El Zamalek

The handball journey in Zamalek SC started in 1958. At that time, handball was not a popular sport in Egypt as it is now. The credit for the popularity of handball in Egypt goes to Dr. Mohamed Fadali, one of the legends of Zamalek SC, who introduced the game of handball for the first time in the programs of the Higher Institute of Physical Education for teachers in Cairo in 1938 and issued many publications explaining the basic principles of the game, its laws, and rules of practice. He was also the founder of the Egyptian, Arab and African handball federations and the first president of the Egyptian Handball Federation. Zamalek participated in the Giza region league and the first edition of the Republic Championship in 1958, which has now become the Egyptian Handball League. With coach Hanafi Nassar, who was the first coach of Zamalek handball in 1958, for the men's team, the women's team and the junior team at the same time, and a group of young players, Zamalek aspired to create a generation that would participate and dominate local and continental championships in the future, the building of a strong team began in the 1960s by buying players from other clubs and relying on the club's youth system.

Hanafi Nassar had his beginnings in sports when he was a football player in the Khedive School as a goalkeeper. He was a personal friend of Alaa Al-Hamouli, one of the legends of Zamalek SC, who helped him play football at Zamalek in 1952, Hanafi Nassar played under-18s football in the juniors team and played many times in friendly matches, and was a reserve for Zamalek goalkeeper, at that time, Aldo Stella, but he did not continue the practice of football because of his love for handball and his attachment to it and his influence on it. The credit goes to the founder of handball in Egypt, Dr. Mohamed Fadali, who in 1957 played a handball game in Zamalek, but he did not continue to play handball. As he made his biggest achievements in what he did after that in the field of training and him building generations of handball players and spreading the game of handball in Egypt. Due to his love, passion for coaching in which he excelled, it made him the pioneer of this game in Egypt. He used to go to different places to discover talented players in order to form strong teams for Zamalek handball. 1962–63 season, Zamalek won the first handball championship in the history of the club, Zamalek won the Giza region league for men, juniors, and women in the same season with coach Hanafi Nassar, who became the first coach to win a title with Zamalek handball teams, the men first team, women first team and the junior team. The first generation of the men's first handball team at Zamalek SC: Farouk Abdel-Gawad, Talaat Farid, Muhammad Wafiq, Mahmoud Khairat, Ahmed Askar, Hamid Mujib Abu Hadid, Mohamed Seoudi, Namiq Jaafar, Abdo Farag, Hanafi Riyad, Medhat Al-Masry, Mohamed Afifi, Nabil Sobhi, Khaled Khattab, Saif Farajallah, Sayed Abdel-Aal, Mustafa Al-Duwaini, Hamdi Al-Sayed, Mounir Gerges, Abdel-Moati Youssef. The first generation of the women's handball team at Zamalek SC: Samira Burhan, Amal Al-Fayoumi, Mona Gabr, Hikmat Daoud, Magda Qassem, Azza Nassef, Khadija Nassir, Suhair Saleh, Hana Ibrahim, Tayseer Mustafa, Nadia Samir. Hanafi Nassar would also pay with his own money when needed to form strong teams for Zamalek. 1st Egyptian Handball League title in the club's history in 1976–77 season, Zamalek won the league and the 1st Domestic Competitions in the history of the club, with coach Mohamed Tawfiq Al-Welily and the league's top scorer Gamal Hussein, who scored 113 goals.

1978–79 season, in which Zamalek won 3 historical titles, the treble, that Zamalek achieved by winning the Egyptian League, Egyptian Cup in the 1st edition, and the African Champions League in the 1st edition. Zamalek became the 1st Team in the World Achieve a three titles in one season, Zamalek players and administrators who achieved the triple, Alaa Salah, Hassan Sakr, Saad Selim, Ismail Mohamed Ali, Mansour Sadek, Medhat El-Beltagy, Tarek Anis; the administrators: Saeed Abdel Razzaq, Dr. Abdullah George Saad, Dr. Jamal Hamadeh, Ayoub Debes, Ezz El Matarawy, Osama Gomaa, Tariq Jibril, Mamdouh Hashem, Hussein Labib. with This talents promised a good future and with coach Kamal Darwish, who was armed with great knowledge gained Everything was done ambitiously and after all the obstacles were overcome and the fiercest opponents were defeated in 1979. Zamalek under the technical leadership of coach Dr. Kamal Darwish became the 1st club ever to win the Egypt Handball Cup and the African Handball Champions League, and won the 2nd Egyptian Handball League title in the club's history, Kamal Darwish became the 1st Egyptian and African coach to win 3 titles in one season.

