Establishment and start of the club , the minister of education, was the first honorary president of Al Ahly. The idea of establishing Al-Ahly came in the first 10 years of the 20th century and was firstly raised by Omar Lotfy, who was a student in the
Egyptian Law School during his presidency of the High School Students Club. The establishment of a club for high school students was for political reasons along with the students needing a sports club for them to gather for leisure and exercise. He discussed the idea of establishing the club with a group of friends who were enthusiastic about it and in 1907, Al Ahly was established. , president of the
Bank of Egypt, contributed £E100 to the establishment of the club. , founder of Al Ahly The club was first headed by
Alfred Mitchell-Innes, who was a British advisor to the Ministry of Finance at the time. He was the first head to facilitate financial support for the club. An official meeting of the club's board was held on 24 April 1907. The committee met at 5:30 pm in the house of Mitchell-Innes in
Giza under his chairmanship and the membership of Idris Ragheb Bey, Ismael Seri Pasha, Amin Sami Pasha, Omar Lotfi Bek and Mohamed Effendi Sherif as secretary. After the establishment of the club was approved, the main building was designed by architect Ismail Seri, and revised by Mitchell-Innes. A civil company on the behalf of Al Ahly Sports Club was established. Shares of the company were worth £E5 each, and it was the goal of the club when it was established to raise £E5,000. Only £E3,165 were collected over a year which was not enough to fund the establishment. This forced the club to borrow £E1,000 from the
National Bank of Egypt in March 1908.
Talaat Harb, the president of the Bank of Egypt, contributed £E100 to the establishment of the club. The first honorary president of the club was the Minister of Education
Saad Zaghloul. The name of Al Ahly Sporting Club was suggested by Amine Samy Amin, who suggested that the name is similar to the word "
National" in
Egyptian Arabic. On 2 April 1908, Mitchell-Innes stepped down as president of the club.
Aziz Ezzat was appointed as the new president and became the first Egyptian president of Al Ahly. The official opening ceremony of the club was held in its main building on 26 February 1909. , one of the club legends, is the namesake of the club's old stadium and current training ground. The game of football was not one of the goals of the founders of Al Ahly SC, but rather to open its doors to students of high schools to meet and practice political dialogues. However, the graduates of high schools who were members of the club developed a passion with
football, which prompted the club to build the first stadium in 1909. At the time, they called it
Al-Hawsh; colloquially meaning
the courtyard in Egyptian Arabic. The stadium was improved over the years, eventually becoming
Mokhtar El-Tetsh Stadium. The first official football team was established in 1911. The team was primary and secondary school players who played football in Al-Hawsh. The names of the first players of Al Ahly were as follows:
Hussein Hegazi, Abdel Fattah Taher, Fouad Darwish, Hussein Mansour, and Ibrahim Fahmy. In 1915, Al-Ahly made tours to Egyptian cities to play matches and to spread football and its culture. Al Ahly played in
Alexandria,
Port Said,
Assiut, and
Ismailia. The team, led by Hussein Hegazi, faced many teams, including foreign teams belonging to the
British Army, which increased the popularity of Al Ahly and the new game in Egypt. Ahly contributed with
Zamalek SC,
El Sekka El Hadid SC in the formation of the first football team of Egypt to participate in the
1920 Olympic Games. The club also contributed to the establishment of the
Egyptian Football Association.
