The 2020 Egyptian Super Cup (also known as the 2018–19 SAIB Egyptian Super Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th

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

, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League ( ar, الدوري المصري الممتاز), also known as WE Egyptian Premier League (WE EPL) after the addition of title sponsor WE, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the top level of th ...

and

Egypt Cup The Egypt Cup (also known as Egyptian FA Cup, formerly King Farouk Cup) is the main knockout football cup competition in Egypt. List of finals The following table provides a summary of seasons: Notes: * The Winner and Runner-up of 1960–61 Eg ...

. It was played at

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium Al-Jazira Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium ( ar, ستاد محمد بن زايد) is a multi-purpose stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is currently used mostly for football and cricket matches and is the home ground of Al Jazira Club. It i ...

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

, United Arab Emirates, on 20 February 2020, contested by

Al Ahly AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

and

Zamalek Zamalek ( ar, الزمالك , ''al zamalek'') is an affluent district of western Cairo encompassing the northern portion of Gezira Island in the Nile River. The island is connected with the river banks through three bridges each on the east ...

. Zamalek defeated Al Ahly and won the match 4–3 on

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

after being tied 0–0, winning the Egyptian Super Cup title for the fourth time in their history.

Background

In the

2018–19 Egyptian Premier League The 2018–19 Egyptian Premier League, also known as The WE League for sponsorship purposes, was the 60th season of the Egyptian Premier League, the top Egyptian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1948. ...

, Al Ahly and Zamalek were joined by

Pyramids A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilate ...

in title race throughout the season. Pyramids managed to grab 10 points out of 12 possible from their matches against Al Ahly and Zamalek and were leading the table by Matchday 29. However, after winning only 1 match and drawing 4 in their last 5 matches of the season, Pyramids missed their chance to win the league and to qualify for 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 competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

as they finished the league in 3rd place. Al Ahly eventually won the league for the 41st time in their history with 1 game to spare following their 3–1 win against Al Mokawloon Al Arab. Zamalek won the 2018–19 Egypt Cup after defeating

3–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, winning the title for the 27th time in their history. Identical to the previous editions of the competition, the

Egyptian Football Association The Egyptian Football Association ( ar, الاتحاد المصري لكرة القدم) is the governing body of football in Egypt. A member of FIFA since 1923 and a founding member of CAF, the EFA has jurisdiction for the Egyptian football lea ...

were heavily criticized for the draw procedure where the cup defending champions and the league winners were placed in different paths to make sure that they could face each other only in the final. During the 2018–19 season, both teams met each other in the league two times and once in the

. The first encounter was played on 30 March 2019 at

Borg El Arab Stadium The Borg El Arab Stadium ( ar, ستاد برج العرب), sometimes referred to as the Egyptian Army Stadium or El Geish Stadium - Alexandria ( ar, ستاد الجيش ببرج العرب), is a stadium commissioned in 2005 in the Mediterranea ...

and ended goalless. Al Ahly won the second encounter 1–0 which was played on 28 July 2019 at the same stadium thanks to

Ali Maâloul Ali Maâloul ( ar, عَلِيّ مَعْلُول; born 1 January 1990) is a Tunisian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Al Ahly and the Tunisia national team. Club career Maâloul started his career with hometown club CS Sfax ...

's second-half strike. The third encounter was the previous season's super cup, which was played on 20 September 2019 and also at Borg El Arab Stadium. Al Ahly won the match 3–2 with two goals from Junior Ajayi and one from

Hussein El Shahat Hussein Ali Elshahat Ali Hassan ( arz, حسين علي الشحات علي حسن, born 21 June 1992) is an Egyptian footballer who plays for Al Ahly as a winger, he can also play as an attacking midfielder. Club career Elshahat played for Mi ...

, while Mahmoud Alaa scored a brace of

for Zamalek.

Venue

The match was played at

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. The stadium has an estimated capacity of 37,500 and is the home venue of

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al O ...

side Al Jazira. It was one of the eight venues that hosted the

2019 AFC Asian Cup The 2019 AFC Asian Cup was the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in the United Arab Emirates from 5 January to 1 ...

in the country, including one of the semi-final matches. The stadium also hosted the 2016–17 Egyptian Super Cup between both teams on 10 February 2017, which was won by Zamalek 3–1 on

after the game originally ended goalless.

Pre-game

Al Ahly's main winger

Ramadan Sobhi Ramadan Sobhi Ramadan Ahmed ( ar, رمضان صبحي رمضان أحمد; born 23 January 1997) is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Pyramids FC and the Egypt national team. Sobhi began his career with the leading ...

was not included in the traveling squad to the United Arab Emirates after suffering from a

hamstring injury Straining of the hamstring, also known as a pulled hamstring, is defined as an excessive stretch or tear of muscle fibers and related tissues. Hamstring injuries are common in athletes participating in many sports. Track and field athletes are ...

during training in late December 2019. Other notable excluded players were Hamdy Fathy, who is on the recovery stage from a torn ACL injury, and striker

Marwan Mohsen Marwan Mohsen Fahmy Tharwat Gameldin Mahmoud Fahmy ( ar, مروان محسن فهمي ثروت جمال الدين محمود فهمي; born 26 February 1989) is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a striker for the Egypt national ...

. Zamalek lost Mohamed Abdel Ghani's services for the match as he suffered from

pubalgia Athletic pubalgia, also called sports hernia, core injury, hockey hernia, hockey groin, Gilmore's groin, or groin disruption is a medical condition of the pubic joint affecting athletes. It is a syndrome characterized by chronic groin pain in a ...

during training just four days after facing

Espérance de Tunis :''See also Esperance (disambiguation)'' Espérance is one of the two French words that can be translated into "hope", the other being "espoir". Whereas the latter is closer to the idea of "dream" or "fantasy" and corresponds to most of the commo ...

in the 2018–19 CAF Super Cup, which was won 3–1 by his side.

Match

Officials

On 16 February 2020, the

named Norwegian referee

Svein Oddvar Moen Svein Oddvar Moen (born 22 January 1979) is a Norwegian football referee. He took up refereeing in 1995, and made his debut in the Eliteserien in 2003. He represents SK Haugar. Career He was selected to officiate the final of the 2011 FIFA U-1 ...

as the referee for the match. Moen is familiar with Egyptian football, as he officiated the Cairo derby between the two teams during the

2015–16 Egyptian Premier League The 2015–16 Egyptian Premier League was the 57th season of the Egyptian Premier League, the top Egyptian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1948. The fixtures were announced on 20 September 2015. The s ...

in addition to the 2017 Egypt Cup Final between Al Ahly and Al Masry. His compatriots Magnus Lundberg and Kim Tomas Haglund were chosen as the assistant referees, while Tore Hansen was chosen as the fourth official. Croatian referee Goran Gabrilo was named the

video assistant referee The video assistant referee (VAR) is a match official in association football who reviews decisions made by the referee. The assistant video assistant referee (AVAR) is a current or former referee appointed to assist the VAR in the video ope ...

, and fellow Croatian Miro Grgić appointed as the assistant video assistant referee.

Details

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Egyptian Super Cup, 2019-20

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2018–19 in Egyptian football Al Ahly SC matches Zamalek SC matches February 2020 sports events in Egypt