Al Ahly arrive in Spain for pre-season camp and Barcelona clash

Al Ahly’s squad has arrived in Spain for a pre-season training camp that will run from 6 to 20 August, with the Egyptian champions preparing for the new campaign and a high-profile meeting with Barcelona in the Joan Gamper Trophy.

The team left Egypt on Thursday morning, with the club’s new signings included in the travelling party. The delegation is being led by board member Tarek Kandil, who was appointed by Al Ahly chairman Mahmoud El Khatib to head the football team’s trip.

Al Ahly will face Badalona, who play in the fifth tier of Spanish football, in Barcelona on 12 August. The match forms part of head coach Houcine Ammouta’s preparations to give his players competitive minutes before the start of the season.

Badalona’s ownership recently passed to Egyptian businessman Amir Zuhair Grana.

The main fixture of the camp will take place on 19 August, when Al Ahly play Barcelona at Camp Nou in the 61st edition of the Joan Gamper Trophy.

Sufyan Benjeddah, Oktay Abdullah and Ali Mahmoud travelled with the squad, as did Ahmed Khaled Kabaka, who has returned from a loan spell. Algerian forward Monsef Bakrar is expected to join the group within two days at the latest.

Al Ahly’s squad for the Spanish camp is:

Goalkeepers: Mohamed El Shenawy, Mostafa Shobeir, Hamza Alaa.

Defenders: Yassin Marei, Yasser Ibrahim, Hady Riad, Mohamed Hany, Amr El Gazzar, Ahmed Eid, Ahmed Nabil Kouka, Youssef Belammari, Karim El Debes, Karim Fouad.

Midfielders: Marwan Attia, Emam Ashour, Ahmed Reda, Ahmed Khaled Kabaka, Omar Sayed Moawad, Mohamed Magdy Afsha, Ali Mahmoud, Omar El Saai, Taher Mohamed, Hussein El Shahat, Mohamed Abdullah, Ahmed Sayed Zizo, Achraf Bencharki.

Forwards: Oktay Abdullah, Sufyan Benjeddah, Monsef Bakrar, Mohamed Raafat.

Al Ahly are planning to return to Egypt on a private aircraft because of the limited time available before the domestic season begins. They will leave Spain after their Joan Gamper Trophy match against Barcelona on 19 August.

The Egyptian Premier League starts on 21 August. Al Ahly begin their league campaign against El Sharqia and ENPPI on Sunday, 23 August, and will finish the first half of the season against Wadi Degla.

The Joan Gamper Trophy will provide Al Ahly with a significant occasion in their history. Although the competition is a friendly tournament, it is an annual celebration for Barcelona supporters and serves as the club’s official presentation event before the new season.

The competition was created in 1966 on the initiative of Barcelona president Enric Llaudet. It honours Swiss football pioneer Joan Gamper, who founded Barcelona in 1899 and helped establish the club that later became one of the biggest in world football.

The tournament has been held every year since its creation and became a regular part of Barcelona’s preparations for the new campaign. In its early years, it featured four teams competing in semi-finals, a final and a third-place play-off.

Barcelona changed the format in 1997, reducing the event to a single match between the Catalan club and an invited opponent. That format remains in place.