First titles (1918–1948) After Al-Ahly's refusal to compete with
British clubs in the
Sultan Hussein Cup in its first edition in 1917, the club's management decided to participate in the 1918 championship as a sign of resistance and to display Egyptian presence in the sport. In 1923, Al-Ahly won their first Sultan Hussain Cup after beating the defending champion
Zamalek SC, with them winning six other titles to be the record holder in the number of wins until the last edition in 1938. They also played an active role in the establishment of the
Egyptian Tennis Federation. The club followed their first win of the Sultan Hussain Cup with the
King Farouk Cup in 1924, defeating
El Sekka El Hadid 4–1 in the final. The man of the match was Mokhtar Eltetsh, who scored two goals. In the summer of 1929, Al-Ahly's football went on a tour where the team traveled to face several European clubs, such as
Fenerbahçe and
Galatasaray in
Turkey and
BFC Preussen,
1860 Munich and
Schalke in
Germany. The tour ended with Al Ahly playing the last two games in
Bulgaria against
Levski Sofia and
Slavia Sofia. In November 1930, Al-Ahly defeated rival Zamalek 4–0 in a match in the
Cairo League. In that game, Mokhtar El Tetsh was the first player to score a hat trick in the
Cairo Derby. At the end of the 1936–1937 season, Al Ahly managed to win the league in the last round by defeating Zamalek 4–1, finishing three points ahead of their rivals. The club won the
King Farouk Cup with a 3–2 victory over
El Sekka El Hadid SC. In 1938, Al Ahly won the last version of the Sultan Hussein Cup, with a 1–0 victory over
Al Masry in the final match. The club won the Cairo League, again in the last round, with a 5–1 victory over the second placed Zamalek. The team traveled to
Mandatory Palestine in 1943 on a 23-day tour, headed by Mokhtar El Tetsh, to play several matches with Arab teams to support Palestine against the
Zionists. The decision had been made despite the refusal of the president of the
Egyptian Football Association Haider Pasha, due to the pressure from the British position against the Palestinian issue. ,
Mandatory Palestine Dominating the league (1948–1967) In the first edition of the
Egyptian Premier League, held for the first time in
1948, Al Ahly won the first match 5–0 against
Greek Alexandria. Ahmed Makkawi scored the first goal for Al Ahly in the history of the competition in the 11th minute. The first team to represent Al Ahly in the competition was composed of: Kamal Hamed –
Abdulaziz Hamami – Muhammad Abu Habajah – Abdel Moneim Shatara – Sayed Othman – Hilmi Abu Al-Moaty –
Fouad Sedki – Muhammad Lheta –
Ahmed Mekkawi –
Saleh Selim – Fathi Khattab. Mokhatr al Tetsh led Al Ahly to win the first championship in the club's history as a player and also led the club to win the first league in the club's history as a manager, achieving a double of the league and the cup for the first time after defeating Zamalek 3–1 in the 1949
King Farouk Cup final. Toto,
Hussein Madkour and Fathi Khattab scored for Al Ahly. The 1949–50 season was a historical superiority for Al Ahly, winning all the local championships. Al Ahly won the
Egyptian Premier League after a tie in points with
Tersana. The league winner was decided by a play-off match with Al Ahly winning the match against Tersana 2–1. The club also won the
Cairo League, one point ahead of Tersana. In the Egypt Cup, Al Ahly defeated Tersana in the final 6–0. In the
1950–51 season, Al Ahly won the
league for the third consecutive time despite the strong competition with Zamalek, as well as a difficult victory in the
King Farouk Cup final against El Sekka El Hadid. Following the dethroning of
King Farouk in the
1952 revolution, Ahly appointed
Gamal Abdel Nasser as club honorary president. In the
1951–52 season, the league championship was cancelled due to the Egyptian revolution that year, and to allow the national team to prepare for the
1952 Summer Olympics. However, the Egypt Cup and the
Cairo League were played as normal. Al Ahly lost both tournaments to Zamalek. The league returned the following season and Al Ahly won the league for the fourth time in a row, with a narrow two-point lead ahead of Zamalek, after the two teams tied 2–2 in the last round. In the cup, Al Ahly managed to defeat the defending champions Zamalek 4–1 in the final. In the
1953–54 season, Al Ahly won their fifth consecutive and fifth overall Egyptian Premier League title in the club's history. In the cup, they were eliminated from the semi-final by
Al Masry. In the
1956–57 season, the number of teams increased to 14 teams, and Al Ahly managed to win the league nine points ahead of Zamalek, to win the seventh title in a row. It was the first time that the team had reached 40 points. Al Ahly won the
1958–59 league championship for the ninth time in a row.
