Zamalek Basketball Club (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: 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 (appr ...

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

. based in Giza,

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 ...

. and the major part of the

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 ...

. 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 wa ...

, and competes in the

Egyptian Basketball Super League The Egyptian Basketball Super League, also known as the Egyptian Basketball Premier League A, is the top professional basketball division of the Egyptian basketball league system. Administrated by the Egyptian Basketball Federation (EBBFED), it is ...

(ESL), and the top-tier Africa-wide Africa League. 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),

(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 Africa's premier men's basketball league. The league consists of twelve teams, each qualified through their domestic competition, similar to the format of the UEFA Champions League. The league is a joint eff ...

, 1 FIBA Africa League. The club plays domestic home matches in the

Abdulrahman Fawzi Hall Abdulrahman Fawzi Hall is a covered sports arena in Cairo, Egypt. The arena opened in 1986. The arena is the home venue of the Zamalek SC Handball, Zamalek SC Handball team of the Egyptian Handball League, the Zamalek SC Basketball, Zamalek SC Ba ...

, 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, also commonly referred to as the FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs, or the FIBA Club World Cup, is a professional basketball clubs competition that is endorsed by FIBA and the NBA. Historically, its purpose has be ...

and the

FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup The FIBA Africa Basketball League (formerly named the FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup) was the highest caliber men's professional basketball competition for clubs until 2020, organized by the FIBA Africa and played by the champions of the league ...

. They have participated in every season of the

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. Members FIBA World Rankings Overview ...

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 habe won the

Egyptian 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 ...

, 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

. 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 (; frequently abbreviated as Kloburg by locals) is a town in Tulln District in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It has a population of about 27,500. The Klosterneuburg Monastery, which was established in 1114 and soon after give ...

, 2nd Game in (16-10-1980) 1980–81 Vs

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, 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 football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

, 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 Farouk I (; ar, فاروق الأول ''Fārūq al-Awwal''; 11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965) was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 193 ...

, 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 (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: Real Madrid Basketball) is a Spanish professional basketball team that was founded in 1931, as a division of the Real Madrid CF multi sports club. They play domestically in the Liga ACB, and internationally i ...

in the second round of the tournament. The second participation was in the 1974–75 season, during which the club faced

Slavia VŠ Praha USK Praha, ( cs, Univerzitní Sportovní Klub Praha, University Sports Club Prague), formerly known as Slavia VŠ Praha ( cs, Slavia Vysoké Školy Praha), is a Czech professional basketball club that was founded in 1953 in the city of Prague. ...

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 ( bg, БК "Академик" Метропол-Рийджън) is a reestablished Bulgarian professional basketball club based in the capital Sofia. In April 2022, Academic has been reborn and rebranded by the new ow ...

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 Klosterneuburg Dukes is an Austrian professional basketball club based in Klosterneuburg. With a total of 10 national titles, Klosterneuburg is one of the most successful teams in Austria. History In 1952, the team was founded as a part of the as ...

, 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 KK Bosna Meridianbet ( bs, Košarkaški klub Bosna Meridianbet) is a professional basketball team based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the most successful Bosnian club of all time, having been the EuroLeague champion by winning the ...

and

BC Levski Sofia Basketball Club Levski Sofia ( bg, Баскетболен клуб Левски София), simply known as Levski ( bg, Левски), is a Bulgarian professional basketball club based in the capital Sofia. It is the basketball section of Levski ...

. 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 Switzerland, Swiss men's and women's professional basketball club based in the city of Viganello. The club was played for several years in the Swiss Basketball League, National League A and won the ...

and

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, 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, English: Partizan Basketball Club), commonly referred to as KK Partizan or simply Partizan, is a professional basketball team based in Belgrade, Serbia. It is ...

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 (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 ...

. Point guard

Walter Hodge Walter Wallace Hodge Muñoz (born September 21, 1986) is a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican-U.S. Virgin Islander professional basketball player who plays for Al Ahly (basketball), Al Ahly of the Egyptian Basketball Super League. Internationally, Hodge ...

was named the first-ever

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

while

Anas Mahmoud Anas Osama Mahmoud ( ar, أنس أسامة محمود; born May 9, 1995) is an Egyptian professional basketball player who plays for Al Ittihad Alexandria of the Egyptian Basketball Super League. He played college basketball at the University of ...

was awarded the Defensive Player of the Year. Another notable team member was 18 year old

Mohab Yasser Mohab Yasser Abdalatif ( ar, مهاب ياسر; born 7 June 2002) is an Egyptian basketball player for Zamalek of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), as well as for the Egypt national basketball team. Standing at , he plays as shooting guard or ...

