Football in Egypt
Egypt's main sport is football. People in Egypt[1][2][3] gather around to watch various Egyptian clubs and the Egyptian national football team play almost on a daily basis.The most commonly known Egyptian clubs are El Ahly and El Zamalek of Cairo. For the Egyptian Premier League the main competition is split between these two teams making majority of Egyptians rooting for either team, calling themselves Ahlaweyeen or Zamalkaweyeen in the Egyptian own dialect of Arabic, leaving the minority rooting for the rest of the teams in the league. These two teams create the greatest football rivalry in Africa.
Premier League
The Egyptian Premier League(League A) has nineteen clubs, El masry of portsaid will not play in 2012-013 premier league season due to the port said disaster. Some prominent Premier League clubs, other than El Ahly and Zamalek SC are Ismaily SC (Ismailia), El Masry (Port Sa'id), El Itihad (Alexandria) and El Mokawloon SC (Cairo).[4][5][6] While ENPPI_Club & Haras El-Hadoud are clubs on the rise. The Egyptian league is considered to be one of the most competitive leagues in Africa and around the world.
There is no official English translation or title for the Egyptian League, in any case the league is named the Etisalat Premier League due to sponsorship by Etisalat. Until 2006/07 season however, the name was Vodafone Premier League since Vodafone was the sponsor of the league.
The top:El Ahly,Zamalek,Ismaily. The names of the top three teams in Egypt. They have the largest number of fans in Egypt.Al Ahly known also as the red devils won 37 premier leagues Zamalek won 12 Ismaily won 3. These three teams have also dominated the African continent for years alongside El Mokawloon SC who won African cup winners cup championships. Ismaily or the yellow dragons were the first Egyptian team to win the champions league in their golden era. Zamalek dominated Africa from the 1970s to the beginning of the 21st century. El Ahly who won their first league championship after Ismaily and Zamalek dominated Africa in the beginning of the 21st century by winning 5 league titles after their 1982 and 1987 champions league victory.
National football team's achievements
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.[7] The team 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.[8] Making them record holders of most African cup wins (for winning 7 times) and most wins in a row (for winning 3 times in a row). This makes them one of the best teams in Africa.
Their highest FIFA ranking was in July 2010 when they ranked 9th in the world, making it their greatest achievement.<ref ==Egyptian name="fifa"/> 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,[9] losing to Hungary 4-2. Although they lost, they are still considered one of the strongest teams in Africa.
Stadiums
Considering football is the main sport in Egypt, it has a total of 27 soccer stadiums spread around the country.[10] The main stadium used to be Cairo International Stadium but after the new stadium was built, Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria has become the home stadium for the Egyptian National Team. This stadium carries a capacity of 86,000 big enough to fit all the fans that come out to watch the Egyptian Premier League along with all the other games the Egyptian teams play.[11]
Current national squad
An outdoor soccer team has a starting line-up of 11 players including the goal keeper. In a typical game, a team is allowed three substitutions. Most football teams have a minimum of 25 players, choosing three players to substitute throughout the game. Below is the roster of the 2013 team of Egypt.
See also
References
External links
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.svg.png){kind=small}
