2020–21 Egyptian Premier League

Egyptian Premier League

Season	2020–21
Dates	November 2020 – June 2021
← 2019–20 2021–22 →

The 2020–21 Egyptian Premier League, also known as The WE League for sponsorship purposes, will be the 62nd season of the Egyptian Premier League, the top Egyptian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1948. The season is scheduled to start in late November 2020 and is expected to conclude in June 2021. Fixtures for the 2020–21 season will be announced in early November 2020. The season was initially scheduled to start in July, but was delayed to November due to effects and consequence of the postponement of the previous season's conclusion due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt.

Al Ahly are the defending champions, having won their 5th consecutive and 42nd overall league title in the previous season.

Teams

Smouha

Cairo/Giza

Cairo and Giza teams
Al Ahly
ENPPI
Al Mokawloon Al Arab
Pyramids
Zamalek

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Locations of the 2020–21 Egyptian Premier League teams

Eighteen teams will compete in the league - the top fifteen teams from the previous season, and three teams promoted from the Egyptian Second Division.

Teams promoted to the Egyptian Premier League
On 12 October 2020, National Bank of Egypt secured promotion for the first time in their history following a 1–1 draw with Asyut Petroleum in the final round, in which they finished the season at the top of Group A with equal points with second-placed Beni Suef, but they beat them on head-to-head points.

Ghazl El Mahalla became the second team to be promoted on 13 October, after spending four years in the Second Division, as they ended their season at the top of Group C, winning the last round 2–1 against Olympic Club, thus having a two-point lead ahead of Pharco.

Ceramica Cleopatra were promoted for the first time in their history on 15 October, as they finished their season at the top of Group B, following a draw with Gomhoriat Shebin in the last round, thus they were one point ahead of second-placed Petrojet.

Teams relegated to the Egyptian Second Division
The first club to be relegated was Tanta, who suffered an immediate return to the Egyptian Second Division following Wadi Degla's 4–1 away win against El Entag El Harby on 28 September 2020, which assured the relegation of the El Gharbia-based side. Despite having a decent start early in the previous season, Tanta's performance was progressively worsened and eventually led the club to go on a 17-game winless run and finish on bottom of the table.

The second club to be relegated was FC Masr, who also suffered an immediate return to the Egyptian Second Division following a 1–1 home draw with ENPPI on 3 October 2020 that confirmed the club's relegation. The club did not enjoy a good success in their first-ever season in top flight as they managed to win only 3 matches and conceded more goals that any other club in the league.

Haras El Hodoud became the last club to be relegated on 12 October, as they lost 1–2 to Zamalek on the 33rd round; thus returning to the Second Division after only two seasons in the top tier.

Venues

Al Ahly	Aswan	Ceramica Cleopatra
Al Salam Stadium	Aswan Stadium	TBD
Capacity: 30,000	Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: TBD
ENPPI	El Entag El Harby	Ghazl El Mahalla
Petro Sport Stadium	Al Salam Stadium	Ghazl El Mahalla Stadium
Capacity: 16,000	Capacity: 30,000	Capacity: 14,564
El Gouna	Ismaily	Al Ittihad
Khaled Bichara Stadium	Ismailia Stadium	Alexandria Stadium
Capacity: 12,000	Capacity: 18,525	Capacity: 19,676
Al Masry	Misr Lel Makkasa	Al Mokawloon Al Arab
TBD	TBD	Osman Ahmed Osman Stadium
Capacity: TBD	Capacity: TBD	Capacity: 35,000
National Bank of Egypt	Pyramids	Smouha
TBD	30 June Stadium	Alexandria Stadium
Capacity: TBD	Capacity: 30,000	Capacity: 19,676
Tala'ea El Gaish	Wadi Degla	Zamalek
Gehaz El Reyada Stadium	Petro Sport Stadium	Cairo International Stadium
Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 16,000	Capacity: 75,000

Notes

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Al Ahly	Pitso Mosimane	Mohamed El Shenawy	Umbro	WE, SAIB Bank, Royal Dutch Shell1, Tiger Chips1, GLC Paints2
ENPPI	Helmy Toulan	Ramy Sabry	Nike	N/A
Al Mokawloon Al Arab	Emad El Nahhas	Mahmoud Abou El Saoud	Kelme	N/A
Pyramids	Ante Čačić	Abdallah El Said	Adidas	Swyp2
Smouha	Ahmed Samy	Ahmed Homos	Nike	N/A
Zamalek	Jaime Pacheco	Mahmoud Shikabala	Puma	N/A

1. ^ On the back of shirt.

2. ^ On the sleeves.