El-Sayed El-Dhizui became the first Al Ahly player to be the top goal scorer in the league. The team scored 55 goals in just 18 games that season, more than 20 goals from their nearest competitors. After losing the league for the first time since the start of the competition in the
1959–60 season, Al Ahly won the league for the tenth time in the club's history, in the
1960–61 season. The club won the Egypt Cup after defeating
El Qanah 5–0, with
Mimi El-Sherbini scoring two goals. shaking hands with
Zamalek's captain
Nour El-Dali and referee preparing to make a
coin toss before playing the
1959 Egypt Cup final First participation in African championships (1967–1980) After the
1967 Six-Day War and the suspension of sporting activity in Egypt, Al Ahly's board, headed by Ibrahim Kamel El-Wakil, announced that the club will host the military training for the members volunteering in the
Egyptian Army, as well as collecting donations in the name of the club to support the military. Many players on the team retired to volunteer for the war. Al-Ahly did not win the league for another 13 years. and
Mahmoud El Khatib After years of deterioration, the club took the first steps in recovery when the management decided to sign
Nándor Hidegkuti as
head coach in September 1973, at a salary of fewer than 600 dollars. Hidegkuti introduced a new generation known as
El Talamza (the students). The league title returned to Al Ahly in
1974–75, with the team scoring 70 goals in 34 games. Al Ahly's first participation in the
African Champions League was in 1976. The team got knocked out from the first round by
MC Alger. Al Khatib scored the first continental goal for Al Ahly. Al-Ahly won the Egyptian top-flight football league in
1975–76 and
1976–77. The latter season saw the second participation in African competition, where the team fared better than the first time. They eventually bowed out in the quarter-finals by
Accra Hearts of Oak S.C. From 1978 to 1980, Hidegkuti refused to take part in the CAF Champions League due to lack of financial resources and exhausting journeys in Africa.
Invading Africa (1980–1990) Zamalek remained ahead of Al-Ahly by six points in the 1981–82 Egyptian Premier League season. That season, a match won was counted in two points, not three. The last matches in the competition witnessed a dip in form by Zamalek with Al Ahly managing to win the championship with three points ahead of them, after a goalless
Cairo derby draw in the last round. Al Ahly reached the semi-final of
1981 African Cup of Champions Clubs but withdrew due to the assassination of the President
Anwar Sadat. Al Ahly won the
1982 African Cup of Champions Clubs, known today as the
CAF Champions League, defeating
Asante Kotoko S.C. in the final. The first leg was held on 28 November at the Cairo Stadium in front of 60,000 spectators. They won the first leg 3–0. The second leg was held on 12 December in
Kumasi,
Ghana, and was attended by more than 70,000 spectators. In the second leg, the game ended tied 1–1. Al Ahly during this edition of the tournament played ten games, achieved victory in all five games at home, lost two games and tied in three away. The biggest win was a 5–0 victory against
Young Africans S.C. in the round of 16. The club scored 16 goals and conceded five goals only in this tournament. Al Ahly reached the final of the
African Champions League for the second time in a row in 1983, but Asante Kotoko S.C. won the finals by scoring the only goal of both matches in the second match. The first leg was played on 27 November at Cairo Stadium with 90,000 spectators, with one of the attendees being the former Egyptian president
Hosni Mubarak, and ended tied 0–0. The second leg took place on 11 December in Kumasi with 70,000 spectators, and ended with a 0–1 loss. Al-Ahly reached a continental final again in 1984, this time in the
African Cup Winners' Cup against
Canon Yaoundé. Al-Ahly won on penalties after a 1–1 draw in both games. The 1984–85 season was one of the best seasons in the history of Al Ahly, as the club won the cup and the league, as well as winning the African Cup Winners Cup for the second time in a row by defeating
Leventis United 2–1 on aggregate. For the third time in a row, Al Ahly won the
African Cup Winners' Cup in 1986 after winning the league, by defeating
AS Sogara in the final 3–2 on aggregate. Al-Ahly won the Egyptian League in the
1986–87 season under the management of the coach
Taha Ismail. Al Ahly won the league being two points ahead of Zamalek after being tied in the standings before the last match. The club was able to beat Zamalek in the last round 2–1. Al-Ahly won the
1987 African Cup of Champions Clubs by defeating
Al-Hilal Club in the final. The first leg was a 0–0 draw played on 29 November in the Sudanese capital
Khartoum, attended by 50,000 Sudanese and 500 Egyptian spectators. The second leg was held on 18 December at the Cairo Stadium in the presence of 80,000 spectators, with Al Ahly winning 2–0. Three days after the match, club legend
Mahmoud El Khatib decided to retire after 17 years at the club, in a press conference attended by a large crowd of journalists.
