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The Egypt league is the
Egyptian football` s top flight and is a professional league
of all the football clubs from Egypt. Zamalek (from Cairo),
Al-Ahly and El-Ismaily (from Ismailia) are the most popular
football clubs in Egypt.
Al-Mokawloon al-Arab, from Cairo,
Itihad from Alexandria and El-Masry from Port Said are other
strong and important sides.
The league has 16 teams and
is on the 28th place in the top of the world` s most
competitive leagues.
In present, the league is known as the Etisalat Egyptian Premier League as a result of the
sponsorship contract between the Egyptian FA and the Emirati
communications company.
The Egypt league of football allows
only 3 foreign players in any side.
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The channels that
broadcast the league` s matches are the following
ones: Egyptian Channel 3, Egyptian Channel 2, A-R-T
Sports (2, 4), Al-Hayat Channel, Nile Sport, Al-Riyadiyah
(Orbit), Dream 1, Dream Sport, Modern Sport and
Egyptian Satellite TV.
The Egypt premier league` s
power triangle is made from Zamalek, Ahly and
Ismaily, they being the season` s highlight matches.
The derbies between Al Ahly and Zamalek are in the
world` s top derbies.
This derby is called the ‘Cairo derby’, the
‘Egyptian Derby’ or the ‘Africa` s Derby’. This is a
game between the most successful football clubs in
Africa; the two clubs have 11 titles of Champions
League: 5 for Zamalek and 6 for Al Ahly.
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In the
Egyptian football another titans clash is
represented by rivalry between Cairo and Ismailia
since the clubs of Cairo, Zamalek and Ahly have
connections with Ismailia- from where the Ismaily
Sports club comes (Egypt` s third site with the most
decorations). The matches between Zamalek and
Ismaily are in general peaceful since the fans and
the boards of the two clubs have a good
relationship. The situation with Ismaily and Ahly is
not the same; it is not very clear why there are
conflicts between the Ahly`s fans and the Ismaily`s
fans.
It seems that the principal conflict dates from 1967 when
the Six Days War happened. The Ismailia` s people and the
ones that were living on the Suez Canal were forced by the
Israel`s troops to leave the homes. They went towards the
Egypt`s inside.
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The Al Ahly was asked to host the Ismaily SC
but the giants of Cairo said no. This fact brought to a bad
relation between the two parts and the subject is still a
sensitive one.
More, in 2004, during the
reconstruction period of Ahly, the club signed contracts
with some ex-star players from Ismaily such as: Emad Al
Nahhas, Islam Al Shater and Mohamed Barakat. The stadiums
where the Egypt league` s matches take places are: the
Ismailia Stadiums (for the Ismaily SC) and the Cairo
International Stadiums (for the two giants of Cairo: Zamalek
and Ahly). Alexandria has a new stadium called Bord El Arab
Stadium with a capacity of 80,000 sits where the
international competitions take place.
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