Egyptian Premier League to begin on 21 August, with five rounds before September international break

The new Egyptian Premier League season will start on 21 August, with five rounds scheduled before the international break in September, Competition Committee chairman Taha Ezzat has announced.

The opening round will be played between 21 and 23 August, following the draw for the competition, which was held on Wednesday.

Ezzat said: “The league starts on 21 August and the first round will be played from 21 to 23 August.”

He added: “Five rounds will be played until 16 September before the international break.”

The first phase of the season is scheduled to conclude on 20 February. The second phase will then begin on 8 March, with the Egyptian Premier League currently set to finish on 28 May.

However, Ezzat warned that the May schedule could still be altered because the dates of the finals of the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup have not yet been confirmed.

He said: “The end of the league in May may be changed because we do not have the dates of the Champions League and Confederation Cup finals yet.”

The Egyptian Premier League will be contested over two phases, with the first stage involving all 20 teams in a single round-robin format.

Each club will play 19 matches during the opening phase, facing every other team once.

At the end of that stage, the six highest-placed teams will move into the championship group, where they will compete for the title. The remaining 14 teams, finishing between seventh and 20th, will enter the relegation group and fight to avoid dropping into the Professional League.

The points gained during the opening phase will be carried forward in full to the second stage. The final standings in each group will be determined separately according to the results of the relevant competition, with both groups played as single round-robin competitions.

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

At the conclusion of the second phase, the four teams occupying the bottom positions in the relegation group will be relegated to the Professional League, the division below the Egyptian Premier League.

The timetable announced by Ezzat sets out the principal dates for the campaign, although the league’s final weeks remain subject to possible changes arising from the continental calendar. The dates for the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup finals are still unavailable, meaning fixtures scheduled for May could require adjustment.