Football in Egypt

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]

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]

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.

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.

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]

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.

• The Egypt Cup, first held in 1921, is the oldest continuously played national cup competition in Africa.
• The Egyptian Super Cup, first held in 2001, is a 4-team tournament, including Egyptian Premier League winners, Egypt Cup, Egyptian League Cup and one team with a golden card.
• The Egyptian League Cup is a knockout competition. Organized by the Egyptian Professional Football Clubs Association, the competition is open to all clubs participating in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest level of the Egyptian football league system.^[13]

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.

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]}

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.

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.

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.

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

Source: League page on Wikipedia

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

• Cairo League
• King's Cup
• Sultan Hussein Cup
• List of football clubs in Egypt
• Women's football in Egypt