Smouha Sporting Club (), simply known as Smouha, is an Egyptian

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

based in

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 ...

and the biggest club in the world in space and number of athletes, with 168 feddans in the Smouha city branch, and 208 feddans in the Borg El Arab city branch. The club is mainly known for its professional

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 ...

team, which currently plays 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 top 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 ...

. It has 28 sports like

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and

Modern Pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Summer Olympics, Olympic multisport that consists of five events: fencing (one-touch épée followed by direct elimination), freestyle swimming, obstacle course racing, Laser pistol (sport), laser pistol shooting, and ...

, the sport where they most achieve medals and trophies.

History and ownership

Smouha SC was founded on 29 December 1949, and was named after the club's first president & founder Joseph Smouha, who was a Jewish textile manufacturer, philanthropist, and property developer and designer. Joseph Smouha was born on 1 January 1878 in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. In 1892, he moved to

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England, where he became a successful cotton manufacturer, and in 1912, he became the first President of the St. Annes-on-the-Sea congregation. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he and his family made their fortune manufacturing army clothing for the British. In 1917, Smouha came to Alexandria at the behest of the British because of his close ties to His Majesty's government and its representatives in the Middle East, as well as his position as one of Lawrence of Arabia's backers. After the War, Smouha bought the marshes of Lake Hadara, some 700 acres of water and marshland. Beginning in 1924, the Smouha family operated a sort of privately owned regional development authority, first draining the marshes, then paving two-lane roads. An industrial zone sprang up near the Ford assembly plant already in the area. For residents' convenience, a golf course was built, along with tennis courts and a race tract. Tracts of land were sold to private investors who wanted to build their homes in the area, which rapidly turned into the most exclusive

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

in Alexandria. Mr. Smouha donated much of his property to schools, hospitals and other public institutions. The new suburban garden city became known as "Smouha City". During

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Smouha's three sons served in the RAF, and Smouha contributed heavily toward the purchase of Spitfire planes, the aircraft used in the first line of attack to protect Britain's skies. Due to threats from the Germans, the British Embassy ordered Smouha to leave Egypt. The family then moved to

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the central West Bank, that serves as the administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusalem, at an average elevation of abov ...

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

for six months, before returning to Egypt once more. During his negotiations for the swamp region, the Egyptian government initially offered to give the land to Smouha for very little to no money, while Smouha insisted on paying a fair fee. This fact later served the Smouha family well after the Nasser government confiscated Smouha City after the Sinai Campaign and refused to compensate the family. Joseph Smouha died on 25 September 1961 in Paris at age 83. Engineer, millionaire, founder and chief executive of Faragalla Group, as well as

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

member Mohamed Farag Amer led Smouha Club from 1998 to 2021

Smouha Sporting Club

When Joseph Smouha settled in Alexandria in 1923, he became interested in developing a wealthy suburb and turned to the 700 acres of water and marshland used as a garbage dump in Alexandria. Smouha eventually transformed this land into the wealthy neighborhood of Smouha City so nicknamed by suggestion of King Fuad I. Among schools, hospitals, and wealthy neighborhoods with certain royal residents, the Smouha Sporting Club also inhabited Smouha City. The Smouha Sporting Club itself began with the spread of golf across Egypt. As golf became an increasingly played sport through the 1930s, Joseph Smouha planned the construction of an 18-hole golf course in Smouha City at the site of today's Smouha Sporting Club. The golf course was situated within the infield of a racetrack which Smouha had previously constructed. This golf course is renowned for having what is regarded as the best golf grass in the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

, as a result of its location above the swampland. The Smouha Sporting Club grew to include tennis courts along with the golf course and race track, and was formally established in 1949. Joseph Smouha was the first chief executive of the sporting club, and today the club remains open under the leadership of Engineer Mohammed Farag Amer. Although the Nasser regime confiscated Smouha City from the Smouha family in 1956, Joseph Smouha had donated much of the property to public institutions and the sporting club remained open. Currently, Smouha Sporting Club provides sportive, social, and cultural services to over 120,000 people—marking it as one of the largest sporting clubs in all of Egypt. The club is particularly famous for its

teams, but supports numerous individual and sports teams. ;Sports * Athletics * Basketball * Bowling * Chess * Croquet * Football (first team) * Football (juniors) * Gymnastics * Handball * Judo * Karate * Swimming and water games * Squash * Table tennis * Taekwando * Tennis * Volleyball