Arab tournament success and boycotting CAF (1990–2005) In 1992, Al-Ahly won the Egypt Cup title by defeating the league champions Zamalek 2–1 in the final. After winning the cup for the third time in a row in 1993, Al Ahly returned to Africa by winning the
African Cup Winners' Cup for the fourth time in its history in 1993, which was the last time the club participated in the tournament. Al Ahly defeated
Africa Sports d'Abidjan in the final in
Cairo Stadium after a 1–1 draw in the first leg. In the same season, the club won the Egypt Cup by beating
Ghazl El Mahalla SC 3–2 in the final. After three years without winning the league, Al-Ahly won the league in the
1993–94 season under the management of
Alan Harris after a strong competition with
Ismaily SC, which was only decided by a playoff match in which the club won 4–3 in Alexandria. Al-Ahly participated in the Arab Championships for the first time in 1994 after a decision to boycott the African tournaments due to weak financial returns and complaints about the refereeing decisions in the
1994 CAF Super Cup. Al Ahly won the
1994 Arab Cup Winners' Cup by defeating
Al Shabab in the final 1–0. After leading Al Ahly to their second consecutive league title and the Arab Super Cup in Morocco,
Reiner Hollmann left Al Ahly at the end of 1997, after finishing second in the
1997 Arab Club Champions Cup in Tunisia. He was replaced by his countryman
Rainer Zobel, who succeeded in winning the league championship for the fifth consecutive season in
1997–98 and winning the
1998 Arab Super Cup title with Zobel for the second successive season, beating
MC Oran and
Al-Shabab, and drawing with
Club Africain. In 1998, Al Ahly returned to the African championships for the first time in six years. In the summer of 2001, Al-Ahly signed
Manuel José to take on the leadership of the team, the first time in the club's history to have a Portuguese manager. Jose's first match with Al-Ahly was a friendly against
Real Madrid in August 2001, when Al Ahly stunned Madrid with a 1–0 win at the Cairo Stadium. This was the fourth time Al Ahly had defeated a European champion, the others being a 3–2 victory over
Benfica in 1963, a 2–1 win against
Bayern Munich in 1977, and a 3–0 win against
Steaua București in 1986. Al-Ahly won the African Champions League title after a 4–1 on aggregate victory over
Mamelodi Sundowns. The first leg was held on 8 December at the
Loftus Versfeld Stadium in the South African capital
Pretoria, and ended in a 1–1 draw. The second leg was held on 21 December at the Cairo International Stadium in the presence of 75,000 spectators, and ended with a 3–0 win for Al Ahly. Al-Ahly also won the
2002 CAF Super Cup with a 4–1 victory over
Kaizer Chiefs F.C. in Cairo, in a match that saw Al Ahly's goalkeeper
Essam El Hadary scoring his historic goal. Manuel Jose was unable to collect any local championships in his first term, although his team was able to achieve an emphatic 6–1 victory against the defending champion Zamalek in the league. At the end of the season, Jose was sacked and replaced by the Dutchman
Johannes Bonfrere on a one-year contract, on a monthly salary of $18,000. The club's decision to sack Jose was not liked by the majority of the fans.
