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Smouha SC

Sports club in Alexandria, Egypt From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Smouha Sporting Club (Arabic: نادي سموحة الرياضي), simply known as Smouha, is an Egyptian sports and social club based in Alexandria. The club is mainly known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the top tier of the Egyptian football league system.

Full nameSmouha Sporting Club
(Egyptian Pronunciation: سموحة, Semouha)
NicknamesThe Blue Wave
(Egyptian Pronunciation: الموج الأزرق, El Moug El Azra')
Founded29 December 1949; 76 years ago (1949-12-29)
Quick facts Full name, Nicknames ...
Smouha Sporting Club
Full nameSmouha Sporting Club
(Egyptian Pronunciation: سموحة, Semouha)
NicknamesThe Blue Wave
(Egyptian Pronunciation: الموج الأزرق, El Moug El Azra')
Founded29 December 1949; 76 years ago (1949-12-29)
GroundAlexandria Stadium
Capacity13,660[1]
ChairmanDr. Mohamed Belal
ManagerAhmed Abdel Aziz
LeagueEgyptian Premier League
2025–267th
Websitesmouhaclub.com
Current season
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With 195,000 members,[2] Smouha is the largest club in Alexandria, operating two branches in the city and one branch in Borg el Arab. The club offers the most sports offered the city and hosts major national equestrian and modern pentathlon tournaments, aswell as virtually all swimming competitions in the Alexandria governorate.

History

Smouha SC was founded on 29 December 1949, and was named after the club's first president & founder Joseph Smouha, who was a Jewish textile manufacturer, philanthropist, property developer and designer. In 1917, Smouha came to Alexandria. Tracts of land were sold to private investors who wanted to build their homes in the area, which rapidly turned into the most exclusive neighborhood in Alexandria, later known as "Smouha City".[3]

Smouha main branch
New Borg El Arab city branch
New Borg El Arab city branch

Smouha Sporting Club began with the spread of golf across Egypt. The golf course was situated within the infield of a racetrack which Smouha had previously constructed, regarded as the best golf grass in the Arab world, as a result of its location above the swampland. The Smouha Sporting Club grew to include tennis courts along with the golf course and race track, and was formally established in 1949. Joseph Smouha was the first chief executive of the sporting club, and today the club remains open under the leadership of Engineer Mohammed Farag Amer. Although the Nasser regime confiscated Smouha City from the Smouha family in 1956, Joseph Smouha had donated much of the property to public institutions and the sporting club remained open. Currently, Smouha Sporting Club provides sportive, social, and cultural services to over 120,000 people—marking it as one of the largest sporting clubs in all of Egypt. The club is particularly famous for its football teams, but supports numerous individual and sports teams.[3]

Sports
  • Athletics
  • Basketball
  • Bowling
  • Chess
  • Croquet
  • Football (first team)
  • Football (juniors)
  • Gymnastics
  • Handball
  • Judo
  • Karate
  • Swimming and water games
  • Squash
  • Table tennis
  • Taekwando
  • Tennis
  • Volleyball[4]

Recent additions and branches

In 2007, the architectural firm Environmental Consulting Group (ECO Group) began designing new properties for Smouha Sporting Club. Established in 1995, ECO Group is a Middle-Eastern firm of about 100 employees led by Professor Amr El-Sherif. Throughout its history, ECO Group has been involved in construction projects totally over US$300 million. ECO Group has developed the Smouha Sporting Club's club house, cafeteria, swimming pools, and facilities for children.[3] The club operates two branches as of 2023; Smouha and New Borg El Arab.[5]

Football

Since reaching the top flight, Smouha SC has generally maintained a mid-table status supported by relative financial stability. The club's ascent began in the 2008–09 Egyptian Second Division season, where they finished in second place; a defeat to Kafr El-Zayat in the final match narrowly cost them promotion, allowing El-Mansoura to advance instead. The following year, during the 2009–10 season, Smouha secured its historic first promotion to the Egyptian Premier League following a 7–1 victory over Abu Qair Semad on April 28, 2010. While the club narrowly avoided relegation during its debut 2010–11 campaign, it rebounded strongly early in the 2012–13 season, recording notable victories against Al Ahly (1–0), Ghazl El Mahalla (5–1), and Wadi Degla (3–0).

Alexandria Derby

As the two primary clubs in Alexandria, Smouha and Al-Ittihad share a competitive local rivalry, with their head-to-head matches serving as a major fixture at the Alexandria Stadium.


Honours

Domestic

League

Cup

Performance in CAF competitions

  • PR = Preliminary round
  • FR = First round
  • SR = Second round
  • PO = Play-off round
More information Season, Competition ...
Season Competition Round Country Club Home Away Aggregate
2015 CAF Champions League PR  Libya Al Ahli Tripoli 1–0 0–1 1–1 (5–3 p)
FR  Nigeria Enyimba 2–0 0–1 2–1
SR  Congo AC Léopards 2–0 0–1 2–1
Group A  Morocco Moghreb Tétouan 3–2 1–2 4th
 Sudan Al Hilal 1–1 0–2
 DR Congo TP Mazembe 0–2 0–1
2017 CAF Confederation Cup FR  Kenya Ulinzi Stars 4–0 0–3 4–3
PO  South Africa Bidvest Wits 1–0 0–0 1–0
Group C  Zambia ZESCO United 1–1 0–1 4th
 Angola Recreativo do Libolo 2–0 0–0
 Sudan Al Hilal El Obeid 1–1 1–2
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Season records

More information Season, Div. ...
Season Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA Pts. Egypt Cup cContinental
2008–09 cSecond Division 2 (Group C) 30 20 7 3 59 22 67 Second round -
2009–10 Second Division 1 (Group C) 30 19 8 3 60 25 65 Second round -
2010–11 Premier League 15 30 6 10 14 33 45 28 Round of 16 -
2011–12 Not finished Not held -
2012–13 Not finished Round of 32 -
2013–14 Premier League 2 23 12 6 5 30 22 42 Runners-up -
2014–15 Premier League 10 38 14 9 15 43 37 51 Semi-final CL Group stage
2015–16 Premier League 3 34 13 16 5 45 37 55 Quarter-final -
2016–17 Premier League 5 34 15 12 7 49 40 57 Semi-final CC Group stage
2017–18 Premier League 5 34 14 9 11 37 26 51 Runners-up -
2018–19 Premier League 12 34 8 14 12 33 41 38 Round of 16 -
2019–20 Premier League 5 34 11 18 5 44 33 51 Round of 16 -
2020–21 Premier League 4 34 12 18 4 54 41 54 Round of 16 -
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Managers

References

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