Zamalek Sporting Club (Arabic: نادي الزمالك) is one of Egypt's and Africa's preeminent sports clubs. The club was established in 1911 under the name of "Kasr El-Nil" and is currently based in Giza (a suburb of Cairo), Egypt. It promotes numerous different sports for all ages. The most famous part of Zamalek Sporting Club is the football team known as just El Zamalek. It is one of the leading club sides in Egyptian, Arabian and African football. Zamalek is the most crowned African club with 5 Champions Leagues with Al-Ahly Egypt, 1 Cup-Winners Cup, 3 African Super Cups, 2 Afro-Asian Super cups and 1 Egyptian-Saudi Supper cup. Zamalek is the 1st African-Asian club to top the FIFA World Club Monthly Ranking (Feb, 2003). The team's trademark is two horizontal red stripes on a white shirt.
History
The history of the club goes back to 1911 when it was founded by the Belgian gentleman El Zayat as a rival to the Egyptian founded club Al Ahly. It was administrated mostly - as was the case at that time in Egyptian football - by foreign expatriates. The first football team in the club was formed in 1913. The team took part in domestic competitions along with Al Ahly, El Seka el Hadid club, British army teams and school and college teams.
In the early 19 hundreds an Egyptian player who had just returned from his studies in Cambridge, UK, named Hussien Hegazy established his own squad, that was named "Hegazy's Eleven" and started to rally with the British Army teams at that time. One of the British teams was a team named "Stanley's Team", that was formed by a British man named Stanley and was made up of a group of British soldiers who were stationed in Egypt. Both teams met twice, and in both matches, Hegazy's Eleven won. Excited by their symbolic resistance to the British, both Egyptian clubs Al Ahly and El Zamalek sought to bring member's of "Hegazy's Eleven" to their squads. Hegazy joined Al Ahly, while the rest of his team mates joined El Zamalek. In 1919, Hegazy joined El Zamalek and the team became the most powerful team in Egyptian soccer at that time. He later rejoined Al Ahly in 1924.
In 1916, the idea of establishing a league in the sultanate of Egypt at that time, where Egyptian teams plays with teams from the allies' military clubs, including the British was getting more developed. El Zamalek was the first and only Egyptian club to participate in 1916. In 1917 Al Ahly followed Zamalek's footsteps and took part. Both El Zamalek and Al Ahly also agreed on creating their own two-game competition, the first was on 9 October 1917, which El Zamalek lost at home 0–1, and the second was on 2 March 1917 which El Zamalek won on Al Ahly's turf 1–0.
A Belgian Lawyer and former judge in the "Mixed Courts" named Merzbach became the first President of the club under the name "The Diverse Club" or "Mokhtalat". It is believed the club got this name because the club promoted diversity and was a place where Europeans and Egyptians meet to socialize and practice sports. Some also say that the club was initially built for the Belgian community in face of the British existence.
In 1930, the club's 60 member board met and decided to expel the foreign members of the club. El Zamalek started its glory days, winning many titles. The club changed its name from El-Mokhtalat (mixed) to "Farouk" (Egyptian King at the era). After the 1952 Revolution, the club name was changed to "El Zamalek".
In recent years the club has seen a great failure in several national competitions due to financial worries off the pitch and the continous success of their rivals Al Ahly on and off the pitch. In 2004 their financial worries were highlighted after the government’s central auditing agency, along with the youth ministry, accused the club of tax evasion in. The state demanded that the club pay some E£14 million in taxes on several player-transfer deals signed in 2000 and 2001.[1]
Name Changes
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- Kasr El-Nil : (1911-1913)
- El-Mokhtalat Club : (1913-1941)
- Farouk Club : (1941-1952)
- El Zamalek : since 1952
Team Colours
White Knights fans see the traditional white kit with 2 red stripes as a good luck omen since the periods of greatest successes for the White Castle came when they were wearing their traditional trademark kit. Currently they are not wearing the traditional kit and have not been wearing it since 2004 which also happens to be the last time they won a title. Many fans are actually requesting the return of that kit.
