Ghazl El Mahalla is one of the biggest clubs in the history of Egyptian football. It was founded in 1936 after the establishment of
Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in
El Mahalla El Kubra as an Egyptian national company under the leadership of the patriotic entrepreneur
Talaat Harb. The English experts working at the company at that time used to play football with some of the Egyptian workers at the factory which led to the establishment of the club. In 1947,
Ghazl El Mahalla Stadium was established and the company club began to participate in the Corporations League at that time. Later, Ghazl El Mahalla began to participate in the
Egyptian Premier League in the 1956–57 season. Within years, the club rose through the ranks of Egyptian football and made a name for itself. Due to its presence in a big city like
El Mahalla El Kubra, the club began to have fans from the city and the towns surrounding it. So, even though the club was initially formed as a company club, it became one of the most supported clubs in Egypt and its fan base grew to become one of the biggest fan bases in Egyptian football. The team played in the
Egyptian Premier League for 46 seasons and contributed a lot throughout its history to the
Egypt national football team with talented players that came out of the club's youth system like
Wael Gomaa,
Mahmoud Fathalla,
Ahmed Elmohamady, and
Shawky Gharieb who is the current head coach of the
Egypt national under-23 football team, as well as other talented players that rose to prominence during their time at the club like
Mohamed Abdel Shafy who became one of the legends of fellow Egyptian club
Zamalek SC, and Mohamed El-Atrawy who was in the
2001 squad of the
Egypt national under-20 football team that achieved third place at the
2001 FIFA World Youth Championship. The history of Ghazl El Mahalla testifies with a lot of achievements, the club won the
Egyptian Premier League in the 1972–73 season under the command of the golden generation of the club, and among its legends are Mohammed Al-Siyagi, Abdul Rahim Khalil, Muhammad Amasha, Mahmoud Abdel Dayem, and Abdul Sattar Ali. And, the club reached the final of the
African Cup of Champions Clubs (Later known as CAF Champions League) in
1974 but suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of the
Congolese club
CARA Brazzaville. The club participated in the
African Cup of Champions Clubs (Later known as CAF Champions League) the following season in
1975 but was eliminated in the semi-finals, this marked the only two participations of Ghazl El Mahalla in the most prestigious club competition in the
African continent, the
CAF Champions League. The only other participation of the club in an African competition was in the
African Cup Winners' Cup in
2002 where it got eliminated in the quarter-finals. The club was runner-up in the 1975–76 season of the
Egyptian Premier League. And, managed to reach the final of the
Egypt Cup six times but fortune did not favor it in any of them and the club was never able to win the Cup. The club was also runner-up at the inaugural
Egyptian Super Cup in
2001 participating as Egypt Cup runner-up after Egypt Cup champions
Ismaily SC withdrew from the competition. The club participated in the
1995 Arab Cup Winners' Cup, which was held in
Tunisia, where it achieved third place. The club also participated in the
2004–05 Arab Champions League but got eliminated from the group stage after ending up in the fourth spot in Group B of the competition, this marked the only two participations of Ghazl El Mahalla in Arab competitions. Throughout its history, Ghazl El Mahalla has been relegated to the
Egyptian Second Division six times. The first time was in the 1960–61 season when Ghazl El Mahalla was relegated instead of
Ittihad Suez due to lack of fair play from Ghazl El Mahalla's side in a match against
Tersana SC, but the club managed to get promoted to the top tier again the following season. The fall of the club began in the 1994–95 season when the club placed twelfth in the
Egyptian Premier League, the worst placing the club ended up with in 23 years. Although, it could be argued that the fall of the club began in the season prior to that when the club placed ninth, the worst placing the club ended up with in 15 years. Nonetheless, the following season, 1995–96, the club got relegated for the second time in its history, but yet again managed to get promoted to the top tier again the following season. Only to get relegated for the third time the following season,
1998–99, and to yet again manage to get promoted to the top tier again the following season. After that third promotion to the
Egyptian Premier League, the performance of the club began to fluctuate over the course of the following nine seasons beginning in the
2000–01 season and placing anywhere between fourth and twelfth positions. This eventually resulted in the fourth relegation of the club to the
Egyptian Second Division in the
2009–10 season, it took the club three seasons to get promoted back to the
Egyptian Premier League in the
2012–13 season, only for it to get relegated for the fifth time and spend one more season in the
Egyptian Second Division before getting promoted once again the following season. The club played its last season of
2015–16 in the
Egyptian Premier League before being relegated to the
Egyptian Second Division that season for the sixth time in its history, and to spend its longest consecutive seasons in the second level of Egyptian football having spent four seasons in the
Egyptian Second Division before earning a promotion. On 13 October 2020, Ghazl El Mahalla, under the leadership of head coach Khaled Eid, earned a promotion to the
Egyptian Premier League after defeating
Olympic Club of
Alexandria 2–1, the Alexandrian team scored first only for Mohamed Sami to score the equalizer within minutes and then Mahmoud Salah scored the winning goal for Ghazl El Mahalla, in an away match in the final matchday of the
2019–20 Egyptian Second Division to top their group (Group C) with 47 points, two points clear of the second-placed team, and officially announce their promotion to the
Egyptian Premier League after four harsh years in the
Egyptian Second Division. That night, thousands of Ghazl El Mahalla supporters filled the streets of
El Mahalla El Kubra in celebration of the promotion of the club and gathered at the entrance to the city awaiting the arrival of the team from
Alexandria, at the arrival of the team's bus the players stood above the bus and celebrated with the supporters as a huge parade took place which was decorated by the sounds of drums and the chants of the supporters that expressed their overwhelming happiness, "Oh Mahallawi (El Mahalla supporter)", "Play oh Mahalla", "Say it again, Say it again, Ghazl El Mahalla is back again", "Say oh world, Say oh people, Ghazl El Mahalla is back in the Premier". The supporters gathered at
Ghazl El Mahalla Stadium as well and the celebrations continued all night and up till the next morning. == Honours ==