SEMI-FINALS

recent sales – 19-year-old Ramadan Sobhi joining Stoke City and Malik Evouna, a Gabonese international who previously played in Morocco, to Tianjin Teda of China – each bringing in £5million, which is a veritable fortune in Egyptian football.

These days Ahly are exiled from their Cairo base and play in Alexandria on the coast, with the occasional game in Suez or El Gouna on the Red Sea. The Ultras Ahlawy group, who were credited with the momentum of the Tahrir Square movement, have used their limited opportunity in the stands to continue to mock Egypt’s leaders, which reduces the chance of a stadium ban being lifted any time soon. The security establishment still fears that any new round of dissent will be fermented in the stands.

Ahly failed to make the Champions League semi-finals this year, but arch-rivals Zamalek did progress – despite going through three coaches in the space of nine months and playing home games in front of just a few hundred fans in Cairo’s Petrojet Stadium. Zamalek (Egy) v Wydad (Mor) ZESCO United (Zam) v Mamelodi Sundowns (SAf) (Sep 16-18 & 23-25)