Ali Khalil

Ali Khalil
Khalil with Zamalek in 1978
Personal information
Full name Ali Khalil
Date of birth (1952-11-28)28 November 1952
Place of birth Beni Suef, Egypt
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1969–1971 Zamalek
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1971–1980 Zamalek (78)
International career
1970–1980 Egypt 30 (15)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Egypt
African Games
Bronze medal – third place 1973
Africa Cup of Nations
Third place 1974
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ali Khalil (Arabic: علي خليل) (born 28 November 1952) is an Egyptian former football forward who played for Egypt and Zamalek.[1]

Early life

Ali Khalil was born on 28 November 1952 in Beni Suef, Egypt. He started playing football at his home town with Beni Suef SC youth teams, he played in the U-14 team, and continued with the club until he was in the U-18 team.[2]

Club career

In 1969, he was chosen to move to Zamalek by Halim Thaluth, who was Zamalek's U-18 coach. Khalil was soon selected to play with the Zamalek U-20 team in the Youth League, which was a tournament that received great media coverage at the time for the cessation of football activity in Egypt due to the War of Attrition. In the final match against Al Ahly, which was broadcast on television, Ali Khalil scored both goals for his team, and Zamalek won 2-1, and after that match, Khalil became a rising star in Egyptian football.[3][4]

Khalil with Zamalek in 1976

Khalil played for the first team in 1971, he won with Zamalek the October League Cup title in the 1973–74 season. He also won with hi team the 1977–78 Egyptian League title, and three titles of the Egypt Cup in 1975, and in the 1977 Egypt Cup where he scored twice in the 3–1 win over Ismaily in the final, and scored a goal in the 1979 Egypt Cup where Zamalek won Ghazl El Mahlalla by a score of 3–0 in the final.[5] Khalil played eight league seasons with Zamalek and scored 78 goals. In his nine seasons career, he scored a total of 94 goals for Zamalek in all competitions. Besides being a fierce goal scorer, Khalil was known for his extreme honesty and integrity, he had a famous incident in the 1978–79 league season, where he scored a goal which passed through the outer torn net and landed in the goal against Ismaily. Unfortunately, this goal was important in the chase for the title, however he encountered the referee Ahmed Bilal, the referee of the match, and Khalil said to the referee that the ball was not a goal, and the goal was canceled after it had been awarded amid major objections from the Ismaily players and fans.[6][7]

Zamalek SC team 1978
Khalil (front row, first from left) with Zamalek in 1978

Khalil was Zamalek's valuable striker of the 1970s and the beloved player of its fans, he was capable of scoring strange goals. He scored decisive goals for Zamalek which earned him nickname of "Dangerous Ali".[8] He was the Egyptian Premier League's top scorer in 1976-77 (shared with Hassan Shehata) with 17 goals and 1979–80 with 12 goals.[9][10] In 1980, and at the height of his career, Khalil, 28, retired from football at relatively young age and became a coach for youth teams.[11][12]

International career

In 1970, Khalil played for the Egypt national football team before playing in Zamalek's first team, as the national team was training in Zamalek Stadium, and Khalil was staying at the time in a room under the stands, along with Mussad Nour. Khalil stood watching the training and the coach chose him to complete the division. After playing, he was officially called to the national team. Afterwards, he was called to be a part of the team that played in the 1971 Mediterranean Games in Izmir, where Egypt finished fourth.[13]

Shehata (front row, first from right) with Egypt in 1974 African Cup of Nations

His actual emergence with his country was in a game that took place in Cairo Stadium on 1 December 1972, against Kenya at the 1973 African Games qualifiers, which Egypt 1–0. He scored his first international goal on 8 December 1972 against Tunisia in Cairo at the 1974 World Cup Qualifiers. He also played in the 1972 Palestine Cup of Nations, and scored two goals in the group stage, and Egypt finished as champions. He was a part of the team that played in the 1973 All-Africa Games in Nigeria and scored against Guinea and Upper Volta in the group stage, and Egypt won the bronze medal. Khalil played in the 1974 African Cup of Nation in Egypt, where he scored the winning goal against Uganda in the group stage, and also the second goal against Ivory Coast in the group stage, and the hosts finished third. He also was a part of the team that won the 1975 Palestine Cup of Nations.[14] Khalil's final international match was on 13 April 1980 in the 1980 Summer Olympics Qualifiers against Zambia at the Independence Stadium in Lusaka, which finished in a 1–1 draw, and Khalil scored Egypt's goal. He played 30 caps for his country and scored 15 goals.[15]

Career statistics

International

Egypt
Year Apps Goals
1970 0 0
1971 0 0
1972 3 2
1973 7 3
1974 4 3
1975 8 2
1976 0 0
1977 6 4
1978 0 0
1979 1 0
1980 1 1
Total 30 15

Honours

Player

Zamalek

Egypt

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Ali Khalil - Stats and titles won". footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 2024-05-04.
  2. ^ محمد عبد الحليم (17 February 2020). "محافظات مشاهير من بلدي..علي خليل ابن بني سويف.. أمين الكرة المصرية".
  3. ^ محمد عبد الحليم (17 February 2020). "محافظات مشاهير من بلدي..علي خليل ابن بني سويف.. أمين الكرة المصرية".
  4. ^ "البوابة الإلكترونية لمحافظة بني سويف". البوابة الإلكترونية لمحافظة بني سويف. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  5. ^ أحمد طارق (24 November 2020). "على خليل: ضيّعت دورى على الزمالك عشان الأخلاق أهم من البطولات".
  6. ^ "نجوم سويفية.. الشقيقان خليل تألقان مع قطبي الكرة وأحدهما لقب بالأمين". 4 April 2023.
  7. ^ "علي خليل نجم الزمالك .. صاحب أشهر هدف الغاه الحكم - الرياضة". أخبارك.نت (in Arabic). Retrieved 2024-05-04.
  8. ^ طاهر, عمر; الكرمة, دار (2018-01-31). ألبومات عمر طاهر الساخرة (in Arabic). Al-Karma Books. ISBN 978-977-6467-96-5.
  9. ^ "علي خليل يُذكِّر بواقعة "الأمانة" بعد 39 عاما". يلاكورة.كوم (in Arabic). Retrieved 2024-05-04.
  10. ^ Emara, Mohamed (2020-12-19). "علي خليل .. فارس الأخلاق الزملكاوية | كورابيديا - koraapedia". koraapedia.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 2024-05-04.
  11. ^ الحلقة الكاملة | كابتن علي خليل نجم الزمالك ومنتخب مصر السابق | رد الجميل. Retrieved 2024-05-07 – via www.youtube.com.
  12. ^ إسلام صادق (24 October 2017). "بعد غياب 35 عامًا.. علي خليل: حسن شحاتة أكثر المستفيدين من رحيلي (حوار)".
  13. ^ "علي خليل نجم الزمالك .. صاحب أشهر هدف الغاه الحكم - الرياضة". أخبارك.نت (in Arabic). Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  14. ^ "Palestine Cup 1972-1975". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 2024-05-10.
  15. ^ "Ali Khalil - Goals in International Matches". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 2024-05-08.

External links