Ahly set to mark 100 years
After clinching 99 titles in as many years, Egypt's Ahly are set to celebrate their centennial in style by hosting Barcelona.
For the millions of supporters of the "Red Devils", facing off against the European champions is not just a fitting tribute to an illustrious past but also to their newly-acquired status on the international scene.
"The club will play a game against FC Barcelona on Tuesday, which will be the highlight of a series of celebrations spanning an entire year," Sherif Seif al-Nasr, the club official in charge of centennial celebrations, said.
The only previous encounter between the two clubs took place in 1961 and resulted in a 6-1 drubbing of the Egyptian outfit.
The 67,500 seats for Tuesday's game were snatched up within hours of going on sale, with ticket prices ranging from US$4 to US$525.
Barcelona took US$2m for the jubilee, which comes as the Spanish giants are involved in a thrilling end-of-season tussle with Real Madrid and Sevilla to retain their domestic Liga title, Seif al-Nasr said.
Ahly's target will be to secure a 32nd home league triumph this year, a likely prospect as striker Mohammed Aboutrika and his men have already opened up a 12 point gap at the top of the table.
That would provide the icing on the cake all the fans are hoping for, bringing the club its 100th piece of silverware in its 100th anniversary year.
After winning its second consecutive Champions League trophy last year and clinching an unprecedented third spot in the intercontinental cup, Ahly has been in unstoppable form of late.
Ahly boasts around 100,000 members and a fan base estimated at 50 million, making it the most popular club in Egypt, despite its bitter rivalry with Zamalek and the largest club on the continent.
The Cairo club's history has always been closely tied to that of Egypt.
The "African club of the century" was founded on April 24, 1907 by Omar Lutfi Bey, a senior official who wanted a purely national club to counter British dominance of the country, which extended to sports.
However the club's first chairman was finance ministry official Mitchel Ince.
"Choosing Ince, a Briton, for this nationalist club was justified. He controlled the country's finances and was therefore able to finance the club. Nobody could have provided stronger support," leading Egyptian sports columnist Alaa Sadek said.
"Ahly's victories, especially the early ones against the British, strengthened a feeling of national pride," said Sadek, whose three-tome encyclopaedia on Ahly is to be released in August.
Ahly sporting club has since produced the country's finest athletes, many of whom became the first Egyptians and often the first Africans to win international competitions.
Ahly weightlifter Sayed Nosseir won the country's first ever Olympic gold medal in Amsterdam in 1928.
Amr Shabana also added to the club's honours by clinching the world squash title in 2003 and powering on to the top spot in the rankings, which he still occupies.
The football club has had its share of heroes throughout the years, but all eyes Tuesday will be on Aboutrika, whose classy playmaking and ruthless goal scoring skills have earned him the nickname of "smiling assassin".
Red flags have started adorning balconies and cars in Cairo and the rest of the country ahead of the Barcelona game.
The national club kept its colours even when the country's flag switched to green in 1924 after independence.
Among its most famous supporters were Saad Zaghlul, the nationalist leader struggled against British occupation, and Gamal Abdel Nasser, former president and champion of pan-Arabism.
The club experienced a dry patch in the late 1960s to early 1970s but otherwise has dominated national football for much of its existence, together with bitter Cairo foes Zamalek.
"The club has only two weaknesses: a limited budget which currently doesn't exceed US$26m and limited fame in the West," Sadek said.
Ahly 0-4 Barcelona
Ahly's birthday celebrations were slightly doused in Cairo on Tuesday as European champions Barcelona thumped them 4-0 in a centenary friendly.
The reigning African champions were outclassed by the Spanish league leaders as Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o, who grabbed a brace, was joined on the scoresheet by Javier Saviola and Bojan Krkic.
Despite the presence of Ronaldinho, Deco, Lionel Messi and company, Barcelona's sophisticated display and footballing lesson was not necessarily the preferred birthday present for Ahly's fans.
As so often before, Mohamed Aboutreika was the Cairo club's stand-out performer but even he could not stem the wave of Barca attacks.
The Egyptians were poor as they struggled to retain the ball and fashion chances even though Barcelona often seemed to be going through the motions.
Such was the Spaniards' dominance that Ahly's only shot on target in the second half came nine minutes from time as Ossama Hosni wasted a good chance on the right-hand side of the box.
Indeed, such was Barca's control that at a match attended by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, many of the crowd left early as both temperatures and passions dropped.
Ahly fans must have realised it was not going to be a night to savour when diminutive Argentine Javier Saviola headed home from a corner after just 16 minutes.
And one 'man' who will never forget this friendly is 16-year-old Bojan Krkic, who doubled Barcelona's lead after 25 minutes as he buried a shot from 18 yards out.
Shortly after, Emad Moteab came the closest to scoring for Ahly but the striker fired his shot straight at the keeper when one-on-one five yards out.
Late in the second half, Eto'o showed his scoring prowess as he took a pass from Messi in the area, held off his man before jinking round goalkeeper Essam El Hadary for a simple finish.
On the stroke of full-time, the Cameroonian wrapped up the scoring as he coolly slotted home after Messi played him in once more with a slide-rule pass.
Despite Ahly's subdued display and poor result, at least some 75,000 turned out for their 100th birthday party.
