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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 April 1999 Issue No. 424 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 April 1999 Issue No. 424
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Toothless but heated derby
By Abeer AnwarAhli and Zamalek are due to meet tomorrow as the football season winds down. With only two games remaining, Ahli are assured winners, which has somewhat taken the edge out of this traditionally heated derby. Still, Ahli-Zamalek battles always generate huge anticipation, even if the result is meaningless in the league's standings.
Ahli enters the match 14 points ahead of second-place Zamalek, which has 50 points. Ahli has 64 points from 20 wins, four draws and no losses. The club has so far scored 44 goals, and has allowed only eight. Star striker Hossam Hassan has found the net 15 times this year and is the league's top goal-scorer. Zamalek has 50 points, winning 15 matches, drawing five and losing four. The team scored 34 goals and allowed 13. With 11 goals, the forward Osama Nabih is the club's top goal-getter.
It will be the 83rd meeting between the two arch rivals since the league was established in 1948. Ahli has beaten Zamalek 28 times while Zamalek beat Ahli 18 times. There have been 36 draws. Ahli's best result against its nemesis was a 4-1 thrashing in 1960. Zamalek won 3-1 in 1961 for its best effort against Ahli.
Ahli's golden age of encounters with Zamalek was in the 1950s when it beat Zamalek eight times. Zamalek's best stretch was in the 1960's when it beat Ahli four times while Ahli won three times. The 1970s saw Zamalek beat Ahli only twice, while Ahli won five times during the same period. In the eighties, Zamalek won five times to Ahli's four. In the 1990s Ahli again had the upper hand, winning nine times to Zamalek's five.
Ahli and Zamalek and another conspicious match photo: Mohamed Wassim
Ahli's Ahmed Mekawi holds the honour of having scored the first goal in the derby, in 1948, while defender Ibrahim Hassan scored the last goal, accomplished last year. Thirty Europeans, six Arabs and one African have refereed Ahli-Zamalek matches since 1966. The decision to use non-Egyptian referees was taken by Mosheir Amer, head of the Egyptian Football Federation at the time, following a fight on the pitch which later resulted in a full-scale riot. Amer also decided to move all the two clubs' matches to Cairo Stadium.
Since the league was founded, Ahli has scored 1,843 goals while Zamalek has netted 1,619. Ahli has lost 105 times while Zamalek has bitten the dust 134 times.
Ahli's Hassan has scored five times against Zamalek and is attempting to break the record set by Ahli's Tutu and Zamalek's Alaa El-Hamouli, who scored seven each. .
