Pyramids Football Club (Arabic: نادي بيراميدز لكرة القدم or نادي الأهرام لكرة القدم) is an Egyptian professional football club based in New Cairo, Cairo that competes in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest league in the Egyptian football league system.[1] Formed in 2008 as Al Assiouty Sport in Beni Suef, the club was bought and moved to Cairo by Turki Al-Sheikh in 2018. Later on, Salem Al Shamsi bought the club in July 2019.
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| Full name | Pyramids Football Club | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2008 as Al Assiouty Sport 2018 as Pyramids FC | |||
| Ground | 30 June Stadium | |||
| Capacity | 30,000 | |||
| Owner | Salem Al Shamsi | |||
| Chairman | Mamdouh Eid | |||
| Manager | Krunoslav Jurčić | |||
| League | Egyptian Premier League | |||
| 2023–24 | Egyptian Premier League, 2nd of 18 | |||
| Website | https://www.pyramidsfc.com | |||
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History
editAl Assiouty Sport
editThe club was formed as Al Assiouty Sport in Beni Seuf in 2008.[2] The club was promoted to the Egyptian Premier League for the first time in 2014,[3] but finished 19th and were relegated in their first season.[4] They won Group A of the Second Division in 2016–17 and were promoted back to the Premier League.[5]
Pyramids FC era: 2018–present
edit
In the summer of 2018, the Chairman of the Saudi Sports Authority Turki Al-Sheikh bought Al Assiouty Sport from Beni Seuf.[2][6] The team's name was changed to Pyramids FC, and the club moved 120 km to Cairo.[7] Hossam El-Badry was announced as chairman of the club, Ahmed Hassan as spokesman and football team supervisor, Hady Khashaba as football director and former Botafogo coach Alberto Valentim as the new manager.[8]
In their first season under the new name, Pyramids finished the 2018–19 Egyptian Premier League in third place,[9] qualifying for the 2019–20 CAF Confederation Cup, and reached the 2019 Egypt Cup Final, where they lost 3–0 to Zamalek.[10] In July 2019, the Emirati businessman Salem Al Shamsi acquired the ownership of the club.[11] Pyramids FC managed to establish themselves as Egypt's 3rd best team always placing third except in the 21–22 season where they finished second only behind Zamalek.
First participation in African tournaments
editCompeting in a continental tournament for the first time, Pyramids reached the final of the 2019–20 CAF Confederation Cup despite starting the competition in its preliminary rounds. After beating Étoile du Congo, CR Belouizdad, and Young Africans in the qualifiers they went on to top their group in the First Round, containing Enugu Rangers, FC Nouadhibou, and Al-Masry, winning all bar one of their games.[12] In the quarter-final they beat Zanaco 3–1 over two legs, and then won 1–0 against Horoya in the semi-final.[12] In the final, held in Rabat, they lost 1–0 to Moroccan side RS Berkane.[13] In the league, Pyramids again finished third,[14] in a season disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, again qualifying for the following season's CAF Confederation Cup.
On 25 December 2023, in the Egyptian Super Cup semi-final, Pyramids lost on penalty kicks to Modern Future, failing to achieve their first championship.[15] On 30 August 2024, the club achieved their first-ever title following a 1–0 win over ZED in the 2024 Egypt Cup final.[16]
Value
editPyramids FC became one of the most valuable African sports clubs in 2024
| Team | Country | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Mamelodi Sundowns | South Africa | €35.40m |
| Al Ahly | Egypt | €28.45m |
| Pyramids FC | Egypt | €22.25m |
| Espérance de Tunis | Tunisia | €20.88m |
| Zamalek | Egypt | €18.80m |
Honours
editDomestic
edit- Runners-up (1): 2022–23
African
edit- Runners-up (1): 2019–20
Pyramids Women
editPyramids has announced the formation of the women's team in 2022, they currently compete in Egyptian Women's Premier League
Television channel
editPyramids FC TV, is Egyptian sport television channel owned by Pyramids FC and Turki Al-Sheikh, launched in 2018.
Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors
edit| Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt main sponsor | Shirt sponsor (sleeve) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–2019 | Kappa | Saudia | Swyp |
| 2019–2020 | Adidas | None | |
| 2020–2021 | Puma | TikTok | |
| 2021– | MyWhoosh | None |
Statistics
editPerformance in competitions
edit| Year | EPL | Egypt Cup | Egyptian Super Cup | CAF Champions League | CAF Confederation Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–19 | Third place | Runners-up | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 2019–20 | Third place | Quarter-finals | did not enter | did not enter | Runners-up |
| 2020–21 | Third place | Quarter-finals | did not enter | did not enter | Semi-finals |
| 2021–22 | Runners-up | Runners-up | did not enter | did not enter | Quarter-finals |
| 2022–23 | Runners-up | Semi-finals | Runners-up | did not enter | Quarter-finals |
| 2023–24 | Runners-up | Champions | Third place | Group stage | did not enter |
| 2024–25 | TBD | TBD | TBD | Group stage | did not enter |
Performance in CAF competitions
edit- PR = Preliminary round
- FR = First round
- SR = Second round
- PO = Play-off round
- QF = Quarter-final
- SF = Semi-final
- Notes
- ^ Tie was played as a one-legged fixture at a neutral venue in Morocco due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.
