Football is the most popular national sport of Egypt. The Cairo Derby is one of the fiercest derbies in Africa, and the BBC picked it as one of the 7 toughest derbies in the world.
Al Ahly is the most successful club of the 20th century in the African continent according to CAF, closely followed by their rivals Zamalek SC. They’re known as the “African Club of the Century”.
With twenty titles, Al Ahly is currently the world’s most successful club in terms of international trophies, surpassing Italy’s A.C. Milan and Argentina’s Boca Juniors, both having eighteen.
The Egyptian national football team known as the Pharaohs won the African Cup of Nations seven times, including three times in a row in 2006, 2008, and 2010.
Considered the most successful African national team and one of the very few African teams that reached the top 10 rankings on the FIFA world ranks, Egypt has only qualified to the FIFA World Cup three times only though.
The Egyptian Youth National team Young Pharaohs won the Bronze Medal of the 2001 FIFA youth world cup in Argentina. Egypt was 4th place in the football tournament in the 1928 and the 1964 Olympics.
Squash and tennis are other popular sports in Egypt. The Egyptian squash team has been known for its fierce competition in international championships since the 1930s.
Amr Shabana and Ramy Ashour are Egypt’s best players and both were ranked as world’s number one squash player. Egypt has won the Squash World Championships four times, with the last title being in 2017.
Among all African nations, the Egypt national basketball team holds the record for best performance at the Basketball World Cup and at the Summer Olympics. Further, the team has won a record number of 16 medals at the African Championship.
In 1999, Egypt hosted the IHF World Men’s Handball Championship, and will host in 2021. In 2001, the national handball team achieved its best result in the tournament by reaching fourth place.
Egypt has won in the African Men’s Handball Championship five times, being the best team in Africa. In addition to that, it also championed the Mediterranean Games in 2013, the Beach Handball World Championships in 2004 and the Summer Youth Olympics in 2010.
Egypt has taken part in the Summer Olympic Games since 1912 and hosted and Alexandria h the first Mediterranean Games in 1951.
Egypt has hosted several international competitions. The last competition was the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup which took place in 24thSeptember to 16th October 2009.
On Friday 19 September 2014, Guinness World Records announced that Egyptian scuba diver Ahmed Gabr is the new title holder for deepest salt water scuba dive, at 332.35 metres (1,090.4 feet).
Ahmed set a new world record Friday when he reached a depth of more than 1,000 feet (300 metres). The 14-hour feat took Gabr 1,066 feet (325 metres) down into the abyss near the Egyptian town of Dahab in the Red Sea, where he works as a diving instructor.
On 1 September 2015 Raneem El Weleily was ranked as the world number one woman squash player. Other Egyptian squash player women are Nour El Tayeb, Omneya Abdel Kawy, Nouran Gohar and Nour El Sherbini.