Golden era (2005–2013) Al-Ahly achieved victory in all the matches of the first 14 rounds of the
2004–05 Egyptian Premier League, to win the Premier League title for the 29th time in the club history and the first local championship for the Portuguese coach Manuel José who was rehired by the club. Al Ahly won the league by a record 31-point difference from
Enppi, the closest competitor. It was the first time that a club won all their matches in the first half of a season since the league began in 1948. Al Ahly also won their second Egyptian Super Cup in July 2005 by defeating Enppi 1–0. At the end of 2005, the club clinched the
CAF Champions League for the fourth time in their history after defeating
Étoile du Sahel 3–0 in
the final in Cairo. The first leg was played on 29 October at the
Stade Olympique de Sousse,
Tunisia, and ended 0–0. The second leg was played on 12 November at the
Cairo Military Academy Stadium in the presence of 30,000 spectators, due to renovations at Cairo International Stadium in preparation for hosting the
2006 African Nations Cup. Al-Ahly won 3–0, with goals scored by
Mohamed Aboutrika, Osama Hosni, and
Mohammed Barakat. With their Champions League triumph, the team would go on to set an unprecedented record of going an entire season unbeaten in all competitions. 46 matches were played in the
Egyptian Premier League,
Egypt Cup,
Egyptian Super Cup, and the
CAF Champions League combined, with the club completing a quadruple winning all the aforementioned competitions. The club also set another record of not losing in 52 games in 852 days. Al Ahly made their first appearance at a
FIFA Club World Cup in
December 2005, but had an unsuccessful campaign as the team lost to
Al-Ittihad in the first round and then lost the fifth-place match to
Sydney FC. , one of the club legends The
2006–07 season was successful, starting with the Egyptian Super Cup for the second time with another win over Enppi, with a goal in the stoppage time. The club also won the league for the second time in a row. Al Ahly returned to the Egyptian Cup with a 3–0 win over
Zamalek SC, achieving a
domestic treble. Al-Ahly performed well in the CAF Super Cup by reaching the final against
CS Sfaxien, drawing the first leg 1–1 in the Cairo Stadium. After the match, CS Sfaxien were considered favorites to win the cup. The second leg against CS Sfaxien ended in a 1–0 win for Al Ahly. The club then participated in the
2006 FIFA Club World Cup in their second appearance. Al Ahly's participation this time was better compared to their previous one, as they defeated
Auckland City FC in the quarter-final 2–0. The team played in the semi-finals against Brazilian club
Internacional, losing 2–1. The club managed to achieve the bronze medal for the first time in African history by defeating
Club América 2–1 in
Yokohama. Al-Ahly played the
2007 CAF Super Cup on 18 February at the
Addis Ababa Stadium as the champion of the
2006 CAF Champions League against the
ES Sahel, the champion of the
2006 CAF Confederation Cup. Al Ahly suffered from many absentees at this stage due to injuries. However, the match went to penalties after the extra time ended with a goalless draw, which Al Ahly won 5–4 on shootout. After achieving the Super Cup title, the club equalled the record set by Zamalek with 3 Super Cup titles, before adding three other titles to set a new record. Al Ahly also set another record as the club with most participations in the African Super Cup (8 times). Tifo before Cairo derby in
2007–08 Egyptian Premier League Al Ahly continued winning the league title, winning the
Egyptian Premier League for the 4th consecutive time by 17 points away from
Ismaily SC. The team also won the Super Cup for the fourth time in a row by beating Zamalek 2–0. It was the second victory in a week for Ahly over Zamalek after their meeting in the
CAF Champions League a week earlier. Al Ahly won the CAF Champions league for the sixth time with a 4–2 win on aggregate over
Coton Sport FC de Garoua in the final, after finishing the first leg with a 2–0 win and drawing in the second leg 2–2. The club set off for the Club World Cup again, but lost against
C.F. Pachuca and
Adelaide Football Club. The club started the 2008–09 season winning the
CAF Super Cup after defeating CS Sfaxien 2–1, before starting the race to the league's shield with
Ismaily. The two teams played a playoff match to determine the champion, which Al Ahly won 1–0. It was the last championship for Manuel José during his second term before handing over the team's leadership to
Hossam El-Badry. El Badry managed to keep the 2009–10 league shield in Al Ahly's cupboard to become the first national coach to win the league championship for the club in 23 years. Al Ahly won the Egyptian Super Cup by defeating
Haras El Hodoud SC 1–0. In the
CAF Champions League, Al Ahly qualified for the semi-finals, but was knocked out by
Espérance Sportive de Tunis due to a refereeing mistake by
Joseph Lamptey that gave the hosts a win in the second leg. The sports activity in Egypt was postponed because of the
Port Said Stadium riot, which resulted in the deaths of 74 people including 72 Al Ahly fans and caused the injuries of more than 500 people. In the first match after the return of sports activity, Al Ahly won the Egyptian Super Cup after defeating Enppi 2–1, in a mourn-driven match at the empty stadium of
Borg El Arab Stadium. Despite the difficult events, Al Ahly players overcame the circumstances and defeated Esperance in the
2012 CAF Champions League Final. The first leg finished 1–1 at the
Borg El Arab Stadium. A 2–1 second leg victory to Al Ahly at the
Stade Olympique de Radès added the seventh African champions title in the history of the club. Al-Ahly, led by Hossam el-Badri, achieved fourth place in the
2012 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, with a victory in the first match against
Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2–1. Al Ahly then lost 1–0 to the
Copa Libertadores champion
Corinthians, and then defeated by
Monterrey 2–0 in the third-place deciding match. Hossam el-Badri left the team to
Mohamed Youssef, who lead Al-Ahly to the
2013 CAF Champions League title for the eighth time by beating the South African club
Orlando Pirates 2–0 in the second leg match, after a 1–1 draw in the first leg.
