Al Ahly to celebrate African handball champions after historic double success

Al Ahly will hold a major ceremony on Thursday evening to honour its men’s and women’s handball teams following their recent continental achievements.

The event has been announced by the club’s board, led by Mahmoud El Khatib, as both teams continue a successful period domestically and internationally.

Al Ahly’s men won the African Club Championship in Angola for a fourth consecutive time and the ninth time in the club’s history. They also claimed the bronze medal at the World Club Championship, which was recently hosted by Egypt.

The club will also recognise its women’s first team after they won the African Club Championship in Angola for the second time in Al Ahly’s history, and for the first time since 1979.

The men secured their latest African title by beating Egyptian rivals Zamalek 26-25 in the final, with the winning goal arriving in the closing seconds through Mohamed Hesham El-Bassiouni, known as “Mody”.

The match was level at 22-22 after normal time and required two periods of extra time before Al Ahly finally prevailed. Mody scored the decisive goal with only five seconds remaining.

Goalkeeper Abdel Rahman Hamid played a key role during extra time as Al Ahly claimed the African Champions League trophy for the ninth time and completed four successive title wins.

The victory came only days after Al Ahly had beaten Zamalek to win the bronze medal at the World Club Championship, also held in Egypt.

No team had previously won the African title in four consecutive editions apart from Algeria’s MC Alger, who achieved the feat twice, from 97 to 2000 and from 2003 to 2006.

Al Ahly have now continued their dominance of the continental competition across the past four seasons.

Zamalek remain the record holders for the most African titles, with 12. Their most recent triumph came in 2019 in Cape Verde.