Sport in Egypt
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.{{cite news |date=5 August 2002 |title=BBC Sport Academy | Al-Ahly v Zamalek |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/football/features/newsid_2299000/2299305.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511124932/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/football/features/newsid_2299000/2299305.stm |archive-date=11 May 2011 |access-date=25 August 2010 |work=BBC News}} 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.{{cite news |date=11 December 2014 |title=Al-Ahly – master of the world |url=http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/12/11/al-ahly-master-world/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211115406/http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/12/11/al-ahly-master-world/ |archive-date=11 December 2014 |access-date=22 December 2014 |newspaper=Daily News Egypt}} Squash and tennis are other popular sports in Egypt. Egypt has also won in the African Men's Handball Championship five times, being the best team in Africa.
History
= Ancient era =
The pharaoh's athletic capabilities were one of the central motifs of ancient Egyptian society.{{Cite book |last=Futrell |first=Alison |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Big9EAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA31 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World |last2=Scanlon |first2=Thomas Francis |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-959208-1 |language=en}} Sport was believed to foster ties to the divine, with board games discovered on the roofs of temples,{{Cite journal |last=Fadel |first=Doaa |date=2020-12-01 |title=Social Entertainment in Greco- Roman Egypt (Games and Sports) |url=https://journals.ekb.eg/article_140583.html |journal=Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=1–34 |doi=10.21608/jaauth.2021.54216.1103 |issn=1687-1863|doi-access=free }} as well as increase collaboration in society.{{Cite journal |last=Hamed Elhosary |first=Mahmoud |date=2024-12-31 |title=The Role of Sports in Social Communication in Ancient Egypt |url=https://journals.ekb.eg/article_399600.html |journal=مجـلة کلية الآثـار بقنا - جامعة جنوب الوادي |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=18–57 |doi=10.21608/mkaq.2024.299321.1139 |issn=2090-8490}}
There were sporting exchanges between Egypt and Greco-Roman cultures as well, due to their Mediterranean proximity.{{Cite journal |last=Hübner |first=Emanuel |date=2021-03-27 |title=The Camel from Alexandria: Egyptian Sources of Ancient Sport* |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09523367.2020.1723551 |journal=The International Journal of the History of Sport |language=EN |doi=10.1080/09523367.2020.1723551 |issn=0952-3367|url-access=subscription }} During the period of Hellenistic and early Roman rule in Egypt, Greek sport became a legal requirement for elites.{{Citation |last=Remijsen |first=Sofie |title=Greek Sport in Egypt |date=2013 |work=A Companion to Sport and Spectacle in Greek and Roman Antiquity |pages=347–363 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118609965.ch23 |access-date=2025-05-19 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781118609965.ch23 |isbn=978-1-118-60996-5|url-access=subscription }}
= Modern era =
In the 1930s and 1940s, Egypt was a powerhouse in weightlifting, boxing, and wrestling with several Olympic and world championship medals.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} However, the last time they won a medal in boxing was in 1960.{{Cite web |last=AfricaNews |date=2021-05-11 |title=Egyptian boxers train hard for Olympics, hope to win medals |url=https://www.africanews.com/2021/05/11/egyptian-boxers-train-hard-for-olympics-hope-to-win-medals/ |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=Africanews |language=en}}
Roller hockey is also a popular sport in Egypt. The Egyptian national roller hockey team has taken part in many world competitions, but didn't win any as of now.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}
Egypt featured a national team in beach volleyball that competed at the 2018–2020 CAVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup in both the women's and the men's section.{{cite news |date=22 June 2021 |title=Continental Cup Finals start in Africa |url=https://www.fivb.com/en/about/news/continental-cup-finals-start-in-africa?id=94414 |access-date=7 August 2021 |work=FIVB}}
Team sports
= Football =
{{Excerpt|Football in Egypt|paragraphs=1-3|files=1|templates=0|references=0}}
= Squash =
{{Excerpt|Squash in Egypt|paragraphs=1-2|files=1|templates=0|references=0}}
References
{{Reflist}}{{Notelist}}{{Egypt topics}}