African and Egyptian powerhouse Al Ahly are no stranger to FIFA's Club World Cup and the continent's most successful club is looking for some global success in Qatar over the next two weeks...
According to FIFA statistics, Africa's sides have struggled to impress during the 17-year history of the Club World Cup as they won just 11 of the 42 matches they've played in the competition, registering a collective win rate of 26.1 percent.
Al Ahly is Africa's most regular representatives in the tournament -- unsurprising considering their standing as the continent's most successful side -- and their appearance in Qatar will be their sixth attempt at the tournament.
Al Ahly contested their opening match of the FIFA Club World Cup on Thursday, when they met Qatari champions Al Duhail for the right to progress to the semifinals.
Information about FIFA Club World Cup
The Club World Cup is an annual competition pitting the continental champions against one another in a knockout competition.
Each of FIFA's six continental champions qualify for the tournament, as well as the reigning domestic champions of the competition hosts -- in this instance, Qatar's Al Duhail.
How Al Ahly qualified for the Competition among Africa teams
The Egyptian giants are Africa's representatives at the 17th edition of the tournament after qualifying as the reigning CAF Champions League winners.
The Egyptian team will be desperate not to replicate their 5-1 mauling by Mexico's Monterrey in the fifth-placed playoff in 2013, which remains Africa's biggest defeat in the competition.
This team has also revived its winning streak under Mosimane, completing a treble last year with triumphs in the Egyptian top flight and cup to complement the Champions League success.
The 56-year-old manager -- the first South African coach in Al Ahly's 114-year history -- has experience of the Club World Cup already, having competed in the tournament with Mamelodi Sundowns back in 2016, according to African news agencies.
It's worth noting that they were named in 2000 as Club of the Century by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and rightly so.
The Red Devils won their record-extending ninth title with great victory over eternal rivals SC Zamalek at the Cairo International Stadium, in a match billed as the biggest in the history of African football.
Beyond their domestic rivalry, the two Massive clubs are the two most successful teams in continental competition, and attacking midfielder Mohamed Magdy, known as Afsha, duly wrote his name in the history books when he secured a unforgettable victory late November with a thumping winner six minutes from time.
Al Ahly celebrate their record-extending ninth CAF Champions League title after defeating SC Zamalek in 2020.
Appearances
Al Ahly is the most successful club in the world in terms of number of trophies won and, second in terms of international titles won with 25, behind only Real Madrid with 26 tourneys.
In 2005, Al Ahly appeared at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan for the first time, but the start was not successful as the team lost to Sydney FC and then Al-Ittihad.
In 2006, Al Ahly returned to participate in the FIFA Club World Cup tournament for the second time in a row in the championship that was held in Japan.
Al Ahly's participation this time was much better than the first time, as Al Ahly defeated Auckland City FC in the quarter-final 2–0 with two goals scored by Flávio Amado and Mohamed Aboutrika in the second half.
The Red Devils qualified for the semi-finals to face the Brazilian club Internacional. The team played a great match but lost 2–1.
Alexandre Pato and Luiz Adriano scored for the Brazilian team and Flavio scored for Al Ahly in the second half.
Moreover, Al Ahly played a match to determine the third and fourth places. Al Ahly managed to defeat Club América in Yokohama 2–1 for the bronze medal.
The iconic Egyptian player Mohamed Aboutrika scored the two goals for Al Ahly, while Salvador Cabañas scored the only goal for the Mexican club. Al Ahly won the bronze medal for the first time in African history.
Al Ahly, led by Hossam Al Badri, achieved the fourth place in the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, achieving victory in the first match against Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2–1, with goals by El Sayed Hamdy and Ahly's talismanic striker Aboutrika who came off the bench to score the winning goal after only 12 minutes into the second half.
Then, Al Ahly lost 1–0 to the Copa Libertadores champion Corinthians, and then Al Ahly was defeated by Monterrey in the third-place match.
It's worth noting that Africa has never produced a champion; teams from either Europe or South America have always been the winner of the tournament.
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