Zamalek Basketball Club (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: نادي الزمالك لكرة السلة) also known as Zamalek B.C. or simply as Zamalek SC, is a men's professional

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 ...

club that is based in Giza,

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. The basketball team is a part of the

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 ...

multi-sports club. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the

Egyptian Basketball Federation The Egyptian Basketball Federation is the governing body of the sport of basketball in Egypt. It joined International Basketball Federation FIBA in 1934. History It was founded in 1934, and was a member of FIBA Europe, as the FIBA Africa zone w ...

, and competes in the Egyptian Basketball Super League (ESL). Zamalek is regarded as one of the most successful clubs in Egypt history; their squads have won 18 National League championships, including 5-in-a-row. They have played in three different National Leagues since 1937, including the Egyptian Kingdom Basketball League (1937–1952), Egyptian Republic Basketball League (1952–1972), Egyptian Basketball Super League (1972 onwards). They have also won 13 National Cup titles, 3 Egyptian Super Cup, 23 Cairo Basketball League, And 1

Basketball Africa League The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is the premier men's basketball league in Africa. Founded in 2019, the league was established and is co-organized by NBA Africa and the FIBA, International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Each season typically r ...

, 1 FIBA Africa League. The club plays domestic home matches in the Abdulrahman Fawzi Hall, Zamalek's supporters are known as White Knights. Zamalek is the 1st Egyptian team to participate in the

, the

FIBA Intercontinental Cup The FIBA Intercontinental Cup, previously known to as the FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs and the FIBA Club World Cup, is an annual international men's basketball competition organised by FIBA, the sport's global governing body. The competit ...

and the FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup. They have participated in every season of the Egyptian Basketball Super League without interruption since the inception of the league in 1972. They are the most successful Egyptian team in

FIBA Africa FIBA Africa is a zone within the FIBA basketball association which contains all 54 national African FIBA federations. It was founded in 1961. FIBA Africa maintains offices in Cairo and in Abidjan. Zones The 54 federations of FIBA Africa are g ...

competitions, being the first ever winner of the

2021 BAL season The 2021 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 1, was the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Established as a joint effort between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and FIBA, the BAL is the highest tier continental leag ...

. They have won the

Egyptian 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 ...

, and Egyptian Super Cup the most times as well, and won the ''Domestic Double'' 7 Times. They are the only Egyptian team to win the ''Domestic Triple'' three times. Zamalek have also been 3 times FABL runners-up, played a total of 5 finals, and have also participated 7 times in the ''Final Four''. The first major achievement of Zamalek in African competitions was their presence in the 1971–72 FIBA African Champions Cup semi-finals, but it was in the 1970s that Zamalek made their biggest mark. They became the First Ever Egyptian club that reached the Final, being runners-up in two consecutive seasons (1975 and 1976), winning their first Afro League title in 1992, (11-11-1992) After convincing and winning all matches in the group stage A round-robin tournament in Abdulrahman Fawzi Hall. After Final 1998, Zamalek become the most Egyptian team reached a Final Four in FABL in 6 Times. Most African Team win a Game in Euro League with 3 Game, 1st Game in (9-11-1978) 1978–79 Against

Klosterneuburg Klosterneuburg () is a town in the Tulln District of the Austrian state of Lower Austria. Frequently abbreviated to Kloburg by locals, it has a population of about 27,500. The Stift Klosterneuburg ( Klosterneuburg Monastery), which was establish ...

, 2nd Game in (16-10-1980) 1980–81 Vs

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

, 3rd Game in (20-11-1980) 1980–81 Vs

Viganello Viganello is a Quarter (country subdivision), quarter of the city of Lugano, Switzerland. Viganello was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Lugano in 2004. It was first recorded in 1300 as ''de Viganello''. The munici ...

. As parent athletic club was founded in 1911, has kept the team name changing frequently. From 1937 until 1941, it was called Faiez International Sports Club (C.I.S.C.), a.k.a. El Mokhtalat Club (Mixed Courts). From 1941 to 1952, Farouk I, King of Egypt and Sudan, bestowed the royal sponsorship on the club, and the club name was renamed to Nady Farouk El Awal (Farouk I Club). Ismail Bak Shirin of Mohammed Ali's family took the post of vice president. From 1952 until present the renamed to Zamalek SC. After the army coup in 1952, the club was renamed Zamalek after the area where the club was situated. The club later moved for the last time to 26 July Street, and occupied an area of 35 acres (140,000 m²) and hosted 24 different sports.

