Ghazl El Mahalla Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as El Mahalla or simply Mahalla, is an Egyptian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in El Mahalla El Kubra. They compete in the

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League (), also known as the Nile League () for sponsorship reasons, after the addition of title sponsor Nile Developments, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the highest level of the Egyptian football ...

, the highest tier of the

Egyptian football league system The Egyptian football league system refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system (league pyramid) for Football in Egypt, association football in Egypt. All divisions are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation. The ...

. They are one of seven teams to have won the Egyptian Premier League, having won it once, in the 1972–73 season. The history of Ghazl El Mahalla has witnessed many achievements, most significantly during the era of the golden generation of the club which led the team to reach the finals of the African Cup of Champions Clubs (later known as CAF Champions League) in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

, only beaten in the final by CARA Brazzaville from the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

. The team also reached the final of the

Egypt Cup The Egypt Cup (also known as the Egyptian FA Cup and formerly as the King Farouk Cup) is the main knockout football cup competition in Egypt. It is the oldest club competition in Africa. The first team to win the trophy was Zamalek in 1922. Al A ...

six times, but did not win any.

History

Ghazl El Mahalla is one of the biggest clubs in the history of Egyptian football. It was founded in 1936 after the establishment of Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in El Mahalla El Kubra as an Egyptian national company under the leadership of the patriotic entrepreneur Talaat Harb. The English experts working at the company at that time used to play football with some of the Egyptian workers at the factory which led to the establishment of the club. In 1947, Ghazl El Mahalla Stadium was established and the company club began to participate in the Corporations League at that time. Later, Ghazl El Mahalla began to participate in the

in the 1956–57 season. Within years, the club rose through the ranks of Egyptian football and made a name for itself. Due to its presence in a big city like El Mahalla El Kubra, the club began to have fans from the city and the towns surrounding it. So, even though the club was initially formed as a company club, it became one of the most supported clubs in Egypt and its fan base grew to become one of the biggest fan bases in Egyptian football. The team played in the

for 46 seasons and contributed a lot throughout its history to the

Egypt national football team The Egypt national football team (), nicknamed Pharaohs (), represents Egypt in men's FIFA, international Association football, football, and is governed by the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), the governing body of football in Egypt. Egypt ...

with talented players that came out of the club's youth system like Wael Gomaa, Mahmoud Fathalla, Ahmed Elmohamady, and Shawky Gharieb who is the current head coach of the Egypt national under-23 football team, as well as other talented players that rose to prominence during their time at the club like Mohamed Abdel Shafy who became one of the legends of fellow Egyptian club

Zamalek SC Zamalek Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as Zamalek, is an List of football clubs in Egypt, Egyptian Club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is best known for its professional men's Association football, football team, which plays in the Egy ...

, and Mohamed El-Atrawy who was in the 2001 squad of the Egypt national under-20 football team that achieved third place at the

2001 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Argentina between 17 June and 8 July 2001. The 2001 championship was the 13th contested. The tournament took part in six cities, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza, Rosario, Salta, and Mar del ...

. The history of Ghazl El Mahalla testifies with a lot of achievements, the club won the

in the 1972–73 season under the command of the golden generation of the club, and among its legends are Mohammed Al-Siyagi, Abdul Rahim Khalil, Muhammad Amasha, Mahmoud Abdel Dayem, and Abdul Sattar Ali. And, the club reached the final of the African Cup of Champions Clubs (Later known as CAF Champions League) in

but suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of the Congolese club CARA Brazzaville. The club participated in the African Cup of Champions Clubs (Later known as CAF Champions League) the following season in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

but was eliminated in the semi-finals, this marked the only two participations of Ghazl El Mahalla in the most prestigious club competition in the African continent, the

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

. The only other participation of the club in an African competition was in the

African Cup Winners' Cup The African Cup Winners' Cup was a football competition that started in 1975 and merged with the CAF Cup in 2004 to form the CAF Confederation Cup. It was a competition between the winning clubs of domestic cups in CAF-affiliated nations and w ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

where it got eliminated in the quarter-finals. The club was runner-up in the 1975–76 season of the

. And, managed to reach the final of the

six times but fortune did not favor it in any of them and the club was never able to win the Cup. The club was also runner-up at the inaugural

Egyptian Super Cup The Egyptian Super Cup is Football in Egypt, Egyptian football's annual match contested between the champions of the Egyptian Premier League season and the holders of the Egypt Cup. If the Egyptian Premier League champions also won the Egypt Cup ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

participating as Egypt Cup runner-up after Egypt Cup champions Ismaily SC withdrew from the competition. The club participated in the 1995 Arab Cup Winners' Cup, which was held in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, where it achieved third place. The club also participated in the 2004–05 Arab Champions League but got eliminated from the group stage after ending up in the fourth spot in Group B of the competition, this marked the only two participations of Ghazl El Mahalla in Arab competitions. Throughout its history, Ghazl El Mahalla has been relegated to the Egyptian Second Division six times. The first time was in the 1960–61 season when Ghazl El Mahalla was relegated instead of Ittihad Suez due to lack of fair play from Ghazl El Mahalla's side in a match against Tersana SC, but the club managed to get promoted to the top tier again the following season. The fall of the club began in the 1994–95 season when the club placed twelfth in the

