Al Ahly resume Spain training ahead of Barcelona clash

Al Ahly have resumed full-team training at their camp in Spain as they continue preparations for the new season, with a meeting against Barcelona in the Juan Gamper Trophy now less than a week away.

Sunday’s session began with a short meeting between head coach Hussein Ammouta and the players. The manager used the gathering to explain a number of important technical and tactical points before the squad moved on to practical work.

The training programme opened with a series of physical exercises overseen by the fitness coach. That was followed by a session focused on ball work as the coaching staff continued to build the players’ technical and physical readiness.

Goalkeepers Mohamed El Shenawy, Mostafa Shobeir and Hamza Alaa completed an intensive workout under the supervision of the goalkeeping coach.

Al Ahly’s Spanish training camp will run until 20 August. The club’s preparations will conclude with a high-profile fixture against Spanish side Barcelona on 19 August, when the two teams will meet at Camp Nou for the Juan Gamper Trophy.

The Cairo-based club will then begin their Egyptian Premier League campaign against Eastern Company ENPPI on Sunday, 23 August.

Al Ahly are scheduled to play 13 of their 19 matches in the first stage of the competition 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. That possibility was outlined by Taha Ezzat, chairman of the competitions committee.

The league will be played in two stages. The opening phase will use a single round-robin format, with the 20 teams meeting across 19 rounds.

At the end of that stage, the six highest-ranked teams will enter the championship group to compete for the title. The teams finishing from seventh to 20th will form the group competing to avoid relegation.

Each club will carry forward the same number of points it earned in the first stage. However, rankings in the second phase will be determined by each group’s individual competition, with both groups playing a single round-robin schedule.

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

The four teams at the bottom of the second phase’s relegation group will drop to the lower division, the Professional League.