Supporters
Recently fans have been seen to protest against Ahmad Shobair and other members of the Egyptian FA due to decisions that Shobair and co. have made including the suspension of Shikabala and Ahmed Ghanem Sultan from the national team. They were suspended for "not co-operating with their team mates" during the African Olympics 2007 in Algeria. Another decision that has invoked the ire of fans was the large fine given to Amr Zaki for allegedly insulting an opponent. Shikabala has been fined and suspended by the Egyptian FA as well as the Zamalek board due to his violent reactions to taunts during the 100th Cairo derby.
Ultras White Knights (Arabic: ألتراس وايت نايتس) are so far Zamalek's only ultras group and they made their first action on 17/4/2007 in the Arab Champions League semi-final home tie against Jordanian champions Al-Faisaly. Their first official banner was unhurled on 13/8/2007 against Ismaily.
The group was founded by ex-ZLU (Zamalek Lovers Union) members who decided that in order to make the atmosphere better, they had to form an ultras group since regular fan unions were very inneficient regarding this matter and within mere weeks the number of members was rapidly increasing which was easy considering Zamalek's huge fanbase all over Egypt and the Arab world.
Ultras White Knights sit in Curva Sud (the east stand) of their home stadium, Cairo Stadium which has an 74,100 capacity.
Links with other clubs
Zamalek have a vast amount of "sympathy" from residents of Port-Said and Ismailiya; where locals in these two cities despise Al Ahly. Zamalek have signed a partnership agreement with Ismaily club along with other clubs that are undisclosed. When compared to Al Ahly, Zamalek's fan base across Egypt would come second.
Some El-Masry fans are seen to be "allies" with White Castle fans. Tersana fans are regarded as Zamalek supporters as well (and vice-versa) because the two used to share the training stadium and also because of their close geographic location; they are the only two Egyptian clubs to hail from Giza. It is common to see Zamalek banners and flags at Ismaili, El Masry and Tersana games (and vice-versa). In upper Egypt cities like Aswan, El Minia and Luxor, for example, have more Al Ahly fans. Zamalek also have a small following in Alexandria.
Current squad
Correct as of 16 July 2008
Season 2008/2009
Correct as of 27 Sep 2008
Zamalek SC Season 2008-09
Managers (coaches)
- 1982-83:Vasovicz (Yugoslavia)+ Mahmoud Saad
- 1983-84:Mahmoud Abouregaila + Ahmed Rifaat
- 1984-85:Mahmoud Abouregaila + Mustafa Mohamad
-
- Ahmed Rifaat
- 1985-86:Ninkovicz (Yugoslavia) + Zaki Othman
-
- Hassan Shehata
- Parker (England) + Mahmoud Saad
- 1986-87:Parker (England) + Mahmoud Saad
-
- Essam Baheeg + Farouk Gaafar
- 1987-88:Essam Baheeg + Mahmoud Saad
- 1988-89:Zaki Othman + Farouk Gaafar
-
- Zaki Othman
- Hamada El-Sharkawi
- 1989-90:Carlos (Brazil)
- 1990-91:Mahmoud Abouregaila
- 1991-92:Dave Mackay
 + Farouk Gaafar
- 1992-93:Dave Mackay + Farouk Gaafar
- 1993-94:Dave Mackay + Farouk Gaafar
-
- Mahmoud El-Gohary + Mahmoud Saad
- 1994-95:Reidl (Austria) + Mahmoud Saad.
-
- Taha Basry + Hassan Shehata.
- Hassan Shehata.
