The Egyptian Premier League title is up for grabs as the season reaches what could be a climactic conclusion.
Zamalek are in first place with 46 points with five games remaining.
Pyramids and defending champions Ahly are in second place with 44 points each but Ahly have played one game more than the two frontrunners.
Ceramica Cleopatra have an outside chance of winning the title, with 40 points and four games left.
The tenuous nature of the race for the league crown was exemplified in Saturday’s match between game-time favourites Pyramids and Masri which ended 1-1 but not before Masri took a surprise lead, Pyramids then playing with a man less but managing to score the equaliser but missing a last minute penalty that would have been the winning goal. Instead, Pyramids lost two valuable points.
In their latest must-win match also on Saturday, Ahly beat relatively weaker Smouha 2-1 but it needed a late, late winning effort.
Ahly opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, Mahmoud Trezeguet netting a header from a standing position while unmarked following a corner from Ahmed Zizo.
It was club captain Trezeguet’s ninth goal of the season, the highest in the league.
Samuel Amady tied the game just before halftime with a curling shot into the far right corner from the edge of the box that was beyond the reach of a diving Mustafa Shobeir to send the teams into the break level.
But Ahly avoided a shock tie in the 90th minute when Taher Mohamed Taher, who came on with seven minutes remaining, met a cross from Mohamed Hani with a header from inside the box to the left of goalkeeper Ahmed Al-Mayhoub who had no chance.
Cairo International Stadium erupted with the noise of Ahly fans because without Taher’s goal, the game looked destined to end 1-1, the same score that Ahly were held to four days earlier by fourth-placed Ceramica Cleopatra.
That match ended contentiously when a clear stoppage time handball penalty was not given to Ahly.
Following the match, Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed Al-Shinnawi was banned for four matches and fined for confronting referee Mahmoud Wafa, with reports suggesting he “struck” or “pushed” the referee.
The next day, Ahly filed an official complaint with the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) against Wafa, citing “blatant” errors that they claim influenced the result.
It has so far been a trophy-less season for the normally highly decorated Ahly. They crashed out of the Egypt Cup round of 32 and the CAF Champions League quarter-finals, leaving the domestic league as their sole saviour this season.
Save for Zamalek who is playing in the semi-finals of the African Confederation Cup, the teams in contention will be on plenty of rest before entering some titanic clashes.
Zamalek and Pyramids meet on Thursday 23 April. Pyramids and Ahly is set for Monday 27 April. The big derby between bitter crosstown rivals Ahly and Zamalek is on Friday 1 May.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 April, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
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