, 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 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

* Egyptian Kingdom Basketball 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, 1999–20, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2005–06 * Egyptian Super Cup **Winners (3; Record): 1997, 1998, 2003 * 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

African Competitions

**Winners (1):

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

**''Third place'' (1):

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

''(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 frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

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

Worldwide Competitions

**''Fourth place'' (1):

Records

The times Zamalek have won more than one major trophy in one season.

Season by season

Top performances in European & African and worldwide competitions

The road to the African Cup victories

1992 FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup

2021 Basketball Africa League

Individual awards

* BAL Best Record **6–0 (

) **7–1 (

) * All BAL First Team **

(

) **

(

) ** Édgar Sosa (

) * BAL MVP **

(

) * BAL Best Defender **

(

) * BAL Sportsmanship Award **

(

) * Egyptian Super League MVP **

Terrell Stoglin Terrell DeVon Stoglin (born November 10, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for AS Douanes of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). He served as the starting shooting guard for the University of Maryland, where he played college ...

( 2018–19) **

(

) * Egyptian Super League Best Younger Player **

(

)

Players

Current 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 Moustafa Kejo Elmekawi ( ar, مصطفى كيجو المكاوي; born 22 October 1994) is an Egyptian basketball player who plays for Zamalek and the Egyptian national team. He plays as a power forward or center. Professional career Since 2012, ...

(2012–present) *

Omar Hesham Omar Hesham Hussein ( ar, عمر هشام; born 29 March 1995) is an Egyptian basketball player for Zamalek. Standing at , he plays as a shooting guard. He is also a member of the Egypt national basketball team. Professional career He has been ...

(2013–present) *

Anas Osama Mahmoud Anas Osama Mahmoud ( ar, أنس أسامة محمود; born May 9, 1995) is an Egyptian professional basketball player who plays for Al Ittihad Alexandria of the Egyptian Basketball Super League. He played college basketball at the University of ...

(2018–present) *

Ahmed Hatem Ahmed Hatem Abdellatef (born 2 September 1995) is an Egyptian basketball player for Zamalek and . Standing at , he plays as point guard. Professional career Hatem was on the Zamalek roster for the 2021 BAL season, where he went on to win the fir ...

(2018–present) *

Eslam Salem Eslam Salem Ali Mohamed ( ar, إسلام سالم; born 20 March 1989) is an Egyptian basketball player for Zamalek SC (basketball), Zamalek. Standing at , he plays as shooting guard. Professional career Salem was on the Zamalek SC (basketball), ...

(2019–present) *

Ike Diogu Ikechukwu Somtochukwu Diogu (born September 11, 1983) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for Piratas de La Guaira of the Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto in Venezuela. Family and early life Diogu's parents, natives of Nige ...

(2022–present) *

D. J. Strawberry Darryl Eugene "D. J." Strawberry Jr. (born June 15, 1985) is an American-born naturalized Cameroonian professional basketball player for Zamalek SC of the Egyptian Basketball Super League. He is the son of former Major League Baseball player Darryl ...

(2022–present) Former players * Haytham Elsaharty (2008–2021) *

(2018–2019) *

(2020–2021) *

Mouloukou Diabate Mouloukou Souleyman Diabate (born 21 July 1987), commonly known as Solo Diabate, is an Ivorian basketball player who plays for Petro de Luanda of the Angolan Basketball League and the Basketball Africa League (BAL). He also represents the Ivor ...

(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 Evangelos "Vangelis" Angelou (alternate spelling: Vaggelis Aggelou) ( el, Ευάγγελος "Βαγγέλης" Αγγέλου; born November 11, 1962, in Chalkida, Greece), is a Greek retired professional basketball player and current professiona ...

: (2021–2022) *

Will Voigt William Voigt (born August 18, 1976) is an American basketball coach who last served as head coach of Zamalek of the Egyptian Basketball Super League. As the head coach, he led the Nigerian team to its first ever AfroBasket title in 2015, wher ...

: (2022–present)

Logo and colors

File:Coat of arms of Egypt (1922–1953).svg, 1937–1952 File:ZamalekSC.png, 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

. 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'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...

, 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

, 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 simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, 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 ( ar, نادي مولودية الجزائر), 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 sta ...

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 renowned for their fanatical support. The term originated in Italy, but is used worldwide to describe predominantly organised fans of association football teams. The behavioural tende ...

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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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zamalek (basketball club)

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 (appr ...

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