Egyptian club Zamalek were shown the door as USM Alger of Algeria won their second African Confederation Cup following a marathon penalty shootout on Saturday night in Cairo.
Boisterous Cairo Stadium abruptly went silent at the final kick after Alger won 8-7 on penalties.
The Egyptian giants had won the game 1-0 but that had only levelled the tie at 1-1 on aggregate after Alger’s identical victory in Algiers a week earlier.
In Cairo on Saturday, in just the first minute, Adam Kaied was brought down inside the area after he was tripped up by Che Malone. Palestinian forward Oday Dabbagh slotted the penalty beyond Oussama Benbout who went the wrong way.
In the 14th minute Zamalek thought they had scored their second with a header from Mohamed Ismail that was knocked down by Mohamed Shehata who was ruled offside.
Zamalek’s goalkeeper Al-Mahdi Suleiman was forced out of the game in the 20th minute following what could have been a muscle pull as he tried to tip over a direct kick.
Mohamed Awwad was the replacement for his first appearance in over three months and he immediately provided dividends, producing a flying save to deny Ahmed Khaldi before half-time.
In the 53rd minute, Khaldi, who scored the winning late penalty against Zamalek in the first leg, again proved dangerous after a nifty few short passes ended in a powerful shot that veered wide of the right post.
Nine minutes later Khaldi was again the centre of attraction as his left footed curler went agonisingly close from the same spot.
As Alger put on the pressure, Khaldi made it a hat-trick of second half near misses, this one with the goal wide open in the 67th minute.
Zamalek, desperately seeking the winner, could have sealed the deal in minute 84 when a header by substitute Nasser Mansi was spectacularly tipped over the bar by Benbout.
With the last embers of the game about to be snuffed out, substitute Seifeddine Jaziri could not control a ball that would have left him with only the goalie to beat.
Without going into extra time, the game went straight to penalties. The two goalkeepers were unable to save a single ball as both teams converted their opening seven spot-kicks, rather remarkable given the pressure.
But it was Shehata who blazed his shot well over the bar to give Alger the advantage.
It was left up to USM Alger substitute Aimé Tendeng to convert the winning kick which Awwad might have got a hand to, sparking wild celebrations among the visiting players amid crestfallen Zamalek players and over 46,000 of their supporters.
The triumph secured USM Alger’s second Confederation Cup crown following their success in 2023 and booked their place in next season’s CAF Super Cup, where they will face either Mamelodi Sundowns or FAR Rabat.
With the victory, USM Alger also walked away with a hefty $4 million, double that of Zamalek, in record prize hauls.
The Algerian side also went into Saturday’s game with a reputation for resilience, losing just once in their last 19 Confederation Cup matches and having kept clean sheets in all three of their recent encounters against Egyptian opposition.
For Zamalek, meanwhile, it was a painful gut-wrenching exit since they had hoped to secure a third Confederation Cup title following their previous triumphs in 2019 and 2024, both achieved against Morocco’s Renaissance Berkane.
It also handed Zamalek their first defeat in a continental final penalty shootout after seven previous wins.
USM Alger coach Lamine Ndiaye was ebullient in victory, saying after the match they were worthy champions. “Our crowning as CAF Confederation Cup champions is well deserved,” the Senegalese coach said in the post-match press conference.
“The scenario of the match was something we expected,” he said. “I asked the players not to panic if we conceded early. We continued to play our football, created chances and remained offensive.”
The veteran coach believed his side dictated large spells of the encounter. “We controlled most parts of the game,” he added. “We stopped the strengths of Zamalek and played with all our power.
“Zamalek had only 34 per cent possession and only three shots on target, while we had six,” he said, summoning statistics that he said proved his point. “The numbers show the performance of my players.”
For Zamalek coach Motamed Gamal, it was the end of the road, admitting his side struggled physically and mentally as the game progressed, despite making the perfect start.
“We were below our usual level today because the early goal pushed us back into defence,” Gamal told the post-match press conference.
“Our decline came because we became afraid after taking the lead.
“Even though we scored early, the team was not at its best during the second leg.”
The Egyptian coach acknowledged that USM Alger grew stronger, particularly after halftime. “The opponent was better than us in the second half,” Gamal conceded, suggesting fatigue also played a role in the performance of his players during the latter stages of the final.
“I could feel the tiredness of the players, so we relied more on transitions in the second half,” he said.
The coach also defended midfielder Shehata after the decisive missed penalty.
“In the end, penalties are about luck,” Gamal said. “I cannot blame Mohamed Shehata.”
“We did not want the match to go to penalties,” he said. “We prepared well for the penalty shootout, but this is football,” the Zamalek coach said.
He said his side will continue fighting for the Egyptian Premier League title. “We will do our best in the coming match to win the league title and save the season,” Gamal said.
As of writing, Zamalek needed just one point from their final game against Ceramica Cleopatra on 20 May to secure their 14th league crown and first since 2022.
The African Confederation Cup is the continent’s second biggest football club tournament after the Champions League. It is often described as being equivalent to the Europa League.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 21 May, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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