From 1979 to the 1980s was the first golden era of Zamalek in handball, Kamal Darwish continued to lead Zamalek towards continental and local titles. 1979–80 season, Zamalek won the Egyptian Handball Cup title for the 2nd time in a row, and the African Handball Champions League for the 2nd time in a row, after winning the final match against Nadit Alger. In the 1980–81 season, Zamalek won the 3rd African Handball Champions League title in a row, after winning the final match against ASC Diaraf. After winning the African Handball Champions League in 1981, Zamalek retained the championship cup for life, after winning it three times in a row in 1979, 1980, and 1981, in that season, with coach Kamal Darwish as well, Zamalek repeated the feat of the 1978–79 season and for the 2nd time won three titles in one season, Egyptian Handball League for the 3rd time in the club's history, the Egypt Handball Cup for the 3rd time in the club's history, and the African Handball Champions League, with Dr. Kamal Darwish as coach: Esmat Saudi, Hossam Haroun, Hussein Labib, Tariq Anis, Abdel Rahman Al-Bohy, Tariq Jibril, Hassan Saqr, Mustafa al-Ahmar, Saad Selim, Ayoub Debes, Alaa Nasser, Kamal Abdel Razek. 1982 to 1986 the golden era of Zamalek in handball continued. Zamalek started to dominate the local championships, from 1982–83 to the 1985–86 season, Zamalek won 7 championships, 5 local championships, and 2 continental championships. In this period, Zamalek won 2 Egyptian Handball League titles in 1982–83, 1984–85, winning a total of 5 Egyptian Handball League titles in the history of the club, and 3 Egypt Handball Cup titles in 1982, 1983 and 1986, becoming the most successful club in the Egyptian Handball Cup with 6 titles. In 1985, Zamalek won the African Handball Cup Winners' Cup in the 1st edition after defeating Al Ahly in the final, raising the total number of continental championships to 4. In 1986, Zamalek won the African Handball Champions League for the 4th time, after winning the final match against Inter Club Brazzaville. Zamalek ended the 1980s era achieving a total of 12 titles in it, 3 Egyptian Handball League titles, 5 Egypt Handball Cup titles, 4 African Champions League titles, and 1 African Handball Cup Winners’ Cup title, this generation of players and this era is considered the golden era in the history of Zamalek handball and the history of Egyptian and African handball. Zamalek were African champions for 5 times out of 10 participants in the Confederation of African Handball (CAHB). Zamalek Handball players in the 1980s and some of them were honored and awarded the Sports Order of the Republic by the President of Egypt, at the time Muhammad Anwar El-Sadat. To make the Zamalek fans proud of their players, who their made history in Arab and African handball.

Zamalek won 11 titles From 1990 to 1999, 5 Egyptian League titles, 4 Egyptian Cup titles, 1 African Champions League title, and 1 Arab Championship of Champions title. this era, Zamalek went through a change of players and some players retired, this went on until Zamalek passed the formation of a new team of young players such as. Hossam Gharib, Ayman Salah, Ahmed Debes, Ahmed Al-Attar, Mahmoud Hussein, Hamada Al-Rubi, Ahmed Ramadan, Hussein Zaky, Hassan Yousry. in the 1990–91 Zamalek succeeded in winning the African Champions League in 1991 for the 5th time, and achieved the historic treble for the 3rd time, by winning the Egyptian League for the 7th time and the Egyptian Cup for the 7th time. Zamalek defended their title to win the Egyptian Cup in 1992 for the 8th time. Then Zamalek succeeded in winning the Egyptian League twice in a row in the 1994–95 and 1995–96, as well as the Egypt Cup in 1994. Zamalek would win their 1st title in Arab Championship of Champions 1999, after winning the final match against Al-Ahly. In the same season, Zamalek succeeded in winning the Egyptian League for the 10th time, and the Egyptian Cup for the 10th time.

Zamalek won 12 titles From 2000 to 2004, 2 Egyptian Handball League titles, 3 Egypt Handball Cup titles, 2 African Handball Champions League, 1 African Handball Super Cup, 3 Egyptian Excellence Cup, 1 National Local League, With the remnants of the previous generation of Zamalek players in the 1990s and the rising generation with strength, Zamalek dominated locally and continentally all titles. In addition to qualifying for the 1st time in the club's history to the IHF Super Globe 2010, And winning the 1st African Super Cup 2002, Zamalek began the 21st century, by obtaining the historic triple titles by winning the Egyptian Handball League for the 11 times, Egypt Handball Cup for the 11th times, and the African Handball Champions League 2001 for the 6 times, after winning the final match against Niger United, in the same season Zamalek won the friendly Egyptian Excellence Cup for the 1st time, Zamalek succeeded in maintaining the Egyptian Cup for the 12th times, and the African Handball Champions League in 2002 for the 7th times, after winning the final match against Sporting Clube de Luanda, In addition to winning the Friendly Egyptian Excellence Cup for the 2nd time in a row. Zamalek had a date to win a new title and win it for the first time in the club's history and this time was with the African Handball Super Cup in 2002, when Zamalek succeeded in winning against Club Africain, Zamalek wins again for the third time in a row the Friendly Egyptian Excellence Cup and the National Local League Championship in the 2002, Zamalek returns again in 2004 and won the Egyptian Handball League for the 12th times and Egyptian Cup for the 13th times.

