Football leagues around the world: Egyptian Premier League

Neha Johri Neha Johri

Football is a truly global sport, played and followed passionately in every corner of the world. While elite competitions like the Premier League, LaLiga, 1. Bundesliga, and Serie A often dominate the headlines, football thrives in countless other countries — many of which are rapidly gaining prominence.

Last year’s revamped FIFA Club World Cup offered a glimpse into the growing strength of the lesser-known leagues. And so, we’ve decided to launch a special series in which we put the spotlight on leagues from around the globe.

Here, we take a look at one of Africa’s biggest leagues — Egyptian Premier League, the top flight of men’s professional club football in Egypt, officially known as the Nile League due to its title sponsorship agreement with New Cairo-based real estate company Nile Developments.

History 

Football in Britain-occupied Egypt began as early as 1882 with the British keen to spread their game all over the world. Initially seen as an odd move by the Egyptians but they soon started to like it. The reformed game started to move out from the British Camps to the streets of Egypt and the rest as they say is history. 

In 1903, the first Egyptian club, Al-Sekka Al-Hadid (Railways) Club was formed which consisted mainly of British and Italian engineers working in the Railways department. However, football gained national popularity with the creation of the Al Ahly club in 1907 and the creation of Al-Mukhtalat Club (renamed as Zamalek SC) in 1911. 

Another significant development was the creation of the Egyptian-English Football Association in 1916 which included 50 Egyptian representatives and British personnel. In 1917, they founded the first competition called the Sultan Hussein Cup under EEFA. This competition ran until 1938 with Zamalek winning their first title in 1921. 

In 1921, The EEFA gave way to the Egyptian Football Association (EFA). In May 1923, Egypt was included as a member in the FIFA governing body which transformed the future of sports in the country. 

In 1938, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) took control of the Cairo Zone Competition, along with the other three leagues. The Cairo Zone Competition was renamed the Cairo League and it remained operational until the mid-1940s. The EFA felt that a national league needed to be formed instead of running regional leagues and passed the idea to King Farouk – the royal head at the time. The Egyptian Premier League was founded by royal decree, and began play in 1948 with the inaugural season being won by Al Ahly. Al Ahly won the league consecutively for a decade until the 1960 championships which was won by their fierce rival Zamalek SC.

Football in Egypt has experienced major disruptions from time to time over the years. The most recent event was the cancellation of the tournament in 2012 after a massive disaster struck where 74 fans (mostly Al Ahly supporters) lost their lives in riots that resulted from a pitch invasion in Feb 2012 during a game between Al Ahly and Al Masry.

As a result, Egyptian fans were banned from stadiums for a period of six years. The next season of the Egyptian League was also cancelled due to the 2013 Egyptian coup d’état. With the pandemic striking in 2019, the Egyptian fans finally returned to stadiums in 2021. 

 It was the fifth time that Egypt’s domestic competition was cancelled. The 1954/55, 1970/71, 1973/74 and 1989/90 campaigns were also discontinued for various reasons.

Al Ahly and Zamalek have dominated the league with Al Ahly also dominating the continental competitions and being awarded the ‘African Club of the Year ’ consecutively in 2023 and 2024 for their continued success. 

Format

The Egyptian Premier League now runs from August to May. The Egyptian Premier League should have a total of 18 teams participating for the title but the 2025/26 season will see 21 teams participating due to no teams being relegated after the 2024/25 season due to the revamped format and clubs complaining about fixture congestion. 

The format has also undergone a change from the double round-robin format to a two- phase format (inspired from the Belgian Football League). 

In the first phase, all 21 teams will play a game against each opponent and then the second phase will come into play. The table will be split in two groups – 

Group 1 – Teams ranked from 1st to 7th (Championship group) 

Group 2 – Teams ranked from 8th – 21st (Relegation group) 

The first group will then compete to win the title and to decide qualification for continental competitions while the second group will fight to stay in the league.

The two phases will have the double round-robin format in play with teams playing an opponent twice – home and away. 

Promotion and Relegation 

The Egyptian Premier League follows the promotion and relegation process. Earlier the 18 clubs participated in a double round-robin format, playing one game at home and one away in a 34 games season. Teams were ranked by total points, then the head-to-head record between the teams in question, then goal difference, and then goals scored. 

After the end of season, the team with most points was declared the winner and the bottom three teams were relegated to the Egyptian Second league. 

However, according to the new format mentioned in the format section above, the top 7 teams will fight for the title and continental competitions while the bottom 14 teams will fight for survival in top-flight. 

At the end of the season, four teams will be relegated and three teams from the second division will be promoted. By 2027, the league structure will be retained with 18 teams participating in the league again. 

Important Stats 

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