Mahmoud Taher era (2014–2017) Al-Ahly made their way to the
African Confederations Cup after an early exit from the
Champions League. Al Ahly reached the final against
Séwé FC but lost the first leg 2–1. In the return match, the score was 0–0 until the sixth minute of stoppage time, when Al Ahly's
Emad Moteab scored a goal with a header in the dying minutes which made coach
Juan Carlos Garrido running with celebration onto the pitch. Garrido was later sacked after the club was eliminated from the
CAF Champions League on penalties to
Moghreb Tétouan. Al-Ahly's form declined after most of the stars of the older generation retired, resulting in losses in a number of tournaments. The team regained balance when they met Zamalek in the Super Cup held in
Dubai for the first time at the end of 2015. before the Egyptian Super Cup in 2015|thumbnail|right|250px
Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Shafi led Al-Ahly as a coach to a 3–2 win over Zamalek at the
Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium to win the ninth
Egyptian Super Cup in the club's history. After not winning the 2014–15 league title, Al Ahly won the 2015–16 league with a seven-point difference between the defending champions Zamalek. Al Ahly finished the competition under the leadership of Dutchman
Martin Jol, who replaced the Portuguese coach
Jose Peseiro. Al Ahly won the league title for the 39th time in the club's history before the end of the league with four rounds. The team managed to go 39th games in a row unbeaten in all competitions, setting a record of 30 games unbeaten in the league, however Al Ahly reached the final of the
2016 Egypt Cup and lost to rival Zamalek SC in a 3–1 defeat, leading to Al Ahly failing to win their 36th Egypt Cup. Under the leadership of Hossam El-Badry, Al Ahly was able to keep a clean sheet in 30 games that season in all competitions. The club then won the
Egyptian Cup for the 36th time in its history after beating
Al Masry 2–1 in extratime in the Egyptian Cup final at
Borg El Arab Stadium. Al-Ahly reached the final of the
2017 CAF Champions League, drawing 1–1 with Wydad AC at Borg El Arab Stadium. Wydad later hosted Al Ahly at
Stade Mohammed V in
Casablanca, where Al Ahly was defeated 1–0 and failed to secure the 9th CAF Champions League trophy.
