It seems as if Africa’s greatest team, Al Ahly of Egypt, have a South African jinx. Whether you believe that it is muti, co-incidence or plain bad luck, the facts speak for themselves.
The Cairo Red Devils have not won a single official football match they’ve ever played within the borders of South Africa. YES, you read that correctly. Africa’s greatest, most successful football club ever, have never won a single fixture they’ve played INSIDE of Mzansi, at the time of writing this story.
They’ve mostly had the better of their South African opponents over two legs (Aggregate Total Scorelines) more often than not, usually getting a much desired results for themselves, in their home country. But when it comes to crossing our borders, it’s a completely different story.
Let’s look at the results of every match which “El Mared El Ahmar” ( “The Red Giant”) has played on South African soil only:
08-12-2001
Sundowns
[1 – 1]
07-08-2005
Ajax Cape Town
[0 – 0]
07-04-2007
Sundowns
[2 – 2]
26-04-2008
Platinum Stars
[2 – 1]
02-04-2011
SuperSport United
[1 – 0]
22-09-2013
Orlando Pirates
[0 – 0]
02-11-2013
Orlando Pirates
[1 – 1]
02-10-2015
Orlando Pirates
[1 – 0]
19-03-2017
Bidvest Wits
[0 – 0]
06-04-2019
Sundowns
[5 – 0]
07-03-2020
Sundowns
[1 – 1]
12-03-2022
Sundowns
[1 – 0]
Al Ahly SC have faced six different opponents in total from SA, three of which are now defunct, namely, Ajax CT, Platinum Stars and Bidvest Wits. This excludes their two matches against Kaizer Chiefs at CAF Super Cup in 2002 in Egypt, and the 2021 CAFCL Final in Morocco. Both were one legged ties, none of which took place on South African soil.
Funnily, Al Ahly SC’s first ever defeat within SA borders, did not happen at the hands of a South African PSL club.
Their first defeat on South African soil happened by the ‘sword’ of their bitter derby rivals Zamalek at FNB Stadium, which was used as a neutral venue to host the 1994 CAF Super Cup, between the two archrivals from Egypt, who had both conquered the continent the previous year.
Zamalek were the first club to ever defeat Al Ahly SC on South African soil, by a slender 1 – 0 victory. Ever since then, after 13 official matches in the country, Al Ahly have never won a single one of them. How long will the South African jinx remain?