Al-Karamah SC

Al-Karamah SC is a Syrian professional football club based in the city of Homs. Founded in 1928, it is considered to be one of Asia's oldest sporting clubs. The club has won eight Syrian League titles and eight Syrian Cup titles. It also was the first Syrian club to win both the league and cup titles in the same year. The club is based at the Khaled Ibn Al Walid Stadium. In 2008 the club formed Board of Honor from a prominent business men of the city of Homs to support the club activities and Dr Mohammed Rahif Hakmi was elected as the board chairman.
The club covers other sports such as basketball, handball, table tennis, tennis and athletics for both, males and females. In addition to boxing, freestyle wrestling, judo, karate, weightlifting and cycling.
History
Early period (1928–1972)
Khaled bin Al-Walid Club was established in 1928 at the time of French mandate through the city’s youth who thought of establishing a sports club that would include them and allow them to practice sports officially. Founders were: pharmacist Lian Traboulsi, Abdul Qader Al Jamali, Haider Al Droubi, Salah Al Husseini, Mamdouh Moussalli, Abdul Rahman Rashad, Nasouh, Yasser, Juma, Shawkat, Raafat Al Atassi, Abdel Moamen Al Sheikha, Burhan Al Droubi and Reda Al Jamali.
After they founded the club, their first championship was in the game on April 25, 1948, where they won the Qatar championship as representatives of the national team Homs after their victory in the final match against the team Aleppo with two goals to one after the extension, and scored the first goal by the breeder Satea Al-Atassi and the second goal by Qusai Al-Jabri, and Khaled Club maintained its title the following year and then returned to win the Syria championship in 1952 and football was the main game in this club.
On February 18, 1971, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad issued Legislative Decree No. /38/ regulating the sports movement in the Syrian Arab Republic and as a result, the sports clubs were merged by a decision of the Executive Office of the General Sports Federation No. /59 The date of August 18, 1972, and Al-Karama Club is the outcome of the merger of several civil clubs in the city of Homs, which are the Khaled Ibn Al-Waleed – Al-Wahda – Al-Jihad – Al-Tadamon – Al-Tala’a clubs.
First league and cup titles (1972–2005)
In the 1974–75 season, Al-Karama won the first league championship under the leadership of coach Omar Saleh Agha. Then he took the lead by collecting the League and the Cup for the first time in the season 1982–83 led by Jamil Jarro, and then, during the 1983–84 season, he wanted to repeat the achievement, so he held the league championship and was not allowed to hold the cup when he was considered a legal loser against Al-Ittihad despite his progress with the match result due to the rioting of his fans. That meeting was in the semi-finals of the competition, but they returned to carry the Cup of the Republic in the year 1987, and then to repeat their achievement in the 1995–96 season, in which they won the League Championship and then the Republic Cup led by Abdul-Nafi Hamwi, and competed with Al-Jaish in the seasons 1998–99 and 2000–01 and finished as runners-up led by Muhammad Quwaid, as well as in the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons led by Imad Khankan.
Domestic doubles and continental success (2005–2010)
In 2006, the club led by Muhammad Quwid participated in the AFC Champions League as the league's runners-up of the previous season, in which they reached the finals, winning most of the major Asian football teams. In the group stage, they had to compete against Al Wahda from the UAE, Saba Battery from Iran with the team was led by the international goal scorer Ali Daei and Al-Gharafa from Qatar. They finished at the top of their group and qualified for the Asian CL quarter-finals with 4 wins and 2 losses.
In the quarter-finals, the club played Al Ittihad where they lost in the first leg in Jeddah 0–2. In the return match at home, Al-Karamah scored 2 goals during the first 90 minutes and the match went into extra time. In extra time, Mohannad Ibrahim scored 2 goals and Al-Karamah ended up winning the game 4–0 which caused a tie with an overall aggregate score of 4–2 causing a great surprise in AFC Champions League history.
The club moved on to play Al-Qadisya of Kuwait in the semi-final. The first leg was in Homs, Syria, resulting in a 0–0 draw. while Al-Karamah was in possession for 85% of the time. The return leg was in Kuwait. Al-Karamah won the game by scoring in the 14th minute of the match by Aatef Jenyat.
On 1 November 2006, the club played Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (South Korea) where Al-Karamah lost the first leg 2–0 in South Korea. In the second leg, Al-Karamah were leading 2–0 until a late goal in the 86th minute by Zé Carlos, so they won 2–1 in Homs but the final aggregate score was 2–3, making Jeonbuk the 2006 AFC Champion League Winner.
However, the club won the league championship in the 2005–06 season, followed by the 2006–07 season, in addition to winning the Republic Cup for the fifth time in their history; hence, collecting the double for the third time. The overwhelming achievement was repeated by achieving the domestic double for the 2007–08 season, winning the seventh league championship and the sixth Syrian Cup championship.
In the 2008–09 season, Al-Karamah started their season faltering after the departure of the management of Riyadh Al-Habal and the departure of the team's coach, Muhammad Quwid, in addition to some of the team's star players. However, the club managed to tie with Al-Ittihad at top spot, so that a play-off match was resorted to for the first time in the history of Syrian football in Al-Assad Stadium in Latakia and Al-Karama won 2–1 to be their 8th title in competition, followed by the title of Cup of the Republic in the same season, to became the first Syrian club to win the double for three consecutive seasons.
Grounds
Khalid ibn al-Walid Stadium
Khalid ibn al-Walid Stadium is located in the city center of Homs, Syria. In 2004, the stadium was completely renovated and expanded to its current capacity of 32,000 spectators. In the same year, the venue was renamed after the sahabi Khalid ibn al-Walid who died and was buried in 642 in Emesa.
Bassel al-Assad Stadium
Bassel al-Assad Stadium is located in the centre of Homs, directly behind the district Baba Amr. The stadium was renovated during 2016 and a new turf was installed.
Supporters and rivalries
The Al-Karamah Fans Association is one of the first fan associations to be formed in Syria. It was formed in 1975. It has a slogan from those days and was headed by the cheerleader Omar Al-Shaghouri at that time. Mny of its members became members of the club’s management, including the former club president engineer Nasouh al-Baroudi.
The audience deviating from the text sometimes without being able to control it despite its beautiful shape with its blue flags, drums and flutes, without forgetting the association’s interest in issuing calendars and diaries to support the club’s fund.
Colours and kits
Shirt sponsor & kit manufacturer
Football achievements
Domestic
Syrian Premier League: 8
Champions: 1974–75, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1995–96, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09
Syrian Cup: 8
Champions: 1982–83, 1986–87, 1994–95, 1995–96, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10
Syrian Super Cup: 2
Champions: 1985, 2008
Continental
AFC Champions League:
Runners-up: 2006
AFC Cup:
Runners-up: 2009
Performance in AFC competitions
AFC Champions League: 4 appearances
2006: Runners-up
2007: Quarter-finals
2008: Quarter-finals
2010: Qualifying play-off – West semi-finals
Asian Club Championship: 1 appearance
2001: First round
AFC Cup: 3 appearances
2009: Runners-up
2010: Quarter-finals
2011: Group Stage
Al-Karamah in Asia
Accurate as of 1 October 2022
Performance in UAFA competitions
Arab Club Champions Cup: 1 appearance
2005: 1st Round
Records
Accurate as of 1 October 2022
Current squad
As of 4 August 2022
Notable former players
References
External links
Al-Karamah Fans society website
sda al-karameh
al-karameh online
al-karameh NEWS
Football clubs in Syria
Association football clubs established in 1928
Homs
1928 establishments in Mandatory Syria