Egyptian giants Al Ahly look to gatecrash Lionel Messi and Inter Miami's Club World Cup party

Egypt’s Al Ahly are used to continental attention and pre-eminence, but their next game will open them up to new audiences as Africa’s most successful club play against hosts Inter Miami in the city’s Hard Rock Stadium.

Saturday’s match (Sunday 4am UAE time) will be the first game in the expanded 32-team Club World Cup, with Fifa president Gianni Infantino guaranteeing that the stadium will be full. However, it’s far from a sell-out and ticket prices have dropped considerably.

When they went on sale in December, the cheapest ticket for the match was $349, but Fifa’s dynamic pricing model has kicked in. When The National checked on Wednesday, there were tickets on sale in multiple areas of the 65,300-capacity stadium priced from $69, with further discounts to local students.

Lionel Messi is usually a pull and Inter Miami play to sell-out home crowds of 21,000 most weeks. Ahly are huge, too, but the supporters we spoke to in Cairo said they looked at the cost of travelling to the United States to support their team and quickly decided it wouldn’t be possible.

Interest from Ahly fans is high, though. The Miami kick-off is at 3am Egyptian time, but Ahly fans told us that Cairo’s coffee shops will be full of people watching the game. The competition is being taken seriously, a chance for Ahly to shine on a bigger stage against the best teams in the world.

The financial guarantees are significant for Africa’s four representatives. Al Ahly, Esperance (Tunisia), Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa) and Wydad (Morocco) are expected to receive a minimum of $9 million for playing in the tournament, much more if they make it beyond the group stage or even win a few matches.

By contrast, an African club would get only $4 million for winning the CAF Champions League – and the clubs must pay their own travel expenses criss-crossing the vast continent.

Ahly arrive in the United States for the Club World Cup as the most successful African team of the modern era. Though their Cairo neighbours and upstarts Pyramids won the African Champions League recently, Ahly are by far the most dominant team in the continent's premier club competition, winning four of the past five titles. Their 12 overall titles have them way out in front. No other African team comes close.

Regulars in the Club World Cup’s previous and smaller format, with more appearances than even Real Madrid, Ahly are again Egyptian champions and fans feel that their squad is the strongest they have ever had.

“Everyone is optimistic because we hear that Miami are not playing well,” supporter Mostafa Omar told The National. “People think we can beat them, draw with Palmeiras and still lose to Porto, but make it through to the last 16. But then we remember that they have Messi, and if Messi wants to win, then he’ll win.

“Going to the Club World Cup is massive for us. Some people in Europe don’t know what this means to people from the rest of the world, it’s your only chance to meet a Real Madrid, a Barcelona, a Bayern Munich, it never happens, and it means the world for us.”

Ahly count tens of millions of supporters in Egypt, with estimates ranging from 40-80 million. The club also have Arab fans and supporters in different parts of Africa.

Ahly are traditionally the team of the working class against the middle- and upper-class support of their main rivals, Zamalek. There are millions of Egyptians around the world – including around 200,000 in the United States. Many of them are in the New York area, where Ahly will play their second and third group games, against Brazilian side Palmeiras and then Portuguese giants Porto.

An upturn in form after a 3-0 March defeat to Zamalek has helped lift the mood. Ahly won six and drew one of their seven games in the championship play-off to win their latest domestic title.

April’s Champions League semi-final elimination to South African side Sundowns irked, leading to the dismissal of Swiss coach Marcel Koller. In charge of Ahly's Club World Cup bid is 49-year-old Spaniard Jose Riveiro, previously in charge of South Africa's Orlando Pirates.

Their star players include Wessam Abou Ali, the Danish-born Palestinian scored 18 in 19 league games after arriving midway through the 2023/24 season, but even he was eclipsed last season by Eman Ashour, the best player and top scorer in the Egyptian top flight.

And, like other clubs, Ahly have strengthened ahead of the tournament, with more attacking threats. They controversially signed winger Ahmed Sayed ‘Zizo’ from Zamalek, the first player to switch between Egypt’s two biggest clubs since 2013.

Few believed the rumours that Zizo would sign for Ahly until he was spotted in the US embassy getting a visa – most likely to travel with Ahly to the Club World Cup in June.

The player took to social media to say that he “does not respond to false information … to be clear, I have not signed for any club, whether inside or outside Egypt.” But everyone correctly thought he was joining Ahly and he did just that last week.

Egyptian international forward Mahmoud Trezeguet, 30, has returned from successful spells in Turkey and Qatar and a less successful one with Aston Villa. His full name is Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim Hassan, but everyone calls him Trezeguet after a similarity in appearance and style with the former French striker, David.

Ahly boast 18 million fans on Facebook, dwarfing Inter Miami’s eight million and also bigger than Borussia Dortmund’s 15 million but lower than Atletico Madrid’s 20 million. Given the Egyptian domestic league doesn’t enjoy the global prominence of the Bundesliga or La Liga, it’s significant.

Ahly, with their beautiful badge of an eagle, want to use the tournament well.

“If any football fan knows a club outside of Europe and South America, then it should be Ahly, that’s our mission,” Ahly board member Mohamed el Damaty told The National.

The Floridian heat or humidity won’t be an issue for the Egyptians. They will not be intimidated by the atmosphere or size either, given they regularly play in front of 70,000 in the Cairo International Stadium and travel with the confidence of being Egypt’s biggest and most successful club.

They will take notes from December’s Fifa Intercontinental Cup. A convincing 3-0 win against UAE club Al Ain at home in Cairo set up a semi-final with Mexican side Pachuca in Qatar. After 120 goalless minutes, Ahly lost 6-5 on penalties and the chance of a final against Real Madrid.

Al Ain, Real Madrid and Pachuca are all in this 32-team Club World Cup, as are Sundowns and Auckland City. Ahly could be up against familiar foes in these unfamiliar surroundings, but the most intriguing question is how they will fare in the first game, against Miami in their home city.