Players
editCurrent squad
edit- As of 6 October 2024
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Managers
edit| Name | Nationality | From | To | P | W | D | L | Win % | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record | |||||||||
| Alberto Valentim |  Brazil
|
1 July 2018 | 16 August 2018 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67 | [17] |
| Ricardo La Volpe |  Argentina
|
17 August 2018 | 29 October 2018 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 42.86 | [18] |
| Hossam Hassan |  Egypt
|
29 October 2018 | 25 January 2019 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 54.55 | [19] |
| Ahmed Hassan (interim) | Egypt
|
25 January 2019 | 5 February 2019 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 | |
| Ramón Díaz | Argentina
|
5 February 2019 | 31 May 2019 | 13 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 61.54 | |
| Sébastien Desabre |  France
|
8 July 2019 | 19 December 2019 | 19 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 63.16 | [20] |
| Abdel Aziz Abdel Shafy (interim) | Egypt
|
20 December 2019 | 27 December 2019 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00 | [21] |
| Ante Čačić |  Croatia
|
26 December 2019 | 1 November 2020 | 33 | 21 | 3 | 9 | 63.64 | [22] |
| Rodolfo Arruabarrena | Argentina
|
11 November 2020 | 30 June 2021 | 37 | 18 | 12 | 7 | 48.65 | [23] |
| Takis Gonias |  Greece
|
29 June 2021 | 11 September 2021 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 41.67 | [24] |
| Ehab Galal | Egypt
|
11 September 2021 | 24 April 2022 | 27 | 17 | 6 | 4 | 62.96 | |
| Takis Gonias | Greece
|
25 April 2022 | 4 January 2023 | 39 | 24 | 5 | 10 | 61.54 | |
| Jaime Pacheco |  Portugal
|
5 January 2023 | 5 February 2024 | 58 | 31 | 14 | 13 | 53.45 | |
| Krunoslav Jurčić | Croatia
|
7 February 2024 | 36 | 26 | 7 | 3 | 72.22 | ||
References
edit- ^ "Pyramids FC نادي الفلوم الرياضي" (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
- ^ a b "The Crazy Story of Egyptian Football Club Pyramids FC". Hooligan F.C. 10 May 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
- ^ "الأسيوطي سبورت يتأهل للدوري الممتاز" [Al Assiouty Sport promoted to the Egyptian Premier League] (in Arabic). FilGoal. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
- ^ "Egyptian Premier League 2014/2015 – Results, fixtures, tables and stats – Global Sports Archive". globalsportsarchive.com. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
- ^ "الأسيوطي يصعد رسميا للدوري الممتاز | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Archived from the original on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
- ^ "Pyramids FC: Saudi ownership of Cairo club angers Egyptian football fans". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
- ^ "Egyptian football revolution to take Africa by storm". ESPN.com. 4 July 2018.
- ^ "Pyramids FC announces their chairman, coach and new signings". EgyptToday. 28 June 2018.
- ^ "Standings Egyptian League 2018–2019 – Football". Eurosport. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
- ^ Salama, Mohamed (8 September 2019). "Zamalek down Pyramids 3–0 to win Egypt Cup title". KingFut. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
- ^ "UAE businessman Salem Al Shamsi acquires Egyptian football team Pyramids FC". The National. 6 July 2019.
- ^ a b "2019/20 CAF Confederation Cup matches". African Football. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
- ^ "Pyramids lose CAF Confederation Cup final". EgyptToday. 26 October 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
- ^ "Tables – Premier League – Egypt – Results, fixtures, tables and news – Soccerway". uk.soccerway.com. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
- ^ "Modern Future FC reach Egyptian Super Cup final with record penalty shootout win over Pyramids FC". ahram.org. 25 December 2023.
- ^ "Pyramids FC beat ZED in Egypt Cup final to win first-ever trophy". KingFut. 30 August 2024.
- ^ "KingFut – Egyptian Football News, Opinion and Scores". KingFut.
- ^ "Pyramids FC name Ricardo La Volpe as new head coach". Seif Soliman. 17 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
- ^ "OFFICIAL: Hossam Hassan appointed as Pyramids FC manager". kingfut.com. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
- ^ "Exclusive: Desabre to join Egyptian money bags". football-256.com. 7 July 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
- ^ "زيزو مديرًا فنيًا مؤقتًا لبيراميدز.. وفتح الله مساعدًا" [Zizou is a temporary technical director for Pyramids ... and Fathallah is his assistant]. Mohamed El-Sweify (in Arabic). 18 December 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "الكرواتي شاشيتش مدربًا جديدًا لبيراميدز" [Croatian Cacic new coach for Pyramids]. Mohamed El-Sweify (in Arabic). 26 December 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
- ^ "رودولفو أروابارينا مدربًا جديدًا لبيراميدز" [Pyramids FC announce appointment of Rodolfo Arruabarrena as new head coach]. Seif Soliman (in Arabic). 11 November 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ "OFFICIAL: Pyramids FC sack Arruabarrena, appoint Takis Gonias". Seif Soliman. 29 June 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
External links
edit
Independent websites
edit- Pyramids FC at Egyptian Premier League