The 2019 Egyptian Super Cup (also known as the 2017–18 SAIB Egyptian Super Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 16th

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

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

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 ...

and

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 ...

. It was played at

Borg El Arab Stadium The Borg El Arab Stadium (), sometimes referred to as the Egyptian Army Stadium or El Geish Stadium - Alexandria (), is a stadium commissioned in 2005 in the Mediterranean Sea city of Amreya; 25 km west of Alexandria, Egypt. It is the sec ...

in Alexandria, Egypt, on 20 September 2019, contested by

Al Ahly Al-Ahly Sporting Club (), commonly known as Al-Ahly, is an Egyptian professional sports club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team which currently plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest ...

and

Zamalek Zamalek ( , ''al zamalek'') is a ''qism'' (ward) within the West District (''hayy gharb'') in the Western Area of Cairo, Egypt. It is an affluent district on a man-made island which is geologically a part of the west bank of the Nile River, wit ...

. Al Ahly defended the trophy they won in the previous edition and defeated Zamalek 3–2, winning their record-extending 11th trophy.

Background

In the

2017–18 Egyptian Premier League The 2017–18 Egyptian Premier League (also known as the Telecom Egypt Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 59th season of the Egyptian Premier League, the top Egyptian professional league for association football clubs, since its estab ...

, Al Ahly and

Ismaily Ismaily Sporting Club () is an Egyptian football club, established on 20 March 1921 as El Nahda Sporting Club () ( Egyptian pronunciation: Nady El Nahda), based in Ismaïlia, Egypt. The club is best known for its football team. Also it's consi ...

were the only two teams in the league's title race, with the latter finishing the first half of the season on top. However, after Frenchman coach Sébastien Desabre left Ismaily mid-season to join the Ugandan national team as their manager, the club started to fall apart and went from being on top with a difference of 4 points to finishing the league behind Al Ahly with 68 points; 20 points less than the champions. Al Ahly officially won their record-extending fortieth Egyptian Premier League title on 12 March 2018 with 6 games to spare. The team broke numerous league records over the course of the season, including most points with 88 points, most wins with 28 wins and most goals scored in a single season with 75 goals. Al Ahly's Moroccan forward

Walid Azaro Walid Azaro (; born 11 June 1995) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ajman and the Moroccan national team. After beginning his career in his home country, he joined Al Ahly in 2017 and finished as the Egyptian Pre ...

also finished the league as the top goalscorer with 18 goals. Zamalek won the

2017–18 Egypt Cup The 2017–18 Egypt Cup was the 86th edition of the oldest recognised football tournament in Africa. It was sponsored by Telecom Egypt, and known as the Telecom Egypt Cup for sponsorship purposes. 286 clubs were accepted into the tournament. It beg ...

after defeating

Smouha Smouha () is an upper-class district in the centre of Alexandria, Egypt. It is home to the Security Directorate of Alexandria and the Smouha Sporting Club, Smouha's central roundabout (Victor Emmanuel Square) connects between other areas in Alexa ...

5–4 on penalties in the

final 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 ...

after the match ended 1–1 at extra time, winning their 4th

title in the previous 5 editions of the competition. Both teams' way to the final was considered "too easy" by the media, especially for Zamalek who faced

2017–18 Egyptian Second Division The 2017–18 Egyptian Second Division was the 38th edition of the Egyptian Second Division, the top Egyptian semi-professional level for football clubs, since its establishment in 1977. The season began on 14 September 2017 and concluded on 19 Apr ...

sides El Minya and Haras El Hodoud in the round of 32 and round of 16 respectively. The

Egyptian Football Association The Egyptian Football Association () is the governing body of association football in Egypt. A member of FIFA since 1923 and a founding member of the CAF, the EFA has jurisdiction over the Egyptian football league system and is responsible for ...

were also heavily criticized for changes they made to the competition, mainly for the changes made to the draw where they made sure that the cup defending champions can only face the previous league winners in the final. During the 2017–18 season, both teams met each other in the league two times. Al Ahly won the first encounter 3–0 on 8 January 2018 at

Cairo International Stadium The Cairo International Stadium (), 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, who designed the Olympiastadion (Berli ...

thanks to goals from

Moamen Zakaria Moamen Zakaria Abbas Eldawy (; born 12 April 1988) is an Egyptian former professional footballer who plays as a winger. In 2020, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In May 2022, former international teammate Mo Salah invited Z ...

, Abdallah El Said and

. Zamalek won the second encounter 2-1 which was played on 26 April 2018 at the same stadium, with Kabongo Kasongo and Ayman Hefny scoring for Zamalek and Walid Soliman scoring the only goal for Al Ahly.

Match

Officials

On 19 September 2019, just one day before the match, the

announced German referee

Felix Brych Felix Brych (born 3 August 1975) is a German football referee. He referees for SV Am Hart München of the Bavarian Football Association. He is a former FIFA referee and was ranked as a UEFA elite category referee. Refereeing career Brych starte ...

as the referee for the match. Brych is ranked as a

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

elite category referee, and he is considered one of the best referees in Europe. His compatriots Mark Borsch and Kim Stefan Luppwere chosen as the assistant referees, while Egyptian referee Mohamed Hassan was chosen as the fourth official.

Details

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Egyptian Super Cup Egyptian Super Cup 2017–18 in Egyptian football Egyptian Super Cup 2018 Egyptian Super Cup 2018