Ismaily Breaks the Drought as Bank Al Ahly Dominate the Gouna Clash

Matchday Highlights

Ismaily SC ended a long winless spell by beating Haras El Hodoud 3-1 at Ismailia Stadium in the 11th round of the Egyptian Premier League on Saturday night. Under Algerian coach Miloud Hamdi, the hosts rediscovered their winning form after a two-month drought since their last league victory on August 24.

Haras El Hodoud opened the scoring through Ibrahim Abdelhakim in the 16th minute, but Ismaily equalized just before halftime through Abdullah Mohammed in the 45th. In the second half, Ismaily brought on Nader Farag to sharpen the attack, while Haras responded by introducing Omar Fathi and Amr Gamal into the mix in the 75th minute. The turning point came when Omar Fathi scored an own goal in the 73rd minute to put Ismaily in front, and Anwar Abdul Salam sealed the result with a 90+2 strike.

Ismaily moved to seven points, sitting 16th, while Haras El Hodoud remained on 11 points in 15th. The result arrives amid administrative turmoil at Ismaily, with a rescue committee led by Ali Ghait and the club's board under Nasser Abu Hassan seeking to stabilize the side and secure fundraising to pay debts and complete transfers.

Bank Al Ahly vs El Gouna

Meanwhile, Bank Al Ahly produced an away-day victory, defeating El Gouna 3-0 at the Khaled Beshetra Stadium in the Red Sea region. Ahmed Yasser Rayan opened the scoring from a penalty in the 41st minute after a foul on Amr Gamal, Osama Faisal doubled the lead in the 61st, and Rayan completed the scoring in the 69th.

Under coach Ayman Ramadi, the Bank's revival continued with late changes including Saidou Somborie, Amir Medhat, Yaou Anwar and Sayed Abdullah. The win lifts Bank Al Ahly to 14 points in 9th, while El Gouna sit on 12 points in 15th. The clash also highlighted a tactical duel between Ramadi and his former assistant BeBo, who previously worked with him at Aswan and Ceramica Cleopatra; Ramadi even considered BeBo for a role during his Zamalek spell, though past social posts complicated the talk.

Looking ahead, the Egyptian Premier League will resume with fixtures such as ZED vs Petrojet and Ceramica Cleopatra vs Tala’a El Gaish, while Tuesday brings a Pyramids vs Farco match and the week will close with a high-profile Al Ahly vs Alexandrian club clash; next on the horizon, Al Masry vs Smouha. The league leaders remain Al Masry on 18 points, level with Zamalek and Al Ahly on goal difference.

On the competition format, the Egyptian Professional Clubs Association unveiled a new system for the 2025/2026 season: 21 teams will compete. The competition will be played in two phases; the first phase will be a standard round-robin, and the second phase will divide teams into two groups: the top seven vie for the title and CAF spots, while the bottom 14 fight to avoid relegation, with the four lowest teams dropping to the second division.

Punchline time: If football were a sniper, the ball would be the target and the net the punchline—some days it hits, some days it misses, but the fans always clap for the show. Punchline two: the new two-phase format is so intricate that even the referee needs a coach to read the diagram. Stay tuned for more twists, folks!