After winning the Egyptian Premier League, it didn’t take long for Ahly to turn to their next championship, the Club World Cup, reports Alaa Abdel-Ghani.
First, though, the league. Ahly were crowned Egyptian Premier League champions after a 6-0 thrashing of Pharco FC on 28 May. This 45th league title extended their record. It was also the club’s third consecutive league crown.
Palestinian striker Wessam Abu Ali stole the show, scoring a super hat-trick for the Red Devils in Cairo International Stadium, while winger Hussein Al-Shahat and midfielder Emam Ashour netted the fifth and sixth goals, respectively, to complete the rout.
The win saw Ahly finish the season on 58 points, two ahead of Pyramids FC, who pummelled Ceramica Cleopatra 5-1, even though they were a man less, on the same day.
Ahly began the season under Swiss coach Marcel Koller, but Koller was let go following the team’s semi-final exit from the African Champions League.
Then came the turn of interim local coach Emad Al-Nahhas who took over in late April, guiding Ahly through the final stretch, securing six consecutive wins.
At the same time, Pyramids did themselves no favours. Although in the final stretch, Pyramids were leading by as many as four points, they wilted under the pressure with back-to-back defeats which opened the door for Ahly’s come from behind league win.
Abou Ali might have been the top gun on the league’s finale with his four goals, and he was named the match’s MVP, but it was Ashour, the 27-year-old midfielder, who emerged as Ahly’s talisman for the whole season. With 13 goals Ashour tops the scoring charts as of writing — a goal ahead of NBE Club’s Osama Faisal and two ahead of Zamalek’s Nasser Mansi who has a game in hand.
Ashour was named Man of the Match seven times, the most won by any player this season.
Messi match: Ahly ended their campaign with the league’s best attacking and defensive records, 52 goals scored and only 18 conceded. The glowing statistics, coupled with the crown, will give Ahly much needed momentum as they head for the US to prepare for the FIFA Club World Cup. Ahly have been drawn in Group A alongside MLS side Inter Miami, Brazilian outfit Palmeiras, and Portuguese champions FC Porto. The opener will be Ahly facing the Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami club scheduled for 3am Cairo time on 15 June. Ahly are set to depart for a training camp in the US on 4 June.
New coach: To help them with the world cup task ahead of them, Ahly officially announced the appointment of Spanish tactician Jose Riveiro as the club’s new head coach on a two-year contract.
The 47-year-old arrives after stints with Finland’s FC Inter and South Africa’s Orlando Pirates. His coaching journey began with Celta Vigo’s youth sides, followed by four years as an assistant in Finland before stepping into senior management.
Riveiro was widely reported to have reached an agreement with Ahly in recent weeks, with the official unveiling taking place last week Thursday.
Riveiro coincidentally faced Ahly twice in the 2025 CAF Champions League group stage, overseeing a 0-0 draw in Johannesburg with Pirates before securing a surprise 2-1 win at Cairo Stadium. Both clubs advanced to the quarter-finals.
There are conflicting reports whether Al-Nahhas will remain part of the technical staff under Riveiro.
The efficacy of changing a coach two weeks before a major global tournament is being questioned. In hindsight, Ahly did well to drop Koller who slipped badly toward the end of his reign. But the general sentiment is that Al-Nahhas should have kept his job and taken Ahly to the Club World Cup. He had navigated brilliantly through the playoffs and should have been rewarded for the achievement. And the old maxim probably holds true in this situation: why try to fix something that’s not broken?
Parting ways: What is clear is that some of the Ahly players who won the league are leaving the squad and will not be playing for Ahly in the Club World Cup.
Defender Rami Rabie and defensive midfielder Akram Tawfik, both key figures in recent seasons, are to depart after declining to renew their contracts due to financial disagreements.
Rabia leaves Ahly as one of the club’s longest-serving players, having made 337 appearances, scoring 18 goals and assisting eight across all competitions.
Tawfik featured in 144 matches, registering three goals and seven assists in his time with the Reds.
Also leaving is Tunisian left-back Ali Maaloul who played for Ahly for nine seasons, with the club reportedly opting not to renew his contract to make room for new foreign signings.
Those who failed to make an impression and were also discharged are third-choice goalkeeper Hamza Alaa who made just two senior appearances for the club, and Moroccan fullback Yahya Attiat Allah, on loan from Russian club Sochi, after an injury-hit season in which he struggled to make an impact.
Assistant coach Mohamed Shawki is expected to continue in his current role as the club’s assistant sporting director.
Huge controversy: Ahly’s league triumph came with huge controversy which stemmed from an abandoned 11 March Cairo league derby between Ahly and Zamalek.
The derby was abandoned after Ahly failed to show up, protesting the assignment of an Egyptian referee instead of a foreign official, as they had requested. An Egyptian referee and the Zamalek squad arrived at Cairo International Stadium on time. The match was officially called off 15 minutes after the scheduled kickoff due to Ahly’s absence.
Subsequently, the Egyptian Premier League (EPL) Competitions Committee awarded Zamalek a 3-0 default win, docked Ahly three points, with a possible three more points at the conclusion of the season, and ordered the club to pay for financial losses incurred due to the match’s cancellation. Ahly rejected the sanctions, arguing that their request for a foreign referee was justified given the match’s significance, that it takes two weeks to appoint a foreign referee when Ahly were given just five days, and even threatened to withdraw from the league unless the penalties were rescinded.
Ahly appealed to the Egyptian Olympic Committee (EOC), which ultimately upheld the EPL Competitions Committee’s decision. In late March, however, the EPL Board reduced Ahly’s point deduction to three, citing Article 63 of the league’s bylaws, which allows the board to make decisions under conditions of force majeure and emergencies. Crucially, this article also shields such decisions from appeal.
Both Zamalek and Pyramids appealed the EPL board’s decision to reduce sanctions against Ahly, arguing that the initial six-point deduction should have been maintained. Ahly, on the other hand, requested the derby be replayed and that all penalties against them be overturned.
After nearly six weeks of deliberation, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) Appeals Committee on 15 May rejected Ahly’s request for a replay, stating the club had no right to demand such an outcome. The committee also dismissed appeals from Pyramids, Zamalek and Ahly, citing a lack of jurisdiction. It stated that the EPL board’s decisions are protected under league bylaws, and the Appeals Committee had no authority to invalidate any article of those regulations.
The Appeals Committee added that any affected parties may appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which it identified as the only body with the jurisdiction to invalidate any article in the Egyptian League’s bylaws. Following that decision, Pyramids and Zamalek turned to CAS to challenge the rulings.
CAS then sent notifications to the three clubs involved — Ahly, Zamalek and Pyramids — stating that the court would take its “legal time,” which could extend up to eight months, to deliberate on the matter.
In the end, Ahly were docked zero points for the contentious no-show match.
Pyramids and Zamalek were left fuming, arguing that when Zamalek withdrew from the derby against Ahly last year, citing the extreme difference in the number of games played, Zamalek were stripped of six points.
Naturally, social media has had a field day over this season’s controversy, with posts siding with Ahly and others with Pyramids and Zamalek who finished third in the league.
One former Ahly official insisted that the club should not be deducted any points because new rules activated before the season began stated as much — even if a walkout occurs. The trouble with that comment is that it was made very late, in mid-May, more than a month after the infamous protest match.
For now, Pyramids and Zamalek must wait. For now, Ahly are the winners of the 2025 season and are hoping to extend that success overseas.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 5 June, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
Short link: