Egypt’s Ahly won the first part of the first FIFA Intercontinental Cup tournament with a 3-0 victory over Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates in Cairo International Stadium on Tuesday 29 October.

The victory gave Ahly, the Egyptian and African champions, the title of African-Asian-Pacific Cup. Giving a championship title to a team with the tournament still in progress is confusing. It’s basically a title within a title, but that’s the FIFA format.

At any rate, Ahly must deal with this other confusion: who will they play next: the yet-to-be-determined champion of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) or CF Pachuca of Mexico? The latter two will face off in the Challenger Cup (yet another title) on 14 December.

European champions Real Madrid, who have a bye, will wait for the winner to come out of all of this in the final on 18 December in Qatar.

Ahly have a history not easily forgotten with Real and Pachuca. In 2023, Ahly lost to Real Madrid 4-1 in the FIFA Club World Cup semi-final in Rabat.

In 2008, Pachuca fought back from two goals down to stun Ahly after extra time at the Club World Cup in Tokyo.

The game between Ahly and Al-Ain (the match was hosted by Ahly, the higher-ranked club in the FIFA rankings), was the first official encounter between the two clubs. Boosted by over 70.000 supporters, Ahly pressure paid off in the 33rd minute when Wessam Abou Ali capitalised on a defensive blunder by Al-Ain’s Fabio Cardoso. Abou Ali intercepted a pass too short which was intended for Eisa and coolly slotted the ball into the net, giving Ahly a 1-0 lead.

Ahly did not let up. In the 56th minute, Emam Ashour doubled the lead with a wonderful volley inside the box after sending a similar effort to the moon.

In the final minutes of injury time, substitute Omar Kamal was brought down in the box, giving Ahly a late penalty kick. Mohamed Magdi Afsha converted the penalty just minutes after coming onto the pitch, sealing a 3-0 win for the Cairo giants.

Ahly came into the game in a buoyant mood after having defeated crosstown rivals Zamalek in a penalty shootout the week before to secure the Egyptian Super Cup title.

Al-Ain’s squad was led by former Argentina striker Hernan Crespo. The UAE side were relying on their star-studded lineup, featuring Moroccan striker Soufiane Rahimi, UAE forward Jonas Santos, Togolese forward Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba and Argentinian Mateo Sanabria.

Rahimi scored twice when Morocco pummelled Egypt 6-0 in the Paris Olympics this year, taking the bronze medal.

Ahly’s new sporting director Mohamed Ramadan said after the Al-Ain game that he did not anticipate the big victory. “We didn’t expect a 3-0 win but we hoped to achieve the victory and the players achieved the target,” Ramadan told a TV show after the game.

This inaugural FIFA Intercontinental Cup, which kicked off on 22 September, is akin to the Club World Cup which has been expanded to 32 clubs and whose next sequel will be held in the US in the summer of 2025, one year before the 2026 World Cup to be hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico.

The Intercontinental Cup is showcasing champions of the six confederations of FIFA: CAF champions Ahly, AFC champions Al-Ain, UEFA champions Real Madrid, New Zealand’s Auckland City FC (winners of the OFC Champions League), the CONMEBOL champions (to be announced), and CF Pachuca, Mexican champions of the CONCACAF.

The competition is played as a knockout tournament between clubs from all confederations except UEFA, whose club, Real, receives a bye to the final.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 7 November, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.