“Two continental titles” in less than a week were won by Al-Ahly and Zamalek at the African level, while the Egyptian team suffers from poor results and does not provide the football return that the fans expect. What are the reasons for this contradiction between “club leadership and the decline in the level of the national team”?
Al-Ahly and Zamalek lead the clubs in Africa
On Saturday, Al-Ahly of Egypt, the defending champion, strengthened its record for the number of titles in the African Champions League in football, when it raised it to 12 by defeating its guest, Esperance of Tunisia, with an unanswered goal at Cairo International Stadium in front of about sixty thousand spectators in the second leg of the final round.
This is the second Egyptian coronation within a week at the continental level, after Zamalek won the African Confederation Cup last week at the expense of Morocco’s RS Berkane.
On May 19, Egyptian Zamalek was crowned champion of the African Confederation Cup for the second time in its history after defeating its guest, RS Berkane of Morocco, with an unanswered goal at Cairo International Stadium in the second leg of the final round.
The secret of Egyptian clubs’ sovereignty?
Sports critic, Abdel Hamid Farrag, talks about “Egyptian leadership at the club level,” after Al-Ahly and Zamalek succeeded in achieving “the two most important continental titles” in Africa.
Al-Ahly club won 4 African Champions League championships in the last 5 years, and Zamalek was able to return to the continental podium, in light of administrative stability and the players’ feeling of the need to win an African title, according to his talk to the “Al-Hurra” website.
Speaking to Al-Hurra website, the former Zamalek, Al-Ahly, and Egyptian national team player, Reda Abdel-Al, points out that Al-Ahly and Zamalek are the strongest clubs in Africa, with their “human and material resources.”
Most of the “quality” African players play professionally in Europe, and therefore “there is no club in Africa that can compete with Al-Ahly and Zamalek at the present time, with the exception of South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns,” Abdel-Al adds.
Sports critic and analyst Moamen El-Guindy agrees with him, who talks about Al-Ahly and Zamalek having “high-quality players” compared to their counterparts in the rest of the African teams.
“African talent is constantly being drained in light of a constant trend toward early professionalism in Europe,” which has created a “gap” between the level of players in Egyptian clubs and their counterparts in Africa, according to what he told the “Al-Hurra” website.
Despite the brilliance of the clubs.. Why is the Egyptian national team suffering?
At the African level, the Egyptian team is the team that has participated most in the African Nations Championship and won the most titles, with 7 titles, but it has been suffering over the past years.
In January 2024, Egypt exited the African Cup of Nations in the quarter-finals after losing to the Democratic Republic of the Congo 7-8 on penalties.
Egypt lost the final match of the 2017 tournament to Cameroon, and the 2021 tournament to Senegal, and was eliminated in the round of 16 in the 2019 tournament against the South African national team, despite it being held on Egyptian soil.
As for the World Cup, the Egyptian team advanced to the World Cup three times, the first in 1934 in Italy, the second in the 1990 World Cup in Italy, and then the third time in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
In the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup in the United States of America, Mexico and Canada, the Egyptian national team leads its first group with six points from two wins over its host Djibouti (6-0) and its host Sierra Leone (2-0).
In the next international break, it will meet Burkina Faso (4 points) in Cairo on June 6 in the third round, then away from home with Guinea Bissau (4 points) four days later in the fourth round.
El-Gindy notes that there is a “gap” between the level of Egyptian clubs on the one hand and the national team on the other, attributing this to “the participation of professional African players with their national teams” during the Nations Cup or World Cup qualifiers.
The sports analyst also points out that the players’ condition and focus are “better with the clubs” compared to the national team.
For his part, Farag talks about “big differences” between the levels of clubs and national teams in Africa.
The majority of countries on the African continent “do not care about local clubs” and export players to professionalism, and the positive impact of this appears at the level of national teams, according to the sports critic.
Therefore, the door must be opened to the professionalism of a larger number of Egyptian players, which will help the national team to return to “the leadership it deserves, similar to the clubs,” Farag stresses.
But on the other hand, Abdel-Aal believes that the “quality of the technical coach” is the secret behind the Egyptian national team’s suffering from “bad performance” over the past years.
Egypt has “high-quality players” compared to the continent’s players, even professional ones, but technical managers are used who “do not know the value of the players and fans of the Egyptian national team,” according to the former Al-Ahly and Zamalek player.
Abdel-Aal clarifies that the Egyptian team’s victory over Djibouti and Sierra Leone “does not represent a real test of the Egyptian team’s strength,” considering that the upcoming meeting with Burkina Faso is “the real test.”
The Egyptian national team coach, Hossam Hassan, must choose “the players who are most prepared and prepare early to meet the Burkina Faso national team,” in order to go “half way” toward qualifying for the World Cup, according to Abdel-Al.
Public attendance “Password”
Zamalek won the Confederation title in the presence of a large crowd and stadiums full of stadiums, while Al-Ahly won the African Champions League title in front of about sixty thousand spectators.
Therefore, Abdel-Aal points out that public attendance is “the secret word to achieving the Confederation and African Champions League titles.”
There is a “public reluctance” to attend the Egyptian national team’s matches, and the public must be invited to support and assist the national team, opening the stands to their full extent and reducing the price of tickets, according to Abdel-Al.
El-Gindy agrees with him, stressing that the audience’s attendance at the Egyptian national team’s matches will constitute “a great morale boost for the players,” calling on the Egyptian fans to “attend Egypt’s upcoming matches extensively.”
For his part, Farag does not believe that a large number of fans will attend the Egyptian national team’s match with Burkina Faso because “it is not fateful.”
When there is a “fateful meeting,” fans will attend in large numbers for the team’s matches, which constitutes a great morale boost for the players, according to the sports critic.