- 1995-96:Werner Olk (Germany) + Farouk Gaafar
-
- Ahmed Rifaat + Farouk Gaafar
- 1996-97:Werner Olk (Germany) + Mahmoud Saad
-
- Werner Olk (Germany) + Mahmoud Abouregaila
- Werner Olk (Germany) + Mahmoud Saad
- Farouk El-Sayed + Ahmed Abdel Halim
- 1997-98:Ruud Krol (Holland) + Farouk El-Sayed
- 1998-99:Ruud Krol (Holland) + Farouk El-Sayed
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- Ruud Krol (Holland) + Ismail Youssef
- Farouk Gaafar + Nabil Nosair
- Mahmoud Abouregaila + Ahmed Moustafa
- 1999-2000:Mahmoud Abouregaila + Ibrahim Youssef
-
- Helmi Toulan + Ashraf Quasem / Ahmed Ramzy
- Otto Pfister (Germany) + Helmi Toulan / Ashraf Quasem / Ahmed Ramzy
- 2000-01:Otto Pfister (Germany) + Helmi Toulan / Ashraf Quasem / Ahmed Ramzy
- 2001-02:Otto Pfister (Germany) + Helmi Toulan / Ashraf Quasem / Ahmed Ramzy
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- Otto Pfister (Germany) + Mahmoud Saad / Ahmed Ramzy / Essam Marei
- 2002-03:Carlos Roberto F. Cabral (Brazil) + Mahmoud Saad / Tarek Yehia / Ahmed Ramzy
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- Carlos Roberto.F.Cabral (Brazil) + Ahmed Rifaat / Ahmed Ramzy
- 2003-04:Nelo Vingada (Portugal) + Mahmoud El-Khawaga / Ayman Mansour
- 2004-05:Dragoslav Stepanovic (Germany) + Ibrahim Youssef / Gamal Abdullah / Hesham Yakan
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- Carlos Roberto F. Cabral (Brazil) + Ibrahim Youssef / Ahmed Ramzy / Samir Mohamed Ali
- 2005-06:Theo Bucker (Germany) + Ahmed Rifaat
 / Gamal Abdel Hamid / Essam Marei / Khaled El-Ghandour / Emad El-Mandouh
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- Farouk Gaafar + Gamal Abdel Hamid / Essam Marei / Khaled El-Ghandour / Emad El-Mandouh
- Manuel Cajuda(Portugal)/Ahmed Ramzy
- 2006-07:Henri Michel
 / Mahmoud Saad
-
- Henri Michel / Ayman Mansoor
- Henri Michel
- 2007-08:Ruud Krol
-
- Ruud Krol / Ayman Mansoor
- Ruud Krol / Mohamed Helmy
- 2008-09:Reiner Hollmann
 / Mohamed Helmy
-
- Reiner Hollmann / Tarek Yehia
Club Honours
Zamalek have won a total of 69 Soccer Titles. Some are listed below.
Domestic
- Egyptian Premier League: 11
- 1960, 1964, 1965, 1978, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2003, 2004
- Egyptian Cup: 21
- 1922, 1932, 1935, 1938, 1941, 1943, 1944, 1952, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1988, 1999, 2002, 2008
- Egyptian Super Cup: 2
- 2001, 2002
- Sultan Hussein Cup: 2
- 1921, 1922
- Cairo League: 10 this competition was played only 15 times el-ahly won it 5 times and el Zamalek won it 10 times
- (10 of which are listed here)>1940, 1941, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953
- Egyptian Federation Cup: 1
- 1995
- El Amir Farouk Cup: 3
International
Other
Source: Zamalek's History
Club Presidents
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- 1-Merzbach (Founder) : (Belgium) 1911-1915
- 2-Bianchi (Belgium) : 1915-1917
- 3-Dr. Mohamed Badr: 1917-1919
- 4-Mohamed Heidar: 1923-1952
- 5-Mahmoud Shawki: 1952-1955
- 6-Abdel Hamid El-Shawarbi: 1955-1955
- 2nd Term -Mahmoud Shawki: 1955-1956
- 7-Abdel Latif Abou Regaila: 1956-1961
- 8-Elwi El-Gazzar: 1961-1962
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-
- 9-Hassan Amer: 1962-1967
- 10-Mohamed Hassan Helmi: 1967-1971
- 11-Tawfik El-Kheshin: 1971-1972
- 2nd Term -Mohamed Hassan Helmi: 1974-1980
- 3rd Term -Mohamed Hassan Helmi: 1980-1984
- 2nd Term -Hassan Amer: 1984-1988
- 12-Hassan Aboul Fotouh: 1988-1990
- 13-Nour El-Dali: 1990-1992
- 14-Galal Ibrahim: 1992-1996
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-
- 15-Dr. Kamal Darwish: 1996-2001
- 2nd Term -Dr. Kamal Darwish: 2001-2005
- 16-Mortada Mansour: 2005-2005
- 17-Morsi Atallah: 2005-2006.(1)
- Mortada Mansour: 2006-2006.(2)
- 18-Raouff Gasser: 2006-2006.(3)
- 19-Mamdouh Abaas: current. (3)
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(1) appointed by the Ministry of Youth.
