Football in Egypt

Football is a very popular sport in Egypt.

National football team

main|Egypt national football teamThe Egypt national football team ( _ar. منتخب مصر لكرة القدم), nicknamed "The Pharaohs", is the national team of Egypt and is administered by the Egyptian Football Association. They were the first from an African country to participate in the World Cup when they played in 1934, losing to Hungary 4-2. Egypt has qualified for one World Cup since then, going out in the first round in 1990. They were known as the "United Arab Republic national football team" when Egypt and Syria joined to form the United Arab Republic from 1958 to 1961 and then until 1970, with Egypt alone making up the UAR.

Egypt won the inaugural African Nations Cup in 1957, and also won the tournament in 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006 and 2008.

Egyptian Premier League

main|Egyptian Premier LeagueThe Egyptian Premier League ( _ar. الدوري المصري الأول) (League A) 2006/2007 has sixteen clubs. The two most popular Egyptian clubs are Ahly and Zamalek of Cairo. Other strong Premier League sides are (Ismailia), Masri (Port Sa'id), Itihad (Alexandria) and al-Mokawloon al-Arab (Cairo). Enppi & Haras El-Hadoud are clubs on the rise. The Egyptian league is considered to be one of the most competitive leagues around the world. fact|date=June 2007 The league is currently ranked 30th amongst the world by the IFFHS < [http://www.iffhs.de] >. There is no official English translation or title for the Egyptian League, in any case the league is named the Vodafone Egyptian Premier League, because Vodafone sponsors the league. In 2007/2008 season however, the name will change to the Etisalat Egyptian Premier League after the new communications company has signed a sponsorship deal with the Egyptian FA.

ee also

*Egypt Cup
*Egyptian Premier League
*Egyptian Super Cup
*List of football clubs in Egypt

External links

* [http://www.socceregypt.com/ Soccer Egypt Dot Com]