Zamalek drawn into a demanding CAF Champions League group

The CAF Champions League draw has placed Zamalek in a particularly challenging group, despite several major African clubs missing from this edition. Al Ahly of Egypt, Mamelodi Sundowns, Wydad and Raja are among the absentees. Zamalek will face Club Africain, the Tunisian league champions, Mouloudia, the Algerian league champions, and Tanzanian champions Young Africans.

The club’s return to the group stage comes after three full years away. During that period, the Confederation Cup was its continental route: Zamalek won it once, lost a final and was eliminated in the quarter-finals in the third year.

This season’s results present a mixed picture. Mit Okba’s players have played 11 matches in the Egyptian league and the CAF Champions League, winning nine, drawing once early in the season against Al Ittihad Alexandria, and losing to Al Ahly. In the league, Zamalek sit third on 16 points, five behind leaders Pyramids and one behind second-placed Al Ahly.

Those figures do not tell the whole story. Despite their results, Zamalek have often come close to dropping points and were not the better side in most of those matches. In the CAF Champions League, the club has won all four games it has played so far, home and away across the competition’s 64-team and 32-team qualifying rounds.

The difficult group makes the continental challenge tougher. The assessment is that an easier draw might not have changed much, given the negative performances attributed to the team since the start of the season. Relying only on results while overlooking what happens on the pitch could prove costly, even in an edition without several major clubs.

Zamalek did find success factors last season, when it won the Egyptian league despite not being among the leading favourites. It had a sporting director overseeing football operations, a coach assisted by performance analysts and a discipline imposed throughout the squad. The title came despite financial problems, contract terminations and the departures of Abdelhamid Maali, Salah Eddine Mesdad, Nasser Maher and Nabil Emad “Donga”.

Zamalek is close to reaching an agreement with Hossam El-Zanaty for the sporting director role. He would be responsible for restoring the discipline seen last season but missing this season. The club could also use a final international break scheduled for November to give the new coach more time to get to know the team. If it cannot appoint a strong coach, the alternative proposed is to strengthen the existing technical staff with assistants and performance analysts.