History

1937 – 1950s

1960 – 1970s

1980s – 1990s

Zamalek in Europe

Zamalek was previously invited to participate in the

FIBA European Champions Cup The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

(now known as the EuroLeague) seven times. The first participation was in the 1970–71 season, during which the club faced

Real Madrid Baloncesto Real Madrid Baloncesto (English: Royal Madrid Basketball) is a Spanish professional basketball club that was founded in 1931, as a division of Real Madrid CF. They play domestically in the Liga ACB, and internationally in the EuroLeague. They a ...

in the second round of the tournament. The second participation was in the 1974–75 season, during which the club faced Slavia VŠ Praha in the second round of the tournament. The third participation was in the 1975–76 season, during which the club faced

PBC Academic BC Academic Metropol Region () is a reestablished Bulgarian professional basketball club based in the capital Sofia. In April 2022, Academic has been reborn and rebranded by the new owners, the German-Bulgarian ex-professional basketball players ...

in the first round of the tournament. The fourth participation was in the 1978–79 season, with Zamalek in group A, alongside

, Budapesti Honvéd SE and Klosterneuburg Dukes, the club came in fourth place in its group after winning one match. The fifth participation was in the 1979–80 season, with Zamalek in group A, alongside KK Bosna Royal and

BC Levski Sofia Basketball Club Levski Sofia (), simply known as Levski (), is a Bulgarian professional basketball club based in the capital Sofia. It is the basketball section of Levski Sofia sports club. History Founded in 1923, Levski has won a record 62 hono ...

. The sixth participation was in the 1980–81 season, with Zamalek in group A, alongside

AS Viganello Basket AS Viganello, also known as Viganello Basket was a Swiss men's and women's professional basketball club based in the city of Viganello. The club was played for several years in the National League A and won the Swiss men's championship in 1980 and ...

and

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

, the club came in third place in its group after winning two matches. The seventh and to date last participation was in the 1981–82 season, with Zamalek in group C, alongside

KK Partizan Košarkaški klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Партизан, lit=Basketball Club Partizan), commonly known as Partizan Belgrade, or as Partizan Mozzart Bet for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball Sports cl ...

, Slavia VŠ Praha and Eczacıbaşı SK, but Zamalek withdrew from the tournament before playing any match, and here ended Zamalek's journey in Europe.

2000 – 2004

2005 – 2014: Crisis

2015 – 2021

Basketball Africa League (BAL) Champions

Zamalek won the Egyptian Super League in 2019, its first title in 11 years, to qualify for the inaugural season of the

(BAL), and be the first Egyptian team to participate in Basketball Africa League. In November 2020, Zamalek signed Spanish coach Augustí Julbe as their new head coach. In the

, Zamalek won its second international title (after the 1992 FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup) and the first-ever BAL championship after defeating US Monastir in the

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Point guard

Walter Hodge Walter Wallace Hodge Muñoz (born September 21, 1986) is a Puerto Rican- U.S. Virgin Islander professional basketball player for the Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). Internationally, Hodge plays with the senio ...

was named the first-ever

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

while Anas Mahmoud was awarded the Defensive Player of the Year. Another notable team member was 18 year old Mohab Yasser, who started all games. After winning the league title in the 2020–21 season, defeating Al Ittihad in the finals, Zamalek stood alone as the most successful basketball club in the Egyptian Basketball Super League with a record 15 titles. Zamalek participated in the 2022 FIBA Intercontinental Cup becoming the first Egyptian team to participate in this competition.

Honours

Domestic Competitions

National Championships – (18; Record) * Egyptian Super League : Winners (15; Record): 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–1978, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2006–07, 2018–19, 2020–21 * Egyptian Kingdom Championship ''(Defunct)'' *: Winners (2): 1948–49, 1949–50 * Egyptian Republic Championship ''(Defunct)'' : Winners (1): 1969–70 *

: Winners (13; Record): 1974–75, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2005–06

African Competitions

: Winners (1):

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

: ''Third place'' (1):

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

* FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup ''(Defunct)'' : Winners (1): 1992 : ''Runners-up'' (3): 1975, 1976,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

: ''Third place'' (2): 1972, 1983

Worldwide Competitions

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

: ''Quarter-finals'' :

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 ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

: ''Fourth place'' (1):

Regional Competitions

* Cairo League Championship : Winners (23): 1947, 1952, 1959, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1992–93, 1996–97, 2006–07

Season by season

Top performances in European & African and worldwide competitions

Individual awards

* BAL Best Record **6–0 (

) **7–1 (

) * All BAL First Team ** Anas Mahmoud (

) **

(

) ** Édgar Sosa (

) * BAL MVP **

(

) * BAL Best Defender ** Anas Mahmoud (

) * BAL Sportsmanship Award ** Anas Mahmoud (

) * Egyptian Super League MVP ** Terrell Stoglin ( 2018–19) ** Anas Mahmoud ( 2020–21) * Egyptian Super League Best Younger Player ** Mohab Yasser ( 2020–21)

Players

2022 roster

The following is the Zamalek 13-man roster for the

2022 BAL season The 2022 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 2, was the second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season began on 2 March 2022 and ended with the Finals on 28 May 2022. The group phase was played in the Dakar Arena in Dakar and ...