Zamalek won 10 titles From 2005 to 2010, two Egyptian Handball League, two Egypt Handball Cup, two African Handball Cup Winners' Cup, one African Handball Super Cup, three Egyptian Handball Super Cup. From here, the black decade begins in the history of the Zamalek club, which affected all sports in the club due to the many administrative problems and the dissolution of the Zamalek club's board of directors more than once and the appointment of temporary committees to manage the club, Zamalek wins over the administrative conditions and wins the Egyptian Super Cup for handball for the first time in 2005. In 2006 Zamalek won the Egyptian Handball Cup for the 14th time and the Egyptian Super Cup for handball for the second time in a row. In 2007 Zamalek won the Egyptian Super Cup for handball for the third time in a row, Zamalek winning the Egyptian Handball League for the 13th time in 2008 and the Egypt Handball Cup for the 15th time. In 2009 Zamalek succeeded in returning and winning the continental titles after an absence of seven years, and this time winning the African Handball Cup Winners' Cup for the 2nd time, after winning the final match against Minuh Yaoundé. In the 2010 season, Zamalek won the Egyptian Handball League for the 14th time and the African Handball Cup Winners' Cup for the 3rd time, after winning the final match against G.D. Interclub, and the African Super Cup for handball for the second time, after winning against GS Pétroliers. and qualify for the IHF Super Globe for the 1st time. and achieved 3rd place and a bronze medal, in a historic achievement for the club so far.

Zamalek won 4 titles From 2011 to 2014, Zamalek club went through a difficult stage for the club in all games due to administrative problems and others, and this led to the decline and poor results in all games except for handball, which dominated the African championships and won the three titles organized by the Confederation of African Handball, Zamalek succeeded in winning the African Handball Champions League for the 8th times in the club’s history after an absence of 9 years, the African Handball Cup Winners’ Cup for the 4th times, And the African Handball Super Cup for the 3rd times, The team also succeeded in winning the African Handball Super Cup in 2012 for the 4th times in the club history. The team succeeded in achieving 4th place twice in the IHF Super Globe 2011 and 2012.

Administrative problems in Zamalek Club led to a decline in the levels of all collective teams from 2011 to 2014, but the handball team in Zamalek Club was the only team in the club that Achieved championships, whether Domestic and African Competitions, until 2013 when Zamalek players decided to leave the team due to problems with The club’s management and financial problems that led to the Leave of most of the first-team players for handball, and Zamalek became one of the Most Crowned Egyptian Teams in the African Titles to the Team Competing to Avoid Relegation and this is what happened in 2013 when the team was competing to Stay in the First Division League with a Group of Youth Players. Youth Zamalek players succeeded in maintaining the name of the Zamalek club by staying in the Egyptian Handball League, In 2015, with a new administration that assumed the responsibility of managing the Zamalek, the board of directors decided at the time to return all Zamalek players to return again to their club and return the Zamalek club again to the Local and Continental Titles. Indeed, with the determination of the commandos, Zamalek succeeded in winning the African Handball Champions League 2015 and for the 9th time in the club’s history and they write a history of Loyalty to the Zamalek.

Zamalek won 16 different championships From 2015 Until 2021, 4 African Handball Champions Leagues, 4 Egyptian Handball League titles, 1 Egypt Handball Cup, 1 African Handball Cup Winners’ Cup, and 3 African Handball Super Cup. And 3 titles in friendly tournaments, including 2 titles in the Sharjah International Handball Friendly Championship and 1 title in the Luxembourg International Handball Friendly Championship. Since the dismantling of the Zamalek handball team in 2012, everyone thought that the team was finished, but it returned with a strong season 2015/2016 until 2021 so Zamalek achieved 16 different championships, including 8 continental championships. The team got 5th place twice in IHF Super Globe 2019 and 2021. And win the Award for the most scoring team in IHF Super Globe 2021, Zamalek succeeded in winning the last three titles of the Egyptian Handball League from 2019 to 2021, winning the last three titles of the African Handball Champions League from 2017 to 2019, and winning the last three titles of the African Handball Super Cup from 2018 to 2021 to be this golden generation for the Zamalek Handball Club. And the most successful Egyptian, Arab and African teams.

After winning the Egyptian League title for the 4th time in a row and the 19th in the club’s history, and achieving a record that has not been achieved since 1966, to be the 2nd team to win the league title for four consecutive times. Zamalek also succeeded in achieving the Professional Super Cup title for the 1st time in the club’s history, in the second edition For the new competition of the Egyptian Handball Federation, Zamalek succeeded in obtaining the 25 international titles in the club’s history after winning the African Cup winners Cup for the 6th time and reducing the difference with the Algerian Groupement Sportif des Pétroliers, which was crowned with 9 Cup Winners’ Cup titles. Zamalek became the most Egyptian team in all sports win a continental titles in (Football–Handball–Volleyball–Basketball), and also succeeded in Reducing the difference with the Groupement Sportif des Pétroliers to 4 titles in the struggle of the most titled clubs with international trophies in handball.