Al-Hilal Club (Omdurman)

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Al Hilal Club
File:Al-Hilal Club (Omdurman) - most football club in sudan.jpg
Al-Hilal Club (Sudan) - most football club in Sudan
Full name Al Hilal Educational Club
Nickname(s) Seed al-balad (The Leader of the Country)
Al-Mawj Al-Azraq (Tha Blue Wave)
Founded 13 February 1930
Ground Al-Hilal Stadium,
Omdurman, Sudan
Ground Capacity 35,000
Chairman Sudan Ashraf Seed Ahmed
Head Coach France Jean Michel Cavalli
League Sudan Premier League
2014 Sudan Premier League

Al Hilal Educational Club (Arabic: نادي الهلال للتربية‎‎) also known as Al Hilal Omdurman or Al Hilal for a short, is a Sudanese football club founded on 13 February 1930 in the city of Omdurman. The team has been crowned champion of the Sudan Premier League in seven of the past nine seasons, and throughout its history has won the championship 27 times during the league's 45 seasons – thus making it Sudan's most successful football team.

Name and history

The name Hilāl is the Arabic word for crescent – a name chosen on a night when the crescent of the moon was visible in Omdurman. Also it is the first club in the world to be named (AL- HILAL).

Idea

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, on the heels of a failed uprising by pro Egyptian elements antagonistic to the Anglo part of the then Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the British colonial authorities banned many activities and organizations that could potentially disrupt their hold on the region. The only organized activities permitted were sports clubs and Scouting.

In 1930, four graduates from Gordon Memorial College (now the University of Khartoum) – Hamadnallah Ahmed, Yussuf Mustafa Al-Tini, Yusuf Al-Mamoon, and Babikir Mukhtar – decided to establish a sports club as an outlet for their and others' youthful energies. On 13 February 1930, a dozen of yet-to-be the founding fathers of Al-Hilal, mostly graduates from Khartoum Memorial College, met in the house of Hamadnallah Ahmed in Al-shohada Omdurman, to discuss the details of the new sports club.

At that time, sports clubs were named after neighbourhoods, cities and famous figures. Examples included Team Bori (after a Khartoum neighbourhood), Team Abbas (after a famous person) and Hay Alisbtaliya (after an Omdurmanian neighbourhood). The meeting concluded that the new club should have an inclusive name, and not be named after a specific neighbourhood or person.

The story goes that the club founders had been unable to agree upon a name for the proposed club when the meeting was temporarily adjourned at dusk for the evening prayers at a nearby mosque. After prayers and en route back to the meeting house, one of the founders, Adam Rajab, is said to have looked up at the night sky, saw a crescent ("Hilal" in Arabic), and remarking that it was the crescent of the Muslim lunar month of Rajab, asked the others "why not we name it Al-Hilal?". Everyone welcomed the idea, and on 4 March 1930 Al-Hilal became the official name of the club and the first to hold this name in Sudan and the Middle East.

The uniform chosen was dark blue and white – after the white crescent against the dark blue night skies. In light of the aforementioned pro-Egyptian uprising, however, the British colonial authorities initially refused to permit formation of a team whose symbol, a crescent, was reminiscent of the crescent prominently featured on the Egyptian flag of that time. Only after repeated reassurances that the team was simply an athletic outlet for apolitical college students, and that its symbol had no political overtones, did the British authorities relent and allow the team to form.

1930 Squad and Officers

The first squad included many of the founders that were present at the establishing meeting. The following list includes the founding fathers of Al-Hilal and their roles.

First Administration

First Squad (1930)

Other Founders

(F) = denotes Founder

Achievements

National

Champion (25): 1965, 1967, 1970, 1973, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014
Winner (7): 1977, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2009, 2011

International

Runners-up (2): 1987, 1992
Runners-up (1): 2003
Semi-finals (2): 1990, 2005

Performance in CAF competitions

The club have 14 appearances in African Cup of Champions Clubs from 1966 to 1996 and 13 appearances in CAF Champions Lague from 1997 till now.

1998 – Quarter-finals
2002 – First round
1994 – First round
2001 – First round
2003 – Second round

Motto

The motto for Al-Hilal is Allah – AlWatan – Al-Hilal. It is translated to English as "God – The Nation – Al-Hilal", which establishes a priority love list for Al-Hilal fans.

Rivalry with Al-Merrikh

There is a fierce historical rivalry between the two strongest clubs in Sudan, Al-Hilal and Al-Merrikh. With both clubs based in Omdurman, clubs matches are very intensified and often require high security precautions. In recent years, this rivalry extended to include the press labeling certain sports newspapers and columnists as Al-Hilal Writers vs. Al-Merrikh Writers. Player exchange period is occasionally very competitive and fierce. Prospective players are sometimes hidden and placed in undisclosed locations to ensure that the other club would not extend a higher offer and sign the player.

Although Al-Mourada is considered as the third club that completes the Sudan football triplet, it has struggled financially and administratively to continue that legacy. Al Hilal vs Al Merrikh is one of the strongest and hardest derbies in Africa in Arab football. Sudanese people say it is one of the toughest derbies in East Africa.

Current squad (2014-15)

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Sudan GK Younis Al Taib
2 Ghana MF Nelson Ladzagla
4 Sudan MF Bishah
5 Sudan DF Malik Mohamed
6 South Sudan MF Atir Thomas
7 Sudan DF Ali Alnoor
8 Ghana DF Abeiku Ainooson
9 Sudan FW Suhaib Ezzaledin
10 Sudan FW Mohammed Abdelrahman
11 Sudan MF Faisal Musa
12 Sudan DF Saif Masawi (captain)
13 Sudan MF Nizar Hamid
No. Position Player
15 Senegal DF Souleymane Cissé
16 Cameroon GK Maxime Loïc Feudjou
17 Sudan FW Mudather Careca
18 Ghana MF Kennedy Ashia
19 Sudan FW Salah Al Jozoli
20 Sudan MF Walid Aladdin
22 South Sudan GK Jumma Ginaro
23 Sudan MF Nasr Eldin Shigail
25 Sudan DF Abdellatif Saeed Boya
26 Sudan DF Mutasim Abdelgadir
29 Sudan DF Mowaia Bashir
30 Ivory Coast MF Cheick Moukoro

Starting XI

Only considering Competitive starts. When starts are equal, player with the most recent start is displayed.

Notable players and staff

Throughout history, Al-Hilal players, staff, and administration have achieved notability in sports and other disciplines.

Name Period Note
Sudan Ashraf Sid Ahmed 2014 Al-Hilal new president 2014.
Sudan Tayeb Abdallah 1963–99 Longest serving president and staff member of Al-Hilal.
Sudan Haitham Mustafa 2001–2012 Most caps in Al-Hilal.
Sudan Omar Bakheet 2013–2015 Captain 2013

Affiliated clubs

References

External links