Al Ahly, Zamalek face off in Centenary Egyptian Cup Final

CAIRO - 21 July 2022: On 21 April 1922, Zamalek became the first team to lift the Egyptian Cup trophy with a 5-0 victory over Al Ittihad of Alexandria in the final of the inaugural edition of the Egyptian Cup and here we are almost one hundred years later, they are chasing the title. 

The White Castle will face the record winners of the competition and the defending champions, Al Ahly, on Thursday night in a game that is expected to live up to the occasion. 

Football fans in Egypt would not have hoped for a more exciting encounter to celebrate such an iconic day as the two most successful teams in the country, who have more than 100 million fans in Egypt, will fight for the title of the oldest competition in the country. 

What adds more excitement to the game is that the two teams are already in a race for the league title and their last meeting in the league ended in a 2-2 draw. 

 Ricardo Soares, Al Ahly's head coach, hopes to celebrate his first title with Al Ahly and provide Al Ahly fans some proof that he was the right choice to fill the boots of Pitso Mosimane, who left Al Ahly in June after a very successful spell. 

The news coming from Al Ahly's camp reveals that Mohamed Hany, the team's starting right back, is ready for the game after recovering from his injury. 

On the other hand, Jesualdo Ferreira, Zamalek's veteran coach, aims to replicate the success of 2014-2015 season when he guided Zamalek to the domestic double. 

Zamalek are leading the race in the league, 9 points ahead of Al Ahly, who still have two games in hand.