Hundreds of jubilant fans set off firecrackers, waved giant flags bearing Ahly’s iconic eagle emblem and chanted feverishly as the Cairo giants won 3-2 on aggregate for a record-extending 11th Champions League crown.
Back at home, when more than 50,000 supporters packed Cairo International Stadium to cheer on Ahly during the course of Africa’s flagship club competition, celebrations were largely muted even when the Red Devils eked out some precious wins.
In April, when Ahly defeated Morocco’s Raja 2-0 in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final, a plainclothes policeman was caught on camera harassing some supporters in the southern end of the stands, where the team’s hardcore supporters traditionally sit.
They [plainclothes policemen] kept yelling instructions and stopping any attempts to cheer or chant any slogans. It was really ridiculous and shameful.
He was videoed pulling the shirt of one, searching another, and shouting at others, amid a cacophony of jeers from the angry crowd.
‘Classroom’
“It was as if we were in a classroom, not in a football stadium,” says one fan, who asked not to be identified. “They [plainclothes policemen] kept yelling instructions and stopping any attempts to cheer or chant any slogans. It was really ridiculous and shameful.”
Rights lawyers say dozens of supporters were arrested afterwards, most of whom remain in custody. The Egyptian Front for Human Rights, a non-profit organisation, says some were taken from their home.
A new ticketing system that has been in place since 2019, in which every fan has an ID, makes it easier for authorities to track any fans whom they regard as troublemakers.
The incident was the latest in a series of tit-for-tat between Egypt’s security forces and diehard football supporters, which date back to the 2011 revolution that unseated the autocratic president, Hosni Mubarak.
There has been no love lost between both sides since organised football groups, widely known as Ultras, played a key role in triggering street protests at the time.
A football disaster in 2012, in which more than 70 Ahly fans died after being confronted by rival supporters in the coastal city of Port Said during a local league game, added to tensions and prompted authorities to enforce an outright crowd ban.
The ban was briefly lifted in 2015, only to be reinstated after more than 20 fans of Ahly’s city rivals Zamalek died after being tear-gassed by security forces right before the start of a league match in May of the same year.
Fan groups accused police forces of being complicit in both tragedies. Some security officials received prison sentences for being negligent in the Port Said disaster, but only Zamalek fans were implicated in the 2015 tragedy, further fueling long-running tensions.
Since then, an intermittent crowd ban has been in place, but hardcore supporters, albeit without being officially affiliated with any fan groups, seize any chance to cheer for their teams in a typical passionate manner, which security forces consider too rowdy for their own liking.
‘Approaching threat’
One fan, who joined Ahly on their trip to Casablanca for the Champions League final, portrayed a wholly different atmosphere on the road, saying the away supporters had faced no troubles or restrictions.
A football journalist who regularly attends games at Cairo Stadium – the traditional home of Ahly and Zamalek – says the history of animosity between fan groups and security forces makes things tense.
“Security forces are usually apprehensive and impulsive. They consider fans as an approaching threat,” says the journalist who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They are also not used to dealing with supporters, given the lengthy crowd ban we’ve had in Egypt.
“You can’t take things out of their context. For example, things in Morocco are relaxed and easy and they really know what they are doing. It’s completely the opposite here, where a tense atmosphere prevails.”
On social media, Egyptian football fans shared images of packed stadiums in the likes of Syria and Iraq, accusing authorities of failing to even match the standards of the two war-torn countries.
Calls to boycott matches following Ahly’s game against Raja were widely circulated, but barely heeded as passionate supporters kept flocking to stadiums.
“As long as security forces don’t back off, confrontations will persist,” says the Ahly fan.
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