This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2011)

Al-Ahly SC

120px
Full name	Al-Ahly Sports Club
Founded	19 September 1950
Ground	11 June Stadium Tripoli, Libya (Capacity: 80,000)
League	Libyan Premier League
2010–11	2nd
Home colours Away colours

Al-Ahly Sports Club (Arabic: النادي الأهلي الرياضي‎‎) ("National Sports Club") is a Libyan football club based in Tripoli, Libya. The club is the second most successful Libyan club in history, having won 10 Libyan Premier League titles, five Libyan Football Cups and a Libyan SuperCup. Al-Ahly is known as the leader of Libyan Football clubs and has the largest number of fans in Libya. The club has endured a poor period in the last 10 years. They have not won the title since the 1999–2000 season.

The club's crest consists of a green and white background, with a torch placed on an outline of Libya. The torch is meant to signify independence for the nation, as it was achieved just months after the club was founded. The club's crest changed after it won its 10th Libyan Premier League title in 2000, with a star being placed on top.

Al-Ahly's main rivalry is with Al-Ittihad. The two clubs are the biggest in the country, and together, have won 28 of the 41 national championships that have been contested, as well as 10 of the 18 domestic cups. The rivalry's name is the Classico. In the last five meetings,^[when?] there have been four red cards.

The club won the first national championship in the 1963–64 season, but then suffered a period of seven years until its next win in 1970–71. The club won two of the next three titles, and picked up the last before the cancellation of the league in 1977–78. The 1980s was a very dire period for the club, as their own failure, coupled with Al Ittihad's success, meant that their rivals went into the 1990s with six titles to their own five. However, they reach the final of the African Cup Winners' Cup in 1984, where they withdrew from facing Al-Ahly Cairo, as Muammar Gaddafi's bad relationship with Egypt at that time meant that Libyan clubs were banned from facing Egyptian clubs. In 2011, the club's coach, Abdel bin Issa, travelled to the Nafusa Mountains for a meeting with Libyan Rebel leaders, where he announced his defection from Gaddafi.

Foundation[link]

In the middle of the 20th century, Libya, a country still looking for its independence, started to found many sporting clubs and youth clubs in a political move to unite the youth of the country in order to fight for its independence, and drive out the British forces. A young group of youngsters from Tripoli decided to name their club Al Istiqlal, meaning Independence, but the British administration, uncomfortable with this name as it may have caused a revolt against their power, refused it. The club was therefore named Al Ahly, meant as The People's Club, and chose the club's colours as green to signify independence, peace and hope for the country. The youngsters who put their names down for the first board meeting were:

• Musbah Wanis (President and Owner)
• Alaa Musbah Wanis (Vice-President)
• Yousef Bin Abdallah (Treasurer)
• Salem Bin Hussein (Board Member)
• Mustafa Al Raqea'y (Board Member)
• Mahmoud Bin Hadimah (Board Member)
• Mohamed Sa'ad Bin Othman (Board Member)
• Mustapha Al Khouga (Board Member)

The club was founded on 19 September 1950

The club's first squad was:

Honours[link]

• Libyan Premier League: 10
  • Champions 1964, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1984, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000
  • First official tournament in the Libyan Premier League season 1963–64
  • First Cup in the Libyan Premier League season 1976
  • The first team in Libya get the gold star: 10 Championships

• Libyan Cup: 5
  • Winners 1976, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2006

• Libyan SuperCup: 1

Winners 2000

Performance in CAF competitions[link]

• CAF Champions League: 1 appearance
  • 2000 - First Round

• African Cup of Champions Clubs: 2 appearances
  • First round 1983
  • Final 1984 (Alahly refused to play in the final due to the Libyan-Egyptian conflict)

• CAF Cup Winners' Cup: 1 appearance
  • Second round 2002

• CAF Confederation Cup: 2 appearances
  • Premliminary round 2007
  • First round 2010

Fans[link]

Al-ahly have the largest number of fans in Libya and the club has fans in almost every city in Libya.^{[citation needed]} There are about 1.5 million Al-ahly fans in Libya.^{[citation needed]}

Sponsorship[link]

Official Sponsor[link]

Al-Madar Al-Jadid Telecomm and Eni are the official Sponsors for Al Ahly Tripoli

Kit providers[link]

Former kit providers of Al Ahly were Adidas. and Kappa.

Current kit provider is Nike.

2010–11 season[link]

Current squad[link]

As of 15 February 2011 Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Jum'aa Qtait 5 DF Naji Shushan 7 MF Munir Al Mabrouk 8 DF Gabrael Begrmawy 11 MF Mohammad Al Maghrabi 12 GK Moheddin Mahgob 13 MF Fouad Al Traiki 15 MF Khaled Al Delawi 21 GK Salah Bargo 22 FW Waled Al Mabrouk 23 MF Mohamed Essa 25 DF Desten Papou Makita

No. Position Player 27 DF Ali Almiri 28 DF Rabie Al Lafi 29 FW Mohamed Al Ghanodi 30 DF Mahmod Bohairi 31 FW Salem Aballo 32 MF Almahdi Almasri 33 MF Mohi Eddin Abo Sharb 34 DF Daniel Traoré 35 DF Hosam Abd Almajid 91 MF Zakaria Al Lafee FW Youness Alhawassi

Managers[link]

• Theo Bücker (2007–08)
• Noureddine Saâdi

External links[link]

• http://www.alahly.ly/