World’s Biggest Derby Ends Goalless

When debating which is the world’s biggest derby, the same names usually come up, Inter v Milan, Lazio v Roma, Boca Juniors vs River Plate, Botafogo vs Fluminense, Partizan v Red Star, Olympiacos vs Panathinaikos, Fenerbahçe vs Galatasaray, Benfica vs Sporting, Real Betis vs Sevilla, Everton vs Liverpool, and Arsenal v Tottenham, as well as a number of matches that don’t even play in the same city, such as Barcelona v Real Madrid and Liverpool v Manchester United.

However if you are prepared to deviate from the perceived wisdom that all footballing action takes place in the traditional hotbeds of South America and Europe, you will find that the wisest heads agree that the biggest and most fractious derby takes place in Africa.

The Cairo derby is contested between Zamalek and Al-Ahly. It has all the hallmarks of a great derby. The match is often a contest for domestic, and sometimes even African honours, the fans live cheek by jowl, there is widespread interest beyond the confines of Cairo and there are underlying social influences affecting the ill feeling. The two clubs were chosen Africa’s top two clubs of the 20th century by the African Football Federation (CAF).

The match is televised across the Arab world and so intense is the rivalry that foreign referees have to be brought in, as any Egyptian referee is simply assumed to be a supporter of one of the clubs. In 2001, Scotland’s Kenny Clark was chosen for an encounter in 2001 after six European federations refiused to make a referee available on safety grounds.The fixture has had to be abandoned four times, most recently in 1999 after French referee Mark Batta showed a red card to Zamalek player Ayman Abdel Aziz after just two minutes of play for a tackle from behind. The Zamalek players responded by walking off the pitch in protest and refused to continue.

The games are no longer played at the club’s home grounds but at the neutral Cairo stadium. 90,000 people have just filled the stadium to watch the latest battle between the two.

This season however things are not going so well for Zamalek, who prior to the match found themselves 13th in Egypt’s 16 team league. Worse for them, Al-Ahly sat top, three points clear of two other Cairo clubs Tala’ea El Gheish and Petrojet.

The roots of the derby lie in British rule. In 1907 Al Ahly was founded by nationalist Cairo students, as a club to meet in in their struggle against English colonisation and from there came a soccer club that represented the “nationalists.” The name actually translates as the “national.” The club, wearing the pre-colonial flag red colours was seen as the team of the nation, the working class man, the masses.

Four years later Zamalek were founded. Zamalek however found their inspiration elsewhere. The club was founded by non Egyptians, not Englishmen; regardless of ethnicity and social and economic status, the club was always regarded as the foreigners club. When it moved into Egyptian hands, it moved to those social strata intellectuals and poets to those social strata, intellectuals who weren’t so at ease with the nationalistic confidence among the Egyptian people brought about by the 1952 military revolution that relieved King Farouk from the throne.

According to James Montague, writing in the Guardian in 2008, “The roots of the rivalry can be traced back to when the British army walked the streets of Cairo. Football was almost universally regarded as Britain’s only popular cultural import but it wasn’t until 1907 that Egypt’s first locally run club, Al Ahly, came into existence. The name translates as ‘The National’ and Ahly, wearing the old red colours of the pre-colonial flag, were seen as a team for the nation, a bulwark against occupation and a chance for the average man on the street to come together for a common nationalistic cause.

Zamalek, wearing white, were considered the team of the foreigner (read the British) and the outsider. It was also the club of the hated King Farouk. The team was even named in his honour before being changed to Zamalek after his abdication. The team traditionally attracted the British, their allies and the awkward squad: the authors, poets and intellectuals who were uneasy with Egypt’s newfound nationalistic confidence. In the red corner you had the devout, the poor and the proud; in the white corner the liberal, bourgeois middle class. Today the divisions still remain.”

Ahly hold a big edge over Zamalek in terms of both popularity and success, with 34 Egyptian league titles to Zamalek’s 11, and also have 37 wins to Zamalek’s 25. Both teams are considered to be the best in Africa by most, with Zamalek having won the African Champions League five times and Al Ahly the winner of it six times, the most ever in the competition.

Today’s match finished goalless, leaving Al-Ahly still top of the table, four points clear, and Zamalek up one to 12th, equal level with El Masry.

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