Cairo-Ismailia Rivalry

The Cairo-Ismailia Rivalry is a term that refers to the matches inwhich the teams competing with each other are Ahly or Zamalek of Cairo, capital of Egypt, against Ismaili SC of Ismailia, aorund 140km from the Egyptian capital on the Suez Canal. Usually it is a fixture that is repeated 4 times in a season and rarely played more than 5 times given that the teams involved in this fixture don't always meet each other in another competition at the same time.

Ahly vs Ismaily Rivalry
A match though to be more bitter than the Cairo Derby , this is a match between two clubs that normally have had a tension-filled relationship which date mainly since 1967 with the surprise Ismaily attack on Egyptian lands in Sinai.

At the time, Ismailia city was hit hard and reports suggest that Ismaily requested that they would use Ahly's facilities for training which was met by refusal from the Cairo giants' side which was met with frustration form the Ismaili fans who called the Cairo-based club "traitors". This reported incident is one of many stories between Ahly and Ismaily that help explain the origins of the riavlry and tension between both sets of fans.

By far more contrast, hatred between Ahly fans and Ismaily fans is more apparent than any other form in Egyptian football. The fact that Ahly has through recent times been buying former Ismaili stars only exaggerated the tension between both sets of fans, stars like Ahmed Fathy, Mohamed Barakat, Ahmed Hassan, Eslam El Shater and Emad El Nahhas who have beome the backbone of Ahly's recent domination in Egyptian football. At one time in the 60's, Ahly tried to sign Ismaili's star player but Ismailia people got very angry that they threw his car in the Suez Canal. Recently also the drama of Ismaili star and Egyptian international midfielder Hosny Abd RAbou who had signed for Ahly before stressing he wants to play for Ismaili despite his original club RS Strasbourg agreeing a contract with Ahly, this incident sparked controversy and flairs rose every time the teams met as the deal went to FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for over 9 months before giving Ismaili Hosny's rights and after a deal was struck between Strasbourg and Ismaili sparking more outrage in the Ahly fan camp.

Since 2000 till July 2008 in the league, Ahly and Ismaily played 16 matches, Ahly won 7, drew 5 and lost 4 games scoring 25 goals and letting in 15.

The 20th May 2002
Arguably one of the best five matches in Egyptian Premier League history, the match hosted by Ahly in Cairo Stadium was set to be the match of the season with only two weeks left and both clubs gaining the same points as the other, it was a title match and it lived up to its hype.

The Curva Sud was full with 20,000 travelling Ismaili fans and the entire 75,000 seats in Cairo Stadium were full. Ismaili managed to advance twice, once via a penalty but Ahly managed by a spirited performance by Alaa Ibrahim to come back and tie the match and then advance with only minutes to spare, then in injury time of the second half with the scoreline 4-3, Shady Mohamed handles the ball to prevent it from getting to the back of the empty net and received his marching orders and Ismaili managed to score from the spot and gain a point from the game. At the end of the season, Ahly succumbed to a defeat in the final stages of the league and Ismaili managed to clinch their first Egyptian Premier League title since the early 1990's.

Zamalek vs Ismaily
A little less tense match as both sets of fans and clubs are in a more friendly relationship than it is with Ahly, this match is not viewed as hot-tmepered as it is between Ismaili and Ahly or Ahly and Zamalek but nevertheless it is the match in this rivalry and the arguably an important match in the Premier League as it is a match that in times is a championship match or a second place decider and thus reserving the last chair for qualification to the CAF African Champions League.

Since 2000-July 2008, Zamalek and Ismaily played 16 matches in the league, Zamalek won 10, drew 3 and Ismaili won 3.

2007-2008 Season
The 2007-2008 season was a season inwhich Zamalek was trying to return to winning ways and manage to win a title in over 4 years due to internal conflict within the club entity itself while Ismaili was going through a reconstruction phase that would lead to a mid-season financial and managerial crisis, in addition the Hosny Abd Rabou case messed things up even more but it would turn out to the better in the end of the season for the team nicknamed "Daraweesh".

Zamalek had been hoping to fight for the Premier League title but a series of defeats early on especially in the 100 league Cairo Derby meant Zamalek were out of competition given Ahly strong local showing. The same was with Ismaili who had started the season opener brilliantly with a victory away in Cairo Stadium to Zamalek with Mostapha Karim scoring the only goal in the match.

Ismaili would go on in Ismailia to score yet another win over Zamlek, again with the same scoreline, with Hosny Abd Rabou's powerful stinger defliecting off of Abd El Monsef, Zamalek's goalkeeper.

The season went on to be and exciting chase for 2nd place with Zamalek, Ismaili, surprise packages Tala'ee Al Geish and Petrojet fighting for the last chair in the race for the African Champions League. Petrojet slowly faded away, while Al Geish gave a sterdy resistance but eventually it was a direct fight between Zamalek and Ismaili but they would not be meeting each other as their matches had been already played. Ismaili had a tough test against Al Ahly in Cairo which ended in a 1-1 affair, and result that only just helped Ismaily with Zamalek still maintaining second place . Zamalek would lose at home to Petrojet 3-1 to gift Ismaili second place before the end of the season by just a week away.

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