• WE, Oppo, El Kasrawy Group, SAIB Bank, EgyptAir and GLC Paints are the league's main sponsors, and their logos are printed on most teams' kits.
• Referee kits are made by Puma.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
National Bank of Egypt	Eid Maraziq	Resigned	15 October 2020	Pre-season	Vacant

Foreign players

Clubs can have a maximum of four foreign players registered during the season. Clubs cannot sign foreign players unless these players have played in the first or second tier in their countries. Clubs also cannot sign any foreign goalkeepers. In addition, each club can register a player from Palestine, Syria, or the UNAF region; those players are not counted as foreign players. Also, any foreign player who holds Egyptian nationality is not considered a foreign player and will be registered as a local player. For example, Al Masry's player Mahmoud Wadi of Palestine holds both Palestinan and Egyptian nationalities, and as a result he is not registered as a foreign player.

• Players name followed with ^† indicates the player is playing out on loan.
• Players name followed with ^§ indicates the player is playing for the club on loan.
• Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
• Players name in ITALICS indicates the player has left the club during the mid-season transfer window.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Under contract	Former players
Al Ahly	Geraldo	Aliou Dieng	Junior Ajayi	Aliou Badji	Ali Maâloul	Walid Azaro
ENPPI	Fiston Abdul Razak	Tonia Tisdell	Himid Mao
Al Mokawloon Al Arab	Farouck Kabore	Luis Hinestroza	Seifeddine Jaziri				Maarouf Youssef Jacob Njoku
Pyramids	Eric Traoré	John Antwi	Wilfried Kanon	Lumala Abdu	Amor Layouni	Ribamar† Hamed Hamdan Cristian Benavente†	Keno Azubuike Okechukwu
Smouha	Mohamed Koffi	Eddy Ngoyi	Maguette Diop	Derrick Nsibambi	Mohamed Al Tarhoni
Zamalek	Kabongo Kasongo	Achraf Bencharki	Mohamed Ounajem	Ferjani Sassi		Maarouf Youssef Razack Cissé Hamid Ahaddad

Results

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Zamalek (C)	34	24	8	2	61	21	+40	80	Qualification for the Champions League
2	Al Ahly	34	22	10	2	72	29	+43	76
3	Pyramids	34	13	16	5	51	37	+14	55	Qualification for the Confederation Cup
4	Smouha	34	12	18	4	54	41	+13	54
5	Al Masry	34	13	11	10	44	38	+6	50	Qualification for the Confederation Cup
6	ENPPI	34	12	13	9	37	35	+2	49
7	Al Ittihad	34	12	12	10	35	35	0	48
8	Tala'ea El Gaish	34	10	12	12	41	37	+4	42
9	Al Mokawloon Al Arab	34	11	8	15	37	45	−8	41
10	Ceramica Cleopatra	34	8	15	11	41	46	−5	39
11	Ismaily	34	10	11	13	42	44	−2	38
12	El Gouna	34	8	14	12	36	41	−5	38
13	Misr Lel Makkasa	34	10	8	16	36	54	−18	38
14	National Bank of Egypt	34	6	17	11	39	44	−5	35
15	Ghazl El Mahalla	34	7	14	13	28	41	−13	35
16	Wadi Degla (R)	34	5	15	14	29	38	−9	30	Relegation to the Second Division
17	El Entag El Harby (R)	34	5	13	16	35	60	−25	28
18	Aswan (R)	34	6	9	19	29	61	−32	27

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-Head points; 3) Head-to-Head goal difference; 4) Head-to-Head goals scored; 5) Head-to-Head away goals scored; 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored.
(Note: Head-to-head record is used only after all the matches between the teams in question have been played).
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.

Team \ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Al Ahly
ENPPI
Al Mokawloon Al Arab
Pyramids
Smouha
Zamalek

Source: Soccerway

	Leader
	2021–22 CAF Champions League
	2021–22 CAF Confederation Cup
	Relegation to the 2021–22 Egyptian Second Division

Results table

Home \ Away	AHL	ENP	MOK	PYR	SMO	ZAM
Al Ahly	—
ENPPI		—
Al Mokawloon Al Arab			—
Pyramids				—
Smouha					—
Zamalek						—

First match(es) will be played: November 2020. Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref

Note

(H) – Home ; (A) – Away

Top assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards:

• Most red cards:

Club

• Most yellow cards:

• Most red cards:

Number of teams by governorate

Number of teams	Governorate	Team(s)
4	Cairo	Al Ahly, ENPPI, Al Mokawloon Al Arab and Pyramids
1	Alexandria	Smouha
	Giza	Zamalek