Depth chart

Notable players

Current players * Mostafa Kejo (2012–2022) * Omar Hesham (2013–present) * Anas Osama Mahmoud (2018–2022) * Ahmed Hatem (2018–present) * Eslam Salem (2019–present) * Ike Diogu (2022) * D. J. Strawberry (2022) * O. J. Mayo (2022–present) Former players * Haytham Elsaharty (2008–2021) * Terrell Stoglin (2018–2019) * Mohab Yasser (2020–2021) * Mouloukou Diabate (2021) *

(2021) * Édgar Sosa (2021–2022)

List of head coaches

The following coaches have held the position of head coach of Zamalek SC basketball team (incomplete): * Miodrag Perišić: (2009–2011) * Essam Abdel Hamid: (2018–2020) * Tariq Selim: (2020) * Augustí Julbe: (2020–2021) * Vangelis Angelou: (2021–2022) * Will Voigt: (2022) * Ahmed Marei: (2022–2023) * Wael Badr: (2023–present)

Logo and colors

File:Coat of arms of Egypt (1922–1953).svg, 1937–1952 File:Zamalek SC logo.svg, 1952–present File:Zamalek SC icon.png, Zamalek team colors In 1941, the royal emblem of the Kingdom of Egypt and Sudan was the official emblem of the club at the time; when the club's name changed from "El Mokhtalat Club" to "Farouk Club" by royal order from Farouk I. After the revolution of July 23, 1952 on the royal rule in Egypt, the club's name and logo changed; the logo is a mixture of the sporting model and the ancient Egyptian civilization. The logo's main colors express peace and struggle and have not changed since its establishment. The home jersey uses the original Zamalek colours. In the upper half of the logo, the archer that points towards the target appears in a pharaonic uniform as an indication of the common goal between the arrow and Zamalek. Zamalek is famous for the stability of its basic colors, which have not changed throughout the club's history, which extends since 1911, as it is distinguished by the white kits with two parallel red lines in the middle.

Home Arena

{, class="wikitable" , - ! Location ! Arena's name ! Period , - ,

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah, Gizeh, Geeza, Jiza''; , , ' ) is the third-largest city in Egypt by area after Cairo and Alexandria; and fourth-largest city in Africa by population after Kinshasa, Lagos, and Cairo. It is the capital of ...

, Abdulrahman Fawzi Hall , 1986–''present'' When Zamalek SC began to create the teams of handball, basketball and, volleyball, they saw the importance to build an arena to host the home matches of these teams. They first began to make the designs in 1970s, later they began working to build the covered hall, which was established in 1986, which they named Abdulrahman Fawzi Hall, in the honor of one of the legend of

, he was the first ever Arab and African footballer to score at the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

, when he scored twice for Egypt in their 4–2 loss against Hungary in

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

, he is also Egypt's top goalscorer at the FIFA World Cup. The opening ceremony of Abdulrahman Fawzi Hall was held with the opening ceremony of the 5th Arab Volleyball Clubs Championship in 1986, which was won by Zamalek volleyball team for the first time in the club's history, defeating

MC Alger Mouloudia Club d'Alger (), referred to as MC Alger or MCA for short, is an Algerian football club based in Algiers. The club was founded in 1921 and its colours are red, green and white. Their home stadium, Ali La Pointe Stadium, has a capacit ...

in the final which was held in Abdulrahman Fawzi Hall.

Supporters

Zamalek has an

Ultras Ultras are a type of association football fans who are known for their fanatical support. The term originated in Italy, but is used worldwide to describe predominantly organised fans of association football teams. The behavioural tendency ...

group named the Ultras White Knights that was founded on 17 March 2007 and is known for its pyrotechnic displays. Their motto is "Brotherhood in blood and fans of the free public club". The Zamalek fans have always been supportive of all sports teams of the Zamalek Sporting Club, and the fans of Zamalek were the first to launch the term "Kings of The Halls" in Africa and the Arab world, as the sports teams of Zamalek Sporting Club achieved domestic and international achievements. The fans of Zamalek have always been associated with the sports halls from the 90s until now.

References

External links

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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 ...

Basketball teams established in 1937 Basketball teams in Egypt Sport in Giza 1937 establishments in Egypt Basketball Africa League teams