ZAMALEK were crowned the 2020-21 Egyptian Premier League champions, their first such victory in six years during which Cairo arch-rivals Ahly had a lock on the tournament.

After a year-long league marathon Zamalek emerged last week with their 13th title with one game remaining, finishing with an insurmountable 80 points after 34 games, four more than second place Ahly. Pyramids ended up in third place with 55 points.

Zamalek’s celebrations, however, were tainted when their skipper Mahmoud Shikabala was handed an eight-month ban and fined LE500,000 after being involved in a heated exchange with the Egyptian Football Association chief during the team’s league celebrations on Friday.

Shikabala was reportedly angered that some of his teammates and their families were not allowed on the pitch during post-match celebrations.

In other football news, Egypt was scheduled to host Angola in Cairo on Wednesday 1 September in the first round of the African World Cup qualifiers before flying out to face Gabon on 5 September in the second round. Libya rounds out Group F.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 2 September, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly