Former African champions Ismaily SC, the club beaten by Nigeria’s Enyimba FC in the historic 2003 CAF Champions League final, have been relegated from the Egyptian Premier League after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Wadi Degla FC on Tuesday.
The result confirmed the end of Ismaily’s long-standing stay in Egypt’s top division, as the three-time league champions finished bottom of the four-team relegation group with 19 points.
The relegation marks only the second time in the club’s history that they have dropped out of the top flight and the first since the 1957-58 season. Their earlier relegation came during the aftermath of the Suez Crisis, when the club lost several key players before eventually returning to the elite division.
Founded in 1924 in the north-eastern Egyptian city of Ismailia along the Suez Canal, Ismaily are regarded as one of Egypt’s oldest and most iconic clubs.
For Nigerian football followers, the club remains closely associated with Enyimba’s historic triumph in the 2003 CAF Champions League final — a landmark victory that made the Aba-based side the first Nigerian club to win Africa’s premier club competition.
Enyimba defeated Ismaily 2-1 on aggregate in the final, winning the return leg 2-1 in Cairo after the first leg in Aba ended goalless. The victory launched a golden era for the Nigerian club, which successfully defended the title in 2004.
Ismaily themselves hold an important place in African football history. The Egyptian side became the first club from Egypt to win Africa’s top club competition in 1969, when the tournament was known as the African Cup of Champions Clubs.
The club last won the Egyptian league title in the 2001-02 season and also boasts two Egypt Cup trophies.
However, financial difficulties in recent years have badly affected the once-famous club. Reports indicate that Ismaily even published their bank account details publicly at one stage in a bid to encourage supporters to contribute funds toward the club’s survival.
Meanwhile, Wadi Degla’s victory lifted them to 48 points and the top position in the relegation group, keeping alive their hopes of survival.