Al-Hilal (Omdurman)

Football club infobox
clubname = Al-Hilal Football Club
fullname = Al-Hilal Physical Education Club
نادي الهلال للتربية


motto = Allah - Alwatan - Al-Hilal
"God - The Nation - Al-Hilal"
الله - الوطن - الهلال
fullname = Al-Hilal Al-Sudany Club for Physical Education
nickname = "Hilal Al-Malayeen(Hilal of the Milions)"
"AlMowj Alazraq(Blue Wave)"
"Al-Zaeem (The Leader)"
founded = February 13, 1930
ground = AlHilal Stadium,
Omdurman, Sudan
capacity = 40,000
chairman =
mgrtitle = Head Coach
manager =
league = Sudan Premier League
season = 2006/2007
position = Sudan Premier League, 1st
pattern_la1=_whiteshoulders|pattern_b1=_whiteshoulders|pattern_ra1=_whiteshoulders
leftarm1=0000FF|body1=0000FF|rightarm1=0000FF|shorts1=0000FF|socks1=0000FF
pattern_la2=_blueshoulders|pattern_b2=_whiteshoulders|pattern_ra2=_blueshoulders
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=0000FF|socks2=FFFFFF

El Hilal Om Dourman ( _ar. نادي الهلال السوداني) is a Sudanese football club founded on February 13, 1930 in the city of Omdurman. It has been crowned champion of the Sudan Premier League in each of the past five seasons, and throughout its history has won the championship 25 times during that League's 43 seasons - thus making it Sudan's most successful football team.

Name and history

The name "Hilal" is the Arabic word for crescent - a name chosen on a night when the crescent of the moon was visible in Omdurman.

Idea

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, on the heels of a failed uprising by pro Egyptian elements antagonistic to the Anglo part of the then Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the British colonial authorities banned many activities and organizations that could potentially disrupt their hold on the region. The only organized activities permitted were sports clubs and Scouting.

In 1930, four graduates from Gordon Memorial College (now the University of Khartoum) - Hamadnallah Ahmed, Yussuf Mustafa Al-Tini, Yusuf Al-Mamoon, and Babikir Mukhtar - decided to establish a sports club as an outlet for their and others' youthful energies. On March 4th of 1930, a dozen of yet-to-be the founding fathers of Al-Hilal, mostly graduates from Khartoum Memorial College, met in the house of Hamadnallah Ahmed in Al-shohada Omdurman, to discuss the details of the new sports club.

At that time, sports clubs were named after neighbourhoods, cities and famous figures. Examples included Team Bori (after a Khartoum neighbourhood), Team Abbas (after a famous person) and Hay Alisbtaliya (after an Omdurmanian neighbourhood). The meeting concluded that the new club should have an inclusive name, and not be named after a specific neighbourhood or person.

The story goes that the club founders had been unable to agree upon a name for the proposed club when the meeting was temporarily adjourned at dusk for evening prayers at a nearby mosque. After prayers and en route back to the meeting house, one of the founders, Adam Rajab, is said to have looked up at the night sky, saw a crescent ("Hilal" in Arabic), and remarking that it was the crescent of the Muslim lunar month of Rajab, asked the others "why not we name it Al-Hilal?". Everyone welcomed the idea, and on February 13 1930 Al-Hilal became the official name of the club and the first to hold this name in Sudan and the Middle East.

The uniform chosen was dark blue and white - after the white crescent against the dark blue night skies. In light of the aforementioned pro-Egyptian uprising, however, the British colonial authorities initially refused to permit formation of a team whose slogan, a crescent, was reminiscent of the crescent prominently featured on the Egyptian flag of that time. Only after repeated reassurances that the team was simply an athletic outlet for apolitical college students, and that its slogan had no political overtones, did the British authorities relent and allow the team to form.

1930 Squad and Officers

The first squad included many of the founders that were present at the establishing meeting. The following list includes the founding fathers of Al-Hilal and their roles.

(F) = denotes Founder

Achievements

*Sudan Premier League: 24:: 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1974, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 , 2007

*Sudan Cup: 4:: 1977, 1993, 2000, 2004

*"'African champion clubs: 0runners 1987,1992

*"'Arabic champion clubs: 0runners 2003, semifinalist 1990, 2005

Performance in CAF competitions

*CAF Champions League: 8 appearances::1997 - Second Round::1999 - Second Round::2000 - First Round::2004 - Third Round::2005 - First Round::2006 - Second Round::2007 - Semi-Final::2008 - "in progress"

* African Cup of Champions Clubs: 14 appearances::1966: Semi-Final::1967: First Round::1970: Second Round::1974: Second Round::1982: Second Round::1984: First Round::1985: Second Round::1987: "Finalist"::1988: Quarter-Final::1990: Quarter-Final::1992: "Finalist"::1993: First Round::1995: First Round::1996: First Round

*CAF Confederation Cup: 2 appearances::2004 - Group Stage::2006 - Intermediate Round

*CAF Cup: 2 appearances::1998 - Quarter-Final::2002 - First Round

*CAF Cup Winners' Cup: 3 appearances::1994 - First Round::2001 - First Round::2003 - Second Round

Motto

The motto for Al-Hilal is "Allah - AlWatan - Al-Hilal". It is translated to English as "God - The Nation - Al-Hilal", which establishes a priority love list for Al-Hilal fans.

Rivalry with Al-Merrikh

There is a fierce historical rivalry between the two strongest clubs in Sudan, Al-Hilal and Al-Merrikh. With both clubs based in Omdurman, clubs matches are very intensified and often require high security precautions. In recent years, this rivalry extended to include the press labeling certain sports newspapers and columnists as Al-Hilal Writers vs. Al-Merrikh Writers.Players exchanges period is occasionally very competitive and fierce. Prospective players are sometimes hidden and placed in undisclosed locations to ensure that the other club would not extend a higher offer and sign the player.Although Al-Mourada is considered as the third club that complete the Sudan football triplet, it has struggled financially and administratively to continue that legacy. It was considered another local rival to Al-Hilal, however this has not been the case for the past 5 years.

Other Sports

Current squad (2008/09)

elected former players

"see also cl|Hilal Al-Sudan footballers"

Twin Teams

There are several football clubs that carried the name Al-Hilal in Sudan and the Middle East. However, Hilal Omdurman is the pioneer to carry this name.

In Sudan, almost in every States of Sudan there is a football club named Al-Hilal including Hilal Port Sudan, Hilal Juba, Hilal Al-Obeid, Hilal Niyala, Hilal Al-Kamleen and Hilal Al-Qadarif.

In the Middle east, the name AlHilal is carried by Saudi football club Al-Hilal Al-Saudi and Libyan Al Hilal Benghazi, whom were established in the 1950s.

References and external links

*ar icon [http://www.hilalalsudan.net/ Official Website]
* [http://82.201.143.69/acl/English/TeamProfile.asp?ID=450 Arabic Champions League- AlHilal Profile]