Al-Ahly (Arabic: الأهلي) is an Egyptian Sports club founded and headed by the English gentleman Mitchel Ince in April, 1907 in Cairo, Egypt. The club has risen from popular roots to become Africa’s greatest Club. Al-Ahly, best known as the “people’s club”, is believed to have 50 million supporters in Egypt, making them the most supported club in Africa and the Middle East and one of the most popular clubs in the world.
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| Full name | Al-Ahly Sporting Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Red Devils, The Red Knights, The Red Castle | ||
| Founded | 1907 | ||
| Ground | Cairo Stadium, Cairo, Egypt | ||
| Capacity | 74,100 | ||
| Chairman |  Hassan Hamdy | ||
| Manager |  Manuel Jose de Jesus | ||
| League | Egyptian League | ||
| 2006-07 | Egyptian League, 1st | ||
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Al-Ahly, which means "national" in Arabic, is the most crowned club in Egypt, having won the Egyptian League 32 times (more than the sum of all other Egyptian clubs including their arch-rivals Al-Zamalek) and the Egyptian Cup a record 35 times. Moreover, Al-Ahly is the best club in Africa, winning the CAF champions league 5 times (a joint record), the African Cup-Winners-Cup 4 times (a record), the CAF super cup 3 times (a joint record), and the Afro-Asian Cup 1 time, being named "African club of the 20th century" by CAF in 2000.
Al-Ahly began to dominate the Egyptian game in the 40s due to its popularity among people and rulers of Egypt at that period. But it was not until the 80s that the Red Devils truly emerged to the African level, winning the top club competition in 1982 and 1987. They triumphed again in 2001, 2005 and 2006 under the coaching of the Portuguese Manuel Jose and now, less than three years into his record-breaking second stint, Ahly have added another continental crown in an undefeated streak that has gone beyond 50 matches.
Al-Ahly has a fierce rivalry with local rivals Al-Zamalek; the derby matches are so intense, that foreign referees are brought in to officiate the game.
History
The idea
The idea of establishing Al-Ahly was aroused by Omar Lotfi. He shared the idea with Edrees Rageb Pasha, Omar Sultan Pasha, Ismaeel Serry, Abdul El Khalek Tharwat, and Ameen Samy. They came together with the idea to establish a club for high school students to spend their spare time, as the Union was formed for political reasons in the first place. They decided to establish a company with five thousand Egyptian Pounds.
The higher administrative committee (The Board) chose Englishman Mitchel Ince as the first president of Al-Ahly in order to get the blessings of the occupation authorties and to help obtain suitable land (from the government) for establishing the club.
The first official meeting of higher administrative committee was held in April 24, 1907, in Anas' residence, as Mitchel Ince as chairman and Omar Lotfi, Edrees Rageb Pasha, Ismaeel Serry, and Ameen Sammy as members and Mohamed Sherif as a secretary. Ince remained president until April 2, 1908.
It is worth mentioning that Al-Ahly has a great rivalery with Al-Zamalek club of Egypt. Both teams exchanged several players throughout their history leading to a lot of disputes and challenges. They have met more than 80 times in derbies. The biggest score was for Al-Zamalek defeating Al-Ahly 6:0 in the Egyptian Soccer Cup in 1944, when the Egyptian football Federation punished Al-Ahly team with stopping their activity 11 months, because Al-Ahly traveled to play friendly in Palestine without getting a political permission, the punishment ended directly before the match. Al-Ahly takes revenge defeating Zamalek 6:1 in the Egyptian League 2001.
The name
On February 25 1908, Ameen Samy suggested the name Ahly Athletic Club (National Athletic Club), as it was founded to contain High School Students who were the main pillar for the resistance against British occupation of Egypt. So, it was founded as an Egyptian national club to unite these students, and named Al-Ahly to represent nationalism with the literal meaning of the word. Al-Ahly is considered the first club founded for Egyptians in Egypt and was established during British occupation of Egypt.
Colours
Al-Ahly derived its color from the early 20th century Flag of Egypt. Story of the color goes back to year 1911 when the jersey was linear striped in red and white. Then, it was changed to a half red-a half white linear jersey ,until it rests at the red color only as it was the color of the Egyptian flag in the reign period of Abbas Helmy the second at that time.
Logo
Al-Ahly’s logo was designed on November 3 1917 by Mohammad Sherif Sabry Bek, a member in the club at that time and was the King Farouk uncle. The logo was adorned with the king’s crown which was the symbol of reign in the upper part.
