Al Ahly begin Spain camp with convincing win over Badalona as new signings shine

Al Ahly started their pre-season programme in Spain with a 3-0 victory over Badalona, as new arrivals Ali Mahmoud and Aktay Abdullah scored before Ahmed Zizo completed the friendly win.

The Egyptian side took control of their first match in Spain with two goals from the recently recruited pair. Ali Mahmoud opened the scoring, Aktay Abdullah added a second, and Zizo wrapped up the victory with Al Ahly’s third goal.

Sofiane Benjedida missed the chance to put Al Ahly ahead from the penalty spot in the first half. The striker’s effort was saved successfully by the Badalona goalkeeper.

Hussein Ammouta used the second half to assess more of his squad, making a series of substitutions in order to give as many players as possible time on the pitch.

The two players who have recently joined Al Ahly from ENPPI made the decisive contribution by scoring the first two goals, before Zizo added the final strike.

Al Ahly began the match with Mohamed El Shenawy in goal. Their defence consisted of Karim Fouad, Yassin Marei, Yasser Ibrahim and Ahmed Eid, while Ahmed Reda, Omar El Saai and Mohamed Magdy Afsha formed the midfield. The attacking trio was Hussein El Shahat, Sofiane Benjedida and Mohamed Raafat.

The result forms part of Al Ahly’s preparations during a training camp that will continue until 20 August. The camp includes intensive daily sessions and a number of friendly matches.

One of the most notable fixtures in the programme will come on 19 August, when Al Ahly face Barcelona in the Joan Gamper Trophy.

Al Ahly will begin their Egyptian league campaign against El Sharqia Enppi and will conclude the first round with a meeting against Wadi Degla. They are scheduled to play 13 of their 19 matches in the opening phase at Cairo International Stadium.

The Egyptian Premier League is due to start on 21 August, with the first phase scheduled to finish on 20 February. The second phase is set to begin on 8 March and conclude on 28 May, provided there is no change to the May schedule because of the finals of continental competitions, as revealed by Taha Ezzat, chairman of the competitions committee.

The league will be played in two stages. The opening phase will be a single round-robin competition involving all 20 teams, producing a total of 19 matchweeks.

At the end of that phase, the six highest-placed teams will enter the championship group to compete for the title. The teams finishing from seventh to 20th will form the relegation group and compete to avoid dropping into the division below.

Each team will carry the same number of points from the first phase into the final stage. The standings in that stage will be determined separately within each group, with the matches again played on a single round-robin basis.

If two or more clubs finish level on points, their positions will be decided in accordance with Article 15 of the competition regulations.

The four teams at the bottom of the relegation group will be relegated to the lower division, the Professional League.