Mahmoud El Khatib era and return to African success (2017–) On 1 December 2017,
Mahmoud El Khatib was elected as the new club president. El-Khatib won the polls ahead of Mahmoud Taher with 20,956 votes. Taher, who had been president since 2014 until 2017, collected 13,182 votes. In the race of vice-presidency, former Egyptian sports minister El Amry Farouk won with 19,923 votes with Mustafa Fahmy receiving 14,269 votes. Al-Ahly won the
Egyptian Super Cup title for the ten time in its history, after defeating
Al Masry SC 1–0. The winning goal was scored by
Walid Azaro in the 12th minute of the first extra half of the match, which gave Al Ahly the title, also making Walid the first Moroccan and foreigner to score in the tournament. The next season, the club managed to clinch the
Egyptian Premier League for the third consecutive season under the leadership of the manager
Hossam El-Badry, and 40th in its history. Al-Ahly officially won the title 6 weeks before the end of the championship, achieving the second fastest league in its history after the
2004–05 Egyptian Premier League season. Al-Ahly reached the 2018 CAF Champions League Final, but lost to Tunisian club
Espérance Sportive de Tunis. Al Ahly won in the first leg 3–1, but
Espérance Sportive de Tunis defeated Al-Ahly 3–0 in the second leg with them win the
2018 CAF Champions League final. On 9 April 2019, Al-Ahly was knocked out of the
2018–19 CAF Champions League in the quarter-finals after suffering a 5–0 loss in the first leg to South Africa's Mameloudi Sundowns. In the second leg, Al Ahly won 1–0 but the score on aggregate was 5–1. This loss was the club's biggest loss since 1942 and in the CAF Champions League tournament. This loss resulted in the club's board deducting 10% of the players salary for a year. Many even criticized Martin Lasarte saying he was mostly responsible for the loss. Al-Ahly managed to win the
2018–19 Egyptian Premier League title for the fourth consecutive season and for the 41st in its history under the leadership of the Uruguayan manager
Martín Lasarte, after defeating
Al Mokawloon Al Arab 3–1. This result put Ahly five points clear of their rivals Zamalek with one game of the league season left. Al-Ahly won the 2018–19 league title despite a rough start, as results eventually improved and winter signings helped with team performance. The 2018–19 league win raised the club trophies to 136, making Al Ahly the most crowned club in world football with 20 continental titles; nine Champions Leagues, one
Confederation Cup, four
Cup Winners' Cups, six
Super Cups and one
Afro-Asian Club Championship. As of 2019, Al Ahly has won
CAF Champions League in
1982,
1987,
2001,
2005,
2006,
2008,
2012 and in
2013; making them the most crowned team in Africa. On 31 August 2019,
René Weiler was named the new coach of Al-Ahly. Weiler replaced Martin Lasarte who was sacked despite guiding Al Ahly to win the league title with a game to spare. Weiler was able to win his first title with the club in less than one month as Al Ahly managed to win the
Egyptian Super Cup for the 11th time in the club history after defeating Zamalek 3–2 on 20 September 2019 at the
Borg El Arab Stadium. On 18 September, after
Zamalek's loss to
Aswan SC, Al Ahly won their 42nd Egyptian Premier League title in the
2019–20 season and was the second title for Weiler before leaving the club and being replaced by
Pitso Mosimane. On 27 November, Al Ahly faced rival Zamalek in the
2020 CAF Champions League Final, winning 2–1.
Magdy scored the winning goal for Al-Ahly in the 86th minute to win Al-Ahly's ninth CAF Champions League title and their first since
2013. About a week later, Al-Ahly defeated
Tala'ea El Gaish SC in the
Egypt Cup final 3–2 on penalties. With this victory, Al Ahly won the treble for the third time in their history, and becoming the first African team to complete the
continental treble three times. With Al-Ahly qualified for the
2020 FIFA Club World Cup, they defeated hosts
Al-Duhail in the first match of the tournament, sending Al-Ahly to its first official match with the European champions
Bayern Munich in the
Semi-finals. Bayern defeated Al Ahly 2–0. Al Ahly managed to secure the bronze medal for the second time in the club's history after defeating
Palmeiras, the winners of the
2020 Copa Libertadores in the
Third place play-off, becoming the first and only Arab or African team to have won two medals in the tournament. On 28 May 2021, Al-Ahly defeated
RS Berkane 2–0 in the
2021 CAF Super Cup in Qatar, winning their 22nd continental title. On 17 July 2021, Al Ahly defeated
Kaizer Chiefs 3–0 in the
Champions League Final in Morocco, winning their tenth
Champions League and 23rd continental title. On 21 September 2021, Al-Ahly lost the
