Editing Al Ahly SC (section)

=== Establishment and start of the club ===
[[File:Al Ahly First meeting.jpg|thumb|273x273px|The first official meeting of the Al Ahly club's board.]]
[[File:ModernEgypt, Saad Zaghloul, BAP 14785.jpg|thumb|200px|right|upright|[[Saad Zaghloul]], the minister of education, became the first honorary president of Al Ahly.]]

The idea of establishing Al-Ahly came in the first 10 years of the 20th century and was firstly raised by Omar Lotfy, who was a student in the [[List of law schools in Egypt|Egyptian Law School]] during his presidency of the High School Students Club. The establishment of a club for high school students was for political reasons along with the students needing a sports club for them to gather for leisure and exercise.

He discussed the idea of establishing the club with a group of friends who were enthusiastic about it and in 1907, Al Ahly was established.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A4%D8%B3%D8%B3-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86%D9%8A/|script-title=ar:المؤسس-والهدف-الوطني|publisher=Al Ahly SC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702155205/http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A4%D8%B3%D8%B3-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B7%D9%86%D9%8A/|archive-date=2 July 2020}}</ref>
[[File:Talaat Harb.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Talaat Harb]], president of the [[Banque Misr|Bank of Egypt]], contributed £E100 to the establishment of the club.]]
[[File:Omar Lotfy.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Omar Lotfy]], founder of Al Ahly]]
The club was first headed by [[Alfred Mitchell-Innes]], who was a British advisor to the Ministry of Finance at the time. He was the first head to facilitate financial support for the club. An official meeting of the club's board was held on 24 April 1907. The committee met at 5:30&nbsp;pm in the house of Mitchell-Innes in [[Giza]] under his chairmanship and the membership of Idris Ragheb Bey, Ismael Seri Pasha, Amin Sami Pasha, Omar Lotfi Bek and Mohamed Effendi Sherif as secretary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84-%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D9%88%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84-%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9/|script-title=ar:أول مجلس في تاريخ الأهلي|publisher=Al Ahly SC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702154909/http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84-%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D9%88%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84-%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9/|archive-date=2 July 2020}}</ref>

After the establishment of the club was approved, the main building was designed by architect Ismail Seri, and revised by Mitchell-Innes. A civil company on the behalf of Al Ahly Sports Club was established. Shares of the company were worth £E5 each, and it was the goal of the club when it was established to raise £E5,000. Only £E3,165 were collected over a year which was not enough to fund the establishment. This forced the club to borrow £E1,000 from the [[National Bank of Egypt]] in March 1908. [[Talaat Harb]], the president of the Bank of Egypt, contributed £E100 to the establishment of the club.

The first honorary president of the club was the Minister of Education [[Saad Zaghloul]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%d8%ad%d8%ac%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a3%d8%b3%d8%a7%d8%b3/|script-title=ar:حجر-الأساس|publisher=Al Ahly SC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625014159/http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%d8%ad%d8%ac%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a3%d8%b3%d8%a7%d8%b3/|archive-date=25 June 2020}}</ref> The name of Al Ahly Sporting Club was suggested by Amine Samy Amin, who suggested that the name is similar to the word "'''National'''" in [[Egyptian Arabic]].<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%85-%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AF/|script-title=ar:إسم-جديد-ورئيس-جديد|publisher=Al Ahly SC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804091531/http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%D8%A5%D8%B3%D9%85-%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AF/|archive-date=4 August 2020}}</ref> On 2 April 1908, Mitchell-Innes stepped down as president of the club. [[Aziz Ezzat Pasha|Aziz Ezzat]] was appointed as the new president and became the first Egyptian president of Al Ahly. The official opening ceremony of the club was held in its main building on 26 February 1909.

[[File:Tetch.jpg|thumb|upright|400px|[[Mahmoud Mokhtar El Tetsh|Mokhtar El Tetsh]], one of the club legends, is the namesake of the club's old stadium and current training ground]]
The game of football was not one of the goals of the founders of Al Ahly SC, but rather to open its doors to students of high schools to meet and practice political dialogues. However, the graduates of high schools who were members of the club developed a passion with [[association football|football]], which prompted the club to build the first stadium in 1909. At the time, they called it [[Hosh (architecture)|Al-Hawsh]]; colloquially meaning ''the courtyard'' in Egyptian Arabic. The stadium was improved over the years, eventually becoming [[Mokhtar El-Tetsh Stadium]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%d8%a3%d9%88%d9%84-%d9%85%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%a8-%d9%83%d8%b1%d8%a9/|script-title=ar:أول-ملعب-كرة |publisher=Al Ahly SC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704071017/http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%d8%a3%d9%88%d9%84-%d9%85%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%a8-%d9%83%d8%b1%d8%a9/|archive-date=4 July 2020}}</ref>

The first official football team was established in 1911. The team was primary and secondary school players who played football in Al-Hawsh. The names of the first players of Al Ahly were as follows: [[Hussein Hegazi]], Abdel Fattah Taher, Fouad Darwish, Hussein Mansour, and Ibrahim Fahmy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84-%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%82-%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%A9/|script-title=ar:أول-فريق-كرة |publisher=Al Ahly SC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702165643/http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84-%D9%81%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%82-%D9%83%D8%B1%D8%A9/|archive-date=2 July 2020}}</ref>

In 1915, Al-Ahly made tours to Egyptian cities to play matches and to spread football and its culture. Al Ahly played in [[Alexandria]], [[Port Said]], [[Assiut]], and [[Ismailia]]. The team, led by Hussein Hegazi, faced many teams, including foreign teams belonging to the [[British Army]], which increased the popularity of Al Ahly and the new game in Egypt.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%d8%ac%d9%88%d9%84%d8%a9-%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%ae%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a9/|script-title=ar:جولة-داخلية|publisher=Al Ahly SC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703234716/http://alahlyegypt.com/announcement/%d8%ac%d9%88%d9%84%d8%a9-%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%ae%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a9/|archive-date=3 July 2020}}</ref>
Ahly contributed with [[Zamalek SC]], [[El Sekka El Hadid SC]] in the formation of the first football team of Egypt to participate in the [[Football at the 1920 Summer Olympics|1920 Olympic Games]]. The club also contributed to the establishment of the [[Egyptian Football Association]].