League team?". BBC News. 2015-08-07. Retrieved 2024-10-18.
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