Al-Ahly Sports Club commonly known as simply Al-Ahly, is an Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian sporting club. Founded in April 1907, Al-Ahly was named in 2000 by the Confederation of African Football

Confederation of African Football

The Confederation of African Football is the administrative and controlling body for African association football.CAF represents the national football associations of Africa, runs continental, national, and club competitions, and controls the prize money, regulations and media rights to those...

 as the "African Club of the Century

CAF Clubs of the 20th Century

On 31 December 2000 the Confederation of African Football has published a ranking with the most successful clubs of the 20th century in the African continent ....

". Al-Ahly claim to have more than 50 million fans in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, a country with an overall population of approximately 80 million, including the Ultras Ahlawy

Ultras Ahlawy

ULtras Ahlawy is an Egyptian ultras group who support Cairo based Egyptian Premier League football club Al-Ahly. The group was founded in 2007 and first appeared at a match against ENPPI on 13 April 2007 Al-Ahly, when they raised their banner for the first time...

.

Al-Ahly are one of the most successful football clubs in Africa, together with their rivals Zamalek SC and TP Mazembe

TP Mazembe

Tout Puissant Mazembe, formerly known as Englebert, are a Congolese football club based in Lubumbashi. Their home games are played at Stade Municipal de Lubumbashi. Its nickname is Les corbeaux despite having a crocodile with a ball in its mouth on the team crest...

 from DR Congo.
Al-Ahly was founded in 1907 as a club where leaders of Cairo's students' union

Students' union

A students' union, student government, student senate, students' association, guild of students or government of student body is a student organization present in many colleges and universities, and has started appearing in some high schools...

s could meet during the struggle against colonisation

Colonisation

Colonization occurs whenever any one or more species populate an area. The term, which is derived from the Latin colere, "to inhabit, cultivate, frequent, practice, tend, guard, respect", originally related to humans. However, 19th century biogeographers dominated the term to describe the...

.

On 25 February 1907, Amine Samy chose the name 'Ahly' for the newly founded club to fit with its purpose.