El Zamalek
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Zamalek | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Zamalek Sporting Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The White Knights, The White Castle,The Egyptian Blanco مدرسة الفن و الهندسة |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1911 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Cairo Stadium, Cairo, Egypt (Capacity 74,100) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Mamdouh Abass |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager |  Alberto Zaccheroni |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Egyptian League | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007-08 | Egyptian League, 3rd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Zamalek Sporting Club (Arabic: نادي الزمالك) is one of Egypt's and African'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 Zamalek. It is a leading club side in Egyptian, Arabian and African football. Zamalek is the most crowned African club with 5 Champions Leagues, 1 Cup-Winners Cup, 3 African Super Cups, 2 Afro-Asian Supper 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.
The club has a fierce rivalry with its Cairo rival El-Ahly. Derby matches between teams of the two clubs are so fierce that foreign referees are always asked to officiate them. The biggest result of these derbies was when Zamalek defeated El Ahly 6–0 in 1944 Egyptian Cup final [1][2][3][4][5].
Contents |
[edit] History
The history of the club goes back to 1911 when it was founded by the Belgian gentleman Merzbach as a rival to the British founded club El-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 El-Ahly, El Seka el Hadid club, British army teams and school and college teams.
However at this time, 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 El-Ahly and El-Zamalek sought to bring member's of "Hegazy's Eleven" to their squads. Hegazy joined El-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 El-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 El-Ahly followed Zamalek's footsteps and took part. Both El-Zamalek and El-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 El-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 continued its glory days, winning many titles. The most impressive result was winning against El-Ahly 6–0.[1]. The club changed its name from El-Mokhtalat to "Farouk". After the 1952 Revolution, the club name was changed to "El-Zamalek".
In recent years the club has seen success in several national competitions. The success on the field is in contrast to financial worries 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.[2]
From June 2008, Alberto Zaccheroni (Italy, 1953) is the new manager of the team. Zaccheroni managed Udinese, Milan AC, Inter, Lazio and Torino in Italian "Serie A".
[edit] Name Changes
-
- Kasr El-Nil : (1911-1913)
- El-Mokhtalat Club : (1913-1941)
- Farouk Club : (1941-1952)
- Nadi El Zamalek : since 1952
[edit] 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.
[edit] Supporters
It is widely believed that Zamalek is the club of choice of Egyptian free-thinkers, those who have a propensity for supporting the underdog, and Egypt's aristocratic class. Zamalek have been known to have a large following, being second only to El Ahly in fan support. Nowadays, these stereotypes exist to a lesser degree since El Ahly now have some rich and influential fans, and Zamalek have now been gaining large support from lower-class areas as well.
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.===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 Ahly, Zamalek's fan base across Egypt would come second. However, Zamalek fans continue to grow with time at rates second to none, but al Ahly.
[edit] Ultras White Knights
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.
From June 2008, Alberto Zaccheroni (Italy, 1953) is the new manager of the team. Zaccheroni managed Udinese, Milan AC, Inter, Lazio and Torino in Italian "Serie A".
[edit] Links with other clubs
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 the south of Egypt, support for El Ahly or Zamalek is not entirely clear where cities like Aswan have more Zamalek supporters, whereas El Minia, for example, have more El Ahly fans. In Cairo, districts like Mohandessin, Dokki, 6th of October, Sheikh Zayed and Zamalek have a large number of Zamalek fans. They also have a small following in Alexandria.
[edit] Current squad
|
|
[edit] 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.
- 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
-
- 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
-
- Otto Pfister (Germany) + Mahmoud Saad / Ahmed Ramzy / Essam Marei
-
- 2002-03:Carlos Roberto F. Cabral (Brazil) + Mahmoud Saad / Tarek Yehia / Ahmed Ramzy
-
- 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
-
- 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
-
- Farouk Gaafar + Gamal Abdel Hamid / Essam Marei / Khaled El-Ghandour / Emad El-Mandouh
- Manuel Cajuda(Portugal)/Ahmed Ramzy
- Farouk Gaafar + Gamal Abdel Hamid
-
- 2006-07:Henri Michel
/ Mahmoud Saad
-
- Henri Michel / Ayman Mansoor
- Henri Michel
- Henri Michel
-
- 2007-08:Ruud Krol
-
- Ruud Krol / Ayman Mansoor
- Ruud Krol / Mohamed Helmy
- Ruud Krol
-
[edit] Club Honours
Zamalek have won a total of 69 Soccer Titles. Some are listed below.
[edit] 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
[edit] International
- CAF Champions League: 5
- 1984, 1986, 1993, 1996, 2002
- African Cup Winners' Cup: 1
- 2000
- CAF Super Cup: 3
- 1994, 1997, 2003
- Afro-Asian Cup: 2
- 1988, 1997,
- Arab cup winners cup: 1
- 2003
- Saudi-Egyptian Super Cup (abtal el kass): 1
- 2003
[edit] Other
- Egypt's Love Cup: 1
- 1986
- October Cup: 1
- 1973
- Independence Cup in Qatar: 1
- 1988
- Friendly Arab Cup championship in Jordan: 1
- 1986
Source: Zamalek's History
[edit] Club Presidents
|
|
|
(1) appointed by the Ministry of Youth.
(2) return due court decision.
(3)appointed by the National Council for Sports.
[edit] Notable players
- Mido Has played for Ajax Amsterdam, 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 which comprised of him, 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.[3]
Emmanuel Amuneke gained recognition at Sporting Lisboa and then Barcelona.
Rami Shaaban A current Swedish international that once played for Zamalek.- Shikabala
- Amr Zaki
- 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
[edit] References
- ^ Al-Ahly vs. Zamalek. angelfire.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-07.
- ^ Feature: games of state. American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt (May 2004).
- ^ Beckham outshone by Egyptian. BBC (2001-06-17). Retrieved on 2007-11-07.
[edit] External links
- Zamalek - The Official Website
- Zamalek Encyclopedia
- Zamalek.tv
- Zamalek.sc
- Zamalek Fans
- Zamalek Sporting Club "Zamalek Club news in English"
- Zamalek Today
- Zamalek's 100 Years fans site
- Zamalek Toolbar
- Ultra White Knights (UWK) Fans Official website
- Zamalkawis Forum
- Zamalek dot Com
- Zamalek Press Agency
- Zamalek4all
- Zamalek Team
- Zamalek Stars
- ZLU Egypt
- ZLU Alex
- Zamalek DVD
- Zamalek News
- Alzamalek
- El Zamalek
- Ya Zamalek
- Zamalek Multimedia
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
[1]</ref>
