Egypt's Zamalek hope President Sisi will attend Champions League final

Hatem Maher , Tuesday 27 Sep 2016

Zamalek v Wydad
Zamalek Sporting Club's Ahmed Tawfik Mohamed hassan (white) vies with Wydad Athletic Club's Ismael EL Haddad Fall (red) during the Champions League CAF Semifinal football match Wydad Athletic Club VS Zamalek Sporting Club on September 24, 2016 in Rabat (AFP)

Zamalek's chairman Mortada Mansour said he would invite Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to attend the second leg of an anticipated African Champions League final against South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns next month. 

The Cairo giants qualified for the Champions League final for the first time since winning the last of their five titles in 2002, scraping through 6-5 on aggregate following a stunning 5-2 defeat in the second leg in Rabat.

The first leg will be held in South Africa on 14, 15 or 16 October, with the return leg taking place a week later in Egypt.

Zamalek are seeking to stage the game at their traditional Cairo Stadium, which has been mainly shut over the past few years due to security concerns. The 84,100-seat venue hosted most of Zamalek, Ahly and Egypt's key games in the country's history.

However, security officials are unlikely to accept Zamalek's request. The return leg is expected to be held at Alexandria's Borg El-Arab Stadium instead.

"I invited President Sisi to attend the match. God willing, it will be held before 100,000 fans at the Cairo Stadium," Mansour, an outspoken chairman who has spent big over the past few years to bolster the team's squad, said in a television interview.

Sisi has never attended a football game since he was elected president in mid 2014. Former president Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011, used to attend pivotal football matches for Cairo giants Ahly and Zamalek and the Egyptian national team, at times awarding the winners the trophy himself.

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