Egyptian Super Cup to
Tala'ea El Gaish in a 3–2 defeat on penalties, This resulted in a disciplinary action by the club's board, deducting £E300,000 from the players, football director, and the entirety of the coaching staff salaries. The deduction was later lifted after Al-Ahly beat Zamalek 5–3 in the
Cairo derby on 5 November 2021. On 22 December 2021, Al-Ahly won its eighth
CAF Super Cup after beating
Raja CA 6–5 on penalties. bronze medals|thumbnail|right|250px Al-Ahly qualified to the
2021 FIFA Club World Cup in the
United Arab Emirates as the champions of Africa. Al Ahly won the first match 1–0 against the
CONCACAF Champions League winners
Monterrey of Mexico despite having many players missing due to injuries, along with some of the club's players participating with the Egyptian national football team in the
2021 Africa Cup of Nations. In the semi-final, Al Ahly lost against
Palmeiras, the winners of the
2021 Copa Libertadores 2–0 to play against
Al Hilal in the third place playoff match. Al-Ahly achieved the third place in the
FIFA Club World Cup for the third time in the club's history after defeating Al Hilal 4–0, the biggest victory for Al-Ahly in the FIFA Club World Cup. Al-Ahly for the second time reached the CAF Champions League Final for the third time in a row under the management of
Pitso Mosimane, after defeating Algerian side
ES Sétif 6–2 on aggregate, but failed to win their 11th CAF Champions League trophy after losing 2–0 to
Wydad AC. On 13 June 2022, Mosimane parted ways with Al-Ahly and Samy Koumsan took over the manager role as an interim manager. On 29 June 2022,
Ricardo Soares replaced Pitso Mosimane as Al Ahly's manager. His debut with Al Ahly was against
Petrojet in the Egypt Cup semi-final in which he led Al Ahly to a 2–0 victory to face rival Zamalek for the Egypt Cup Final, in which Al Ahly lost 2–1. This period witnessed a mass deterioration of Al Ahly, losing 3–2 to
Smouha and Soares's league debut was a goalless draw with
El Gouna, Al Ahly lost 2–0 to
Pyramids in the league, drawing with
Mokawloon Al Arab and drawing with
Pharco. Al Ahly for the first time since the
1991–92 season was not in the top two of the Egyptian Premier League table as the club finished third place. Following disappointing results during his time as manager,
Ricardo Soares was sacked on 31 August 2022, just 2 months after he was appointed as Al Ahly's manager. He was replaced by
Marcel Koller who was appointed as Al Ahly's new manager on 9 September 2022. Marcel Koller won his first trophy after Al Ahly beat rival Zamalek in a 2–0 win for the Egyptian Super Cup. Al-Ahly under Marcel Koller beat Alexandria's based Smouha SC in a 3–1 win in the Egypt Cup semi-final to meet Pyramids FC in the final. A couple of weeks later, Al Ahly played
Auckland City in the
2022 FIFA Club World Cup, where Al Ahly beat the New Zealand-based team in a 3–0 win to face off
CONCACAF Champions League winners
Seattle Sounders FC who were competing as the first MLS club to participate in the tournament and their first-ever match in the cup. Al Ahly achieved a late 1–0 victory and advanced to the semi-final to meet the
UEFA Champions League winner
Real Madrid. This would be the second time the two sides meet after Manuel Jose's 2001 debut with the club where he was able to beat Real Madrid 1–0 at the
Cairo International Stadium. Al Ahly lost to Real Madrid and faced
Flamengo for the third-place playoffs, when Al Ahly lost 4–2 and ended with the 4th place for the tournament. Al-Ahly won the 2021–22 Egypt Cup after beating
Pyramids in the final, being the 38th Egypt Cup for the club. Al Ahly later won the 13th Egyptian Super Cup in its history after beating
Pyramids FC 1–0 at the
Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in
Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates. On 11 June 2023, Al-Ahly won the
CAF Champions League after defeating the same team they lost against in the 2021–22 final, the Moroccan club
Wydad AC after beating them 3–2 on aggregate in the final. The first match was played at the
Cairo International Stadium on 4 June with Al Ahly winning 2–1, but drew with Wydad AC 1–1 at Stade Mohamed V. This gave Al Ahly its 11th CAF Champions League and qualified them for the
2023 FIFA Club World Cup and
2023 CAF Super Cup. A month later, on 10 July, Al Ahly achieved their 43rd Egyptian Premier League title. In the
2023–24 CAF Champions League, Al-Ahly clinched their 12th title after a 1–0 win on aggregate over
Espérance Sportive de Tunis in the final. On 15 June 2025 Al Ahly FC and
Inter Miami FC played to a 0–0 draw in the opening game of the
2025 FIFA Club World Cup in
Miami Gardens, Florida, USA. == Rivalries ==