Presidents
| No | Name | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Mitchel Ince
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24 Apr 1907 | 01 Apr 1908 |
| 2 |  Aziz Pasha Ezzat
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02 Apr 1908 | 09 Feb 1916 |
| 3 | Abd El-Khalik PashaTharwat
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09 Feb 1916 | 14 Feb 1924 |
| 4 | Gaafar Pasha Wali
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14 Feb 1924 | 07 Jul 1940 |
| 5 | Mohamed Pasha Taher
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07 Jul 1940 | 02 Febr 1941 |
| - | Gaafar Pasha Wali
|
03 Feb 1941 | 02 Jan 1944 |
| 6 | Ahmed Pasha Hasanain
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03 Jan 1944 | 19 Feb 1946 |
| 7 | Ahmed Pasha Abboud
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19 Feb 1946 | 19 Dec 1961 |
| 8 | Salah Eldine El-Desouky
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19 Dec 1961 | 15 Dec 1965 |
| 9 | Gen. Abd El-Mohsen Mortagy
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15 Dec 1965 | 13 Jul 1967 |
| 10 | Dr. Ibrahim Kamel El-Wakeel
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13 Jul 1967 | 8 Nov 1972 |
| - | Gen. Abd El-Mohsen Mortagy
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08 Nov 1972 | 12 Dec 1980 |
| 11 | Saleh Selim
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12 Dec 1980 | 16 Dec 1988 |
| 12 | Mohamed Abdou Saleh El-Wahsh
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16 Dec 1988 | 06 Feb 1992 |
| - | Saleh Selim
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06 Feb 1992 | 06 May 2002 |
| 13 | Hassan Hamdy
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06 May 2002 | Present |
Managers
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Captains
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Stadium
- Capacity: 8,000
- Place: El-Gezira, Cairo
- Inauguration: 1909
Mukhtar Al-Tetsh Stadium is Al-Ahly’s training ground, located in Al-Ahly Club in El-Gezira and used currently as a training ground.
- Capacity: 74,100
- Place: Heliopolis, Cairo
- Inauguration: 1960
Cairo International Stadium is the formal ground for Al-Ahly since 1970's.
Honours
World Championships
- Bronze Medalist at FIFA Club World Cup 2006
Egyptian Championships
- Egyptian League, 31 times(Egyptian Record)
Years: 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
- Egyptian Soccer Cup, 34 times(Egyptian Record)
Years: 1923/24 - 1924/25 - 1926/27 - 1927/28 - 1929/30 - 1930/31 - 1936/37 - 1939/40 - 1941/42 - 1942/43 - 1944/45 - 1945/46 - 1946/47 - 1948/49 - 1949/50 - 1950/51 - 1952/53 - 1955/56 - 1957/58 - 1960/61 - 1965/66 - 1977/78 - 1980/81 - 1982/83 - 1983/84 - 1984/85 - 1988/89 - 1990/91 - 1991/92 - 1992/93 - 1995/96 - 2000/01 - 2002/03 - 2005/06 - 2006/07
- Egyptian Super Cup, 3 times(Egyptian Record)
Years: 2003 - 2005 - 2006
- Sultan Hussein Cup, 7 times
Years: 1922/23 - 1923/24 - 1925/26 - 1926/27 - 1928/29 - 1930/31 - 1938/39
- Cairo League, 5 times
Years: 1938/39 - 1941/42 - 1942/43 - 1947/48 - 1949/50
- United Arab Republic League, 1 time
Year: 1960/1961
African Championships
- CAF Champions League, 5 times (Current Champion, African Record)
Years: 1982 - 1987 - 2001 - 2005 - 2006
- African Cup Winners' Cup, 4 times(African Record)
Years: 1984 - 1985 - 1986 - 1993
- CAF Super Cup, 3 times (Current Champion, African Record)
Years: 2002 - 2006 - 2007
- Afro-Asian Cup, 1 time
Year: 1989
- Century Cup (Al-Ahly vs. Real Madrid), 1 time
Year: 2001
Arab Championships
- Arab Champions Cup, 1 time
Year: 1996
- Arab Cup Winners Cup, 1 time
Year: 1995
- Arab Super Cup, 2 times
Years: 1997 - 1998
Current squad 2006/07
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Board of Directors
| President: | Hassan Hamdy | ||
| Vice-president: | Mahmoud El-Khateeb | ||
| Treasurer: | Mahmoud Baganed | BOD Members: | Khaled Mortagy El-Amry Farouk Hisham Said Khaled El-Darandaly Mohamed AbdElwahab Mohamed Elghazawy Rania Elwani Mahmoud Fahmy Yassin Mansour Mohamed Shawqi |
| General Manager: | Moharam El-Ragheb |
Other sports
Al Ahly got teams competing in different other sports. Al Ahly's Handball , Athletics , Volleyball and Basketball teams have won many national, African and Arabic competitions.