(2) return due court decision.
(3)appointed by the National Council for Sports.
Notable players
- Mido Has played for Ajax Amsterdam, Celta de Vigo,Olympique Marseille, AS Roma, Tottenham Hotspur and Middlesbrough.
- Taha Basry
- Farouk Gaafar A midfield king that held the Number 4 jersey when playing for Zamalek and formed the most feared Egyptian midfield trio of all-time, composed of himself, Taha Basry and Hassan Shehata.
- Hassan Shehata The current Egyptian National Team manager, won the 2006 African Cup of Nations and 2008 African Cup of Nations.
- Hazem Emam is a famous Egyptian playmaker who won the Pepsi challenge for best soccer skills. He is the son of the other great Zamalek player Hamada Emam and the grandson of the Zamalek goalkeeper Yehia ElHoreya Emam. He retired football after Zamalek won the cup of 2007-2008.[2]
 Emmanuel Amuneke gained recognition at Sporting Lisboa and then Barcelona. Rami Shaaban A current Swedish international that once played for Zamalek.- Shikabala
- Amr Zaki Scored a decisive goal in the 2007-2008 cup final which led the team to win the cup, and is currently on loan at Wigan Athletic to great success.
- Ali Khalil
- Ashraf Kasem, awarded the best Egyptian player 1992-93 as well as Arab footballer of the year in 1994. Won 12 titles with Zamalek.
- Ahmed El-Kass, was the Egyptian Premier League's top goalscorer from 1991-1994 and scored a total of 107 goals in the Egyptian League with Olimpi & Zamalek, also won the Military World Cup in 1993 with Egypt.
- Mohamed Latif, was the first professional in Egyptian history, playing for Rangers F.C. He was in the Egyptian side that reached the 1934 World Cup as well as the Olympic side at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
- Ayman Mansour won the Pan Arab Games Gold Medal 1992 as well as scoring the fastest goal in the history of the African Nations Cup - it was in 1994 against Gabon after 23 seconds.
- Ismail Youssef was a starter in the Egyptian side that reached the 1990 World Cup and participated in 3 African Cups of Nations winning one. He was capped 97 times for the Egyptian National team and won 13 titles with Zamalek. Is the brother of defender Ibrahim Youssef.
- Mohamed Salah El-Din Was voted as the best defender in Africa in 1980 and won a total of 7 titles with the Zamalek.
- Hesham Yakan The defender was a starter in the 1990 Egyptian World Cup squad and won 10 titles with the White Knights.
- Tarek Yehia The left-winger won the African Nations Cup in 1986, was awarded a bronze medal in the Mediterranean Games of 1983, as well as winning 8 titles with the all-whites of Zamalek.
- Ibrahim Youssef He participated in the 1984 L.A. Olympics as well as the African Nations' Cup the same year where he was voted the best defender of the tournament. He also won a bronze medal at the Mediterranean Games of 1983. He was voted as the best Egyptian player on 3 occasions (1981, 1984 and 1985) and won the award of 2nd best African player in 1984 and the 3rd best African player the following year. He also won the All Africa Games Gold Medal 1987.
- Hossam Hassan
 Junior Agogo
Trivia
- Al Wasl FC in Dubai, the UAE was initially called Zamalek, due to the high popularity of El Zamalek at the time.
References
External links
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