, the worst placing the club ended up with in 23 years. Although, it could be argued that the fall of the club began in the season prior to that when the club placed ninth, the worst placing the club ended up with in 15 years. Nonetheless, the following season, 1995–96, the club got relegated for the second time in its history, but yet again managed to get promoted to the top tier again the following season. Only to get relegated for the third time the following season, 1998–99, and to yet again manage to get promoted to the top tier again the following season. After that third promotion to the

, the performance of the club began to fluctuate over the course of the following nine seasons beginning in the 2000–01 season and placing anywhere between fourth and twelfth positions. This eventually resulted in the fourth relegation of the club to the Egyptian Second Division in the 2009–10 season, it took the club three seasons to get promoted back to the

in the 2012–13 season, only for it to get relegated for the fifth time and spend one more season in the Egyptian Second Division before getting promoted once again the following season. The club played its last season of 2015–16 in the

before being relegated to the Egyptian Second Division that season for the sixth time in its history, and to spend its longest consecutive seasons in the second level of Egyptian football having spent four seasons in the Egyptian Second Division before earning a promotion. On 13 October 2020, Ghazl El Mahalla, under the leadership of head coach Khaled Eid, earned a promotion to the

after defeating

Olympic Club The Olympic Club is an sports club, athletic club and private social club in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. First named the "San Francisco Olympic Club", it is the oldest sports club, athletic club in the United States. Established ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

2–1, the Alexandrian team scored first only for Mohamed Sami to score the equalizer within minutes and then Mahmoud Salah scored the winning goal for Ghazl El Mahalla, in an away match in the final matchday of the 2019–20 Egyptian Second Division to top their group (Group C) with 47 points, two points clear of the second-placed team, and officially announce their promotion to the

after four harsh years in the Egyptian Second Division. That night, thousands of Ghazl El Mahalla supporters filled the streets of El Mahalla El Kubra in celebration of the promotion of the club and gathered at the entrance to the city awaiting the arrival of the team from

, at the arrival of the team's bus the players stood above the bus and celebrated with the supporters as a huge parade took place which was decorated by the sounds of drums and the chants of the supporters that expressed their overwhelming happiness, "Oh Mahallawi (El Mahalla supporter)", "Play oh Mahalla", "Say it again, Say it again, Ghazl El Mahalla is back again", "Say oh world, Say oh people, Ghazl El Mahalla is back in the Premier". The supporters gathered at Ghazl El Mahalla Stadium as well and the celebrations continued all night and up till the next morning.

Honours

Domestic

: ** Winners (1): 1972–73 ** Runners-up (1): 1975–76 *

: **Runners-up (6):

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, 1986, 1993, 1995, 2001 *

: **Runners-up (1):

Continent

* African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League: **''Runners-up (1):''

Performance in CAF competitions

*FR = First round *SR = Second round *QF = Quarter-final *SF = Semi-final

Performance in domestic competitions

Rivalries

El Mahalla Derby

The El Mahalla derby is a

match between Ghazl El Mahalla SC and Baladeyet El Mahalla SC, the two biggest clubs in El Mahalla El Kubra. The derby is always filled with a lot of excitement and thrill, often dubbed the "Fury Derby" due to the tense rivalry and animosity between the supporters of these two clubs. The two clubs have faced each other in both the

and the Egyptian Second Division, where Baladeyet El Mahalla currently plays, depending on which league the two clubs played in during that season, they have also met each other twice in the

. Even though, the performance of both clubs has deteriorated over the course of the past few decades, the derby still retains its value and prestige.

Players

Current squad

Managers

* Sherif El-Khashab (March 21, 2009–Aug 26, 2009) * Mohamed Radwan (Aug 27, 2009–???) * Salah El-Nahy (Aug 19, 2011–Oct 20, 2011) * Ibrahim Youssef (Oct 25, 2011–April 26, 2013) * Abdel-Latif El-Doumany (April 26, 2012 – June 12, 2013) * Farouk Gaafar (Sept 9, 2013–Jan 19, 2014) *

Ashraf Kasem Ashraf Kassem Raman (; born 25 July 1966) is an Egyptian football manager and former player who is in charge of Al-Hussein Irbid. Career Kasem played as a defender for Zamalek from 1984 to 1997. He also played for Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia in ...

(Jan 30, 2014–June 15, 2014) * Mohamed Fayz (Jan 30, 2015–???) * Khaled Eid (Dec 16, 2018–present) Mohamed Ouda

External links

Ghazl El Mahalla SC official fans website
(archived) {{Egyptian Premier League Football clubs in Egypt Association football clubs established in 1936 1936 establishments in Egypt Egyptian Premier League clubs Egyptian Second Division clubs Egyptian Second Division A clubs