Abdel-Latif Abu-Rajelha Stadium, formerly known as Zamalek Stadium then Mohammed Hassan Helmy "Zamora" Stadium, is a multi-use

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. The stadium was initially named in honor of

Mohammed Hassan Helmy Mohammed Hassan Helmy ( ar, محمد حسن حلمي; 13 February 1912 – 5 November 1986) commonly known as Helmy Zamora, was an Egyptian footballer who played for Zamalek and Egypt as a left winger. He was the club's President for 3 periods, ...

, the former player and president of Zamalek. It was then renamed in 2014 to Abdel-Latif Abu-Rajelha Stadium after the former president of Zamalek Abdel-Latif Abu-Rajelha. It is currently used mostly for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

matches and was the home of

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 an ...

before they moved to

Cairo International Stadium The Cairo International Stadium ( ar, ستاد القاهرة الدولي), formerly known as Nasser Stadium, is an Olympic-standard, multi-use stadium with an all-seated capacity of 75,000. The architect of the stadium is the German Werner March ...

because of the small capacity. The stadium held as high as 40,000 spectators before the capacity was reduced to 20,000 as controls were put in place.

Stadium Inauguration

The stadium was officially opened in 1959, hosting a soccer match between

Zamalek SC Zamalek Sporting Club ( ar, نادي الزمالك للألعاب الرياضية), commonly referred to as Zamalek, is an Egyptian sports club based in Giza. It is one of the most successful football clubs in Africa and the Middle East, an ...

and

Dukla Prague Dukla Prague ( cz, Dukla Praha) was a Czech football club from the city of Prague. Established in 1948 as ATK Praha, the club won a total of 11 Czechoslovak league titles and eight Czechoslovak Cups, and in the 1966–67 season, reached the semi ...

. Before the match kick-off, an aircraft dropped the ball into the field. The aircraft flew at a low altitude, which made some players lie flat. The inauguration match ended by

defeating

by a score of two goals to nil, scored by

Abdou Noshi Abdou Noshi (1 September 1939 – 6 March 1992) was an Egyptian footballer. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of ...

and

Essam Baheeg Essam Baheeg ( ar, عصام بهيج; 26 February 1931 – 4 December 2008) was an Egyptian footballer who played as a winger for Zamalek. He also played for the Egyptian national team, and represented his country and was part of the team that wo ...

Stadium Accident

In 1974 the stadium saw a deadly stampede at a friendly match between

and

, as at least 48 people were killed when the front fence of a stand was knocked down. The friendly match was subsequently cancelled.

References

External links

ملعبا الأهلي والزمالك.. ماذا تعرف عن التتش وأبو رجيلة
- ''Dot Masr'' Defunct football venues in Egypt {{Egypt-sports-venue-stub