Egyptian Premier League

Its first match set the tone for everything that followed: Al Ahly beat Greek Alexandria 5–0. The competition pulled together earlier regional leagues into a single national championship, and it has run almost without interruption ever since, pausing only for war and, more recently, the upheaval that followed the 2011 revolution.

The 2025–26 season was contested by 21 clubs, a one-off after relegation from the previous campaign was cancelled; the league normally runs 18 to 20. Teams play a single round-robin over 20 matchdays, then the table splits into a Championship Round for the top seven and a Relegation Round for the rest. The Championship Round decides the title and the continental places, while the Relegation Round decides who drops to the Egyptian Second Division A.

The top two finishers qualify for the CAF Champions League and the third for the CAF Confederation Cup. Of the roughly 70 clubs that have competed since 1948, only Al Ahly and Zamalek have appeared in every single season.

Sources differ slightly on Al Ahly's exact tally: Wikipedia lists 45 titles while an Ahram Online factbox gives 44, a gap that may trace to a disputed early season. Either way the dominance is without parallel in African league football. Al Ahly won nine titles in a row from 1948, then seven straight twice over, in 1994 to 2000 and again in 2005 to 2011.

That domestic grip has its mirror on the continent. Al Ahly are widely cited as CAF's Club of the Century and have won the CAF Champions League ten times, more than any other club in Africa. Zamalek, their cross-city rival, were among the first Egyptian clubs to win a continental title and remain the only side with the history and support to rival Al Ahly season after season.

Behind the two giants sits Ismaily, the only other club to win the league more than once, with three titles. The last club from outside that big three to be crowned champions was Al Mokawloon Al Arab in 1982–83, a drought that now stretches past four decades.

El-Shazly's mark has stood for half a century. The appearance record belongs to Abdallah El Said, who has played 461 league matches across spells with Al Ahly and Zamalek. The first golden-boot winner for Al Ahly was El-Sayed El-Dhizui in the 1950s, and John Utaka became the first non-Arab top scorer in 2000.

The league's modern memory is shaped by two Al Ahly forwards in particular. Mahmoud El Khatib, known to fans as Bibo, scored 159 goals in 275 appearances across all competitions and later became the club's president. Mohamed Aboutreika, who managed 126 goals in 287 games, was the playmaker at the heart of Al Ahly's continental golden era. On the Zamalek side, Hassan Shehata scored more than a hundred goals before going on to coach Egypt to three straight Africa Cup of Nations titles.

The two clubs sit on opposite sides of the city's identity. Al Ahly, founded in 1907, grew out of the nationalist movement and built the larger trophy haul. Zamalek, founded in 1911, drew a following that came to define itself against that dominance. Between them they have provided the bulk of Egypt's champions and the spine of most national teams.

Their meetings are often moved to Cairo International Stadium for the capacity, and on derby days the city effectively stops. Foreign referees have at times been appointed because of the stakes, and the result can shape transfers, coaching jobs and the mood of the season. No title race in Egyptian football is read without one eye on what the other half of Cairo is doing.

Al Ahly's continental record is the strongest in Africa, and the club is frequently described as CAF's Club of the Century. Zamalek have also been crowned continental champions more than once, and Ismaily's 1969 title made them the first Egyptian club from outside Cairo to win the continent. This pedigree means the league's top finishers tend to go deep in the Champions League and the Confederation Cup.

That continental strength feeds back into the league's standing at home and its pull on players from across Africa, even as Saudi and European clubs compete hard for the same talent. For many fans the true measure of an Egyptian season is not only the league table but how far Al Ahly and Zamalek carry the country in Africa.

Pyramids FC are the newest force. Founded only in 2008 and backed by heavy investment, they have been a fixture in the top three since 2018 and finished as runners-up in 2025–26. Ismaily, from the canal city of Ismailia, won the CAF Champions League in 1969 and remain the strongest club outside the capital. Al Masry, based in Port Said, are tied to the darkest day in Egyptian football: the 2012 Port Said disaster, in which 74 people died and which led to a years-long ban on fans across the league.

Smaller champions dot the record book. Ghazl El Mahalla, the textile-town club, took their only title in 1972–73; Al Mokawloon Al Arab won in 1982–83; and Olympic Club and Tersana each lifted the trophy once in the league's early decades.

Zamalek closed the season on 56 points, two clear of Pyramids FC on 54 and three ahead of Al Ahly on 53, ending Al Ahly's back-to-back run. Pyramids finishing as runners-up, a club founded only in 2008, hints at a slow loosening of the old Cairo duopoly, though no club outside the big three has actually won the title since 1983.

Major Al Ahly and Zamalek fixtures, including the Cairo derby, are usually played at Cairo International Stadium, which holds about 75,000. The league is not included in the EA FC video game series, a common question among fans searching for it. International broadcast deals change from season to season, so check the EFA's official site for current listings.

Fan access itself has a fraught recent history. After the 2012 Port Said disaster, supporters were largely banned from stadiums for years, with full crowds returning only in 2018. Attendance policy has eased gradually since.