Will Al-Ahly achieve the top three in the “New Testament”?

Although Al-Ahly sit comfortably at the top of African clubs, after winning the African Champions League title nine times, ahead of four titles ahead of Zamalek and Congo’s Mazembe, their closest pursuers, achieving the “triple” has blocked it a lot throughout its history.

The triple “to achieve national league and cup titles in addition to the Champions League” is a unique achievement that clubs boast about, and gives it a special place in their records, as was the case with Manchester United in the 1998/1999 season. and Bayern Munich last season.

At the African level, many clubs have suffered from the overlap of the local and continental seasons, especially North African clubs, who are used to the local season extending between the last quarter of the year and the middle of the following year, while the African championships are celebrated for many years throughout the calendar year, which caused them to span between two seasons. Local.

Al-Ahly claimed their first African Club Cup Champions League title in 1982, and the title was decided at the expense of Ghana’s Asante Kotoko team on December 12, which coincided with the mid-national season. 1982/1983, but lost the league title that season to Zamalek, to lose consequently the chance of achieving a hat-trick, winning the national cup.

Al-Ahly’s second title in the same continental tournament was won in 1987 at the expense of the Sudanese Al-Hilal, and the scenario of losing the local league in the 1987/88 season was repeated, but Al-Ahly did not win the cup. also in that season.

After an absence of fourteen years, Al-Ahly regained the championship that became the African Champions League at the time, by beating South African team Sundowns, but even the league and continental double, a knot was left in front of Al-Ahly , who lost the league dramatically in the 2001/2002 season to Ismaili’s team.

But Al-Ahly managed to resolve the entire decade in the 2005/06 season, snatching their first double and completing it with the historic triple, when the 2005 CAF Champions League was crowned at the expense of Tunisia’s Etoile Sahel, before winning. the local league and the cup, under the leadership of Portuguese coach Manuel José.

Al-Ahly continued their legendary career under José’s leadership, and kept their three titles the following season, after a mad 2006 CAF Champions League victory at the expense of Tunisia’s Sfaxien, before winning both. local titles in the 2006/07 season.

It was the Cup that prevented Al-Ahly from continuing with his African trios, despite their national and continental achievements in subsequent years, as they won the 2008 African Champions League at the expense of Cameroonian cotton, and won the league title. in the 2008/2009 season, but he left the cup championship.

Al-Ahly achieved their seventh African Champions League title, at the expense of Esperance of Tunisia, in 2012, but the opportunity to support their achievement with local titles was not available at the time, as the 2012/2013 season was suspended for security reasons.

Al-Ahly retained their African title in 2013 and supported it with the league title in the 2013/2014 season, but were again denied the triple achievement, after missing a chance to win the Egyptian Cup.

Under the leadership of South African coach Pitso Musimane, Al-Ahly have the opportunity to achieve a new historic hat-trick, after the Egyptian giant was crowned with the local league title under the leadership of his former Swiss coach Rene Fyler , before reclaiming the African Champions League title on Friday at Zamalek’s expense.

But this trilogy will be the first of its kind in the “New Era” of African football, after the dates of the African championships were modified two years ago, to coincide with the local season, which makes the crowning of the championships local and continental at a time near the end of the season, which was exceptionally late in the release. The current one, due to the incipient crisis of the Corona virus.

Al-Ahly are preparing to continue their journey in the Egyptian Cup, where they will face Al-Ittihad next Tuesday in the semifinal round, and the winner of them awaits his winning counterpart in Zamalek’s confrontation with Tala’a Al-Jaish in the final match to be played on December 5 next.