2020 Egyptian Super Cup

2020 Egyptian Super Cup
The 2020 Egyptian Super Cup (also known as the 2018–19 SAIB Egyptian Super Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 17th Egyptian Super Cup, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's Egyptian Premier League and Egypt Cup. It was played at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 20 February 2020, contested by Al Ahly and Zamalek.
Zamalek defeated Al Ahly and won the match 4–3 on penalties after being tied 0–0, winning the Egyptian Super Cup title for the fourth time in their history.
Background
In the 2018–19 Egyptian Premier League, Al Ahly and Zamalek were joined by Pyramids in title race throughout the season. Pyramids managed to grab 10 points out of 12 possible from their matches against Al Ahly and Zamalek and were leading the table by Matchday 29. However, after winning only 1 match and drawing 4 in their last 5 matches of the season, Pyramids missed their chance to win the league and to qualify for the CAF Champions League as they finished the league in 3rd place. Al Ahly eventually won the league for the 41st time in their history with 1 game to spare following their 3–1 win against Al Mokawloon Al Arab.
Zamalek won the 2018–19 Egypt Cup after defeating Pyramids 3–0 in the final, winning the title for the 27th time in their history. Identical to the previous editions of the competition, the Egyptian Football Association were heavily criticized for the draw procedure where the cup defending champions and the league winners were placed in different paths to make sure that they could face each other only in the final.
During the 2018–19 season, both teams met each other in the league two times and once in the Egyptian Super Cup. The first encounter was played on 30 March 2019 at Borg El Arab Stadium and ended goalless. Al Ahly won the second encounter 1–0 which was played on 28 July 2019 at the same stadium thanks to Ali Maâloul's second-half strike. The third encounter was the previous season's super cup, which was played on 20 September 2019 and also at Borg El Arab Stadium. Al Ahly won the match 3–2 with two goals from Junior Ajayi and one from Hussein El Shahat, while Mahmoud Alaa scored a brace of penalties for Zamalek.
Venue
The match was played at Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The stadium has an estimated capacity of 37,500 and is the home venue of UAE Pro League side Al Jazira. It was one of the eight venues that hosted the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in the country, including one of the semi-final matches.
The stadium also hosted the 2016–17 Egyptian Super Cup between both teams on 10 February 2017, which was won by Zamalek 3–1 on penalties after the game originally ended goalless.
Pre-game
Al Ahly's main winger Ramadan Sobhi was not included in the traveling squad to the United Arab Emirates after suffering from a hamstring injury during training in late December 2019. Other notable excluded players were Hamdy Fathy, who is on the recovery stage from a torn ACL injury, and striker Marwan Mohsen.
Zamalek lost Mohamed Abdel Ghani's services for the match as he suffered from pubalgia during training just four days after facing Espérance de Tunis in the 2018–19 CAF Super Cup, which was won 3–1 by his side.
Match
Officials
On 16 February 2020, the Egyptian Football Association named Norwegian referee Svein Oddvar Moen as the referee for the match. Moen is familiar with Egyptian football, as he officiated the Cairo derby between the two teams during the 2015–16 Egyptian Premier League in addition to the 2017 Egypt Cup Final between Al Ahly and Al Masry. His compatriots Magnus Lundberg and Kim Tomas Haglund were chosen as the assistant referees, while Tore Hansen was chosen as the fourth official. Croatian referee Goran Gabrilo was named the video assistant referee, and fellow Croatian Miro Grgić appointed as the assistant video assistant referee.
Details
References
2020
2018–19 in Egyptian football
Al Ahly SC matches
Zamalek SC matches
February 2020 sports events in Egypt