Recent additions and branches

In 2007, the architectural firm Environmental Consulting Group (ECO Group) began designing new properties for Smouha Sporting Club. Established in 1995, ECO Group is a Middle-Eastern firm of about 100 employees led by Professor Amr El-Sherif. Throughout its history, ECO Group has been involved in construction projects totally over US$300 million. ECO Group has developed the Smouha Sporting Club's club house, cafeteria, swimming pools, and facilities for children. The club operates three branches as of 2023; Smouha branch,

New Borg El Arab New Borg El Arab ( ') is a new Egyptian city of the first generation, located in Alexandria Governorate, and administratively affiliated to the New Urban Communities Authority. It was established by decree of the President of the Arab Republic ...

branch (under construction).

Football Club

Smouha has maintained a midtable club status and relative financial stability for most of its time in the

. Smouha finished in second place in the 2008–09 Egyptian Second Division season. They were close to being promoted to the

, but they lost their final match against Kafr El-Zayat, so El-Mansoura was promoted instead. In the 2009–10 Egyptian Second Division Smouha secured their first ever promotion to the 2010-11 Egyptian Premier League after a 7–1 win against Abu Qair Semad on 28 April 2010.Maher, Hate
"Smouha seal first Premier League promotion"
. Filgoal, 28 April 2010. Retrieved on 28 April 2010. The club was close to being relegated in the 2010–11 season. They had a good start in the 2012–2013 premier league season, defeating Cairo giant Al Ahly 1–0, Ghazl El Mahalla 5–1 and Wadi Degla 3–0.

Alexandria Derby

Both being based in Alexandria; Smouha and Al-Ittihad Alexandria have always been an exciting encounter. The rivalry stems from the fact that both teams are the biggest in Alexandria and share the same stadium Alexandria International Stadium. The rivalry is always sure to deliver good football.

Honours and achievements

Football Club

Domestic

League

** Runners up : 2013–14

Cup

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 ...

** Runners up: 2013–14, 2017–18

Performance in CAF competitions

*PR = Preliminary round *FR = First round *SR = Second round *PO = Play-off round

Season records

Current squad

Managers

* Rabie Yassin (1 July 2006 – 30 June 2007) * Mimi Abdel Razek (July 2007 – 1 May 2010) * Mohsen Saleh (18 May 2010 – 6 August 2010) * Patrice Neveu (6 August 2010 – 21 November 2010) * Hamza El-Gamal (21 November 2010 – 27 May 2011) * Shawky Gharieb (1 November 2011 – 20 July 2013) * Hamada Sedki (July 2013 – Oct 2014) * Denis Lavagne (Oct 2014 – Dec 2014) * Helmy Toulan (June 2015 – July 2015) * Mimi Abdel Razek (July 2015) * Mohamed Youssef (July 2015 – 1 November 2015 ) * Mimi Abdel Razek (2 November 2015 – 2016) * Helmy Toulan (June 2016 – July 2016) * Jorvan Vieira (2016) * Helmy Toulan (2016) * Moamen Soliman (2017) * Frantisek Straka (2017) * Talaat Youssef (2018) * Mimi Abdel Razek (2018) (caretaker) * Ali Maher (2018) * Tarek Yehia (2018–2019) * Adel Abdelrahman (2019) (caretaker) *

Hossam Hassan Hossam Hassan Hassanein (; born 10 August 1966) is an Egyptian former professional association football, football player who played as a Striker (association football), striker, and current coach of the Egypt national football team, Egyptian nat ...

(2019–2020) * Hamada Sedki (13 January 2020 – 6 September 2020) * Ahmed Samy (6 September 2020 – 2 May 2022) * Abdel Hamid Bassiouny (3 May 2022 – 2 September 2022) * Tarek El Ashry (4 September 2022 – 25 January 2023) * Ahmed Samy (26 January 2023 – ''present'')

References

External links

Independent websites

Smouha SC
at Egyptian Premier League {{Authority control Football clubs in Egypt Football clubs in Alexandria Multi-sport clubs in Egypt Association football clubs established in 1949 1949 establishments in Egypt Field hockey clubs in Egypt Egyptian Premier League clubs