Ismaily

Ismaily Sporting Club (Arabic: نادي الإسماعيلي الرياضي‎) (Egyptian Arabic: النادي الإسماعيلي, Egyptian pronunciation: El Nady El Ismaily) is an Egyptian professional football club, established on 13 April 1924 as El Nahda Sporting Club (Egyptian pronunciation: Nady El Nahda), based in Ismaïlia, Egypt. The club is best known for its football team. Also it's considered as an Egyptian National Club, where they helped the famous local tour of duty to play for the benefit of the homeland against the occupying armies. The club's nickname The Brazilians, is a reference to their uniforms, which echo those of the Brazilian national team, and similar style of play. Ismaily won the Egyptian Premier League three times in 1967, 1991 and 2002, as well as the Egyptian Cup in 1997 and 2000. In 1969 the club won the CAF Champions League. That event, the first for an Egyptian team, was so monumental at the time that in many ways it remains a legendary victory in the minds of a whole generation. The club reached the CAF Champions League final match in 2003, but lost to Nigerian club Enyimba FC in a match that included many controversial incidents. Ismaily also is well known for being rich in skillful players and for the enjoyable style of play which is the reason they are known as The Egyptian Samba. However, the club is also known for being usually unsuccessful to translate these abilities into championships. Ismaily continues to face difficult circumstances in building and maintaining a team in a country where most of the population cheers for one of the two most established clubs Al-Ahly and El Zamalek situated in the capital of Egypt, Cairo. For the same reasons, it has been very difficult along the years for Ismaily club to manage to keep its top players at the club. It has been a repeated incident in the past years when superstar players of Ismaily are transferred to one of the two Egyptian giants, with or against the club's will.