Messi s first opponent in the Club World Cup is an African giant with a history of 118 years

At 8 a.m. on June 15, the highly anticipated 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will kick off in the United States. In the first game, Miami International, led by Messi, faced the Egyptian team Cairo Nationals. With the addition of many superstars, Miami International is already well-known enough, but their opponent Cairo Nationals has previously had limited exposure in China. As one of the most successful clubs in Africa, Cairo's nationals have a brilliant history. When they come to the Club World Cup stage, they will not be willing to be the bottom of the fish.

has a long history. Compared with Miami International, which was born in 2018, the Cairo national was founded in 1907 and has a much longer history. In the early 20th century, the club founder Omar Lofi hoped to set up a club for physical exercise for students and create the prototype of Cairo's nationality with the help of friends. However, the club's football team was not officially established until 1911. After the team was founded, the team played more cities in Egypt and competed with teams from abroad, gradually gaining popularity.

Since then, the Cairo national system has become more formal, and the team's performance has also improved by leaps and bounds. Not only have they won many championships, big and small, in Egypt, but they have also won honors for Egypt in international competitions. At the beginning of this century, Cairo Nationals shocked the football world by defeating Real Madrid 1-0 in a friendly match. In 2005, after winning the African Champions League, Cairo National Team qualified for the Club World Cup for the first time in his history. Although he lost to Jeddah United and Sydney FC and only won the sixth place, his appearance in the Club World Cup is still of great significance.

As of the end of the 2024-2025 season, Cairo Nationals have won the Egyptian Super League championship 45 times and the African Champions League championship 12 times, and have good results in both domestic and African competitions in Egypt. As representatives of the African continent, they have won the third place in the Club World Cup four times, the most recent one occurred in 2023. At that time, Cairo Nationals defeated Jeddah United 3-1 led by Benzema, Kante and Fabinho in the first match, and lost to Fruminense in the semi-finals, but defeated Urawa Red Diamonds 4-2 in the third place battle and reached the podium. Compared with their opponents, their lineup is starry-like, but the tacit understanding formed by the players with long-term cooperation makes the team's combat effectiveness unprecedentedly powerful.

was the protagonist of the tragedy

Outside the field, the Cairo people were once the protagonist of a famous tragedy. In 2012, Cairo Nationals visited Port Said to challenge Masri and lost to his opponent with a score of 1-3. After the game, large-scale riots occurred in the Said Port Stadium. The fans of the home team Masri attacked the fans of Cairo Nationals with stones, fireworks and other weapons, and the two sides had a serious conflict.

Thousands of Masri fans rushed into the stadium, causing a heavy price. 72 Cairo national fans unfortunately died in this incident, and more than 500 others were injured. Then FIFA president Blatter called this day "the darkest day in football history". The case was settled after a year of trial. 21 extreme fans were sentenced to death, and people responsible for stadium security were also imprisoned. The riots in the Said Hong Kong fans are one of the famous tragedies in the history of world football. A large number of innocent fans unfortunately died in the conflict, causing an unimaginable tragic situation.

Dominating the African stadium

According to FIFA's allocation of quotas for the Club World Cup, the African Champions League champion teams from 2021 to 2024 can be qualified, and Cairo nationals will be shortlisted for no effort. They won the African Champions League three times in 2021, 2023 and 2024, becoming the absolute ruler of African football in recent years.

However, in the just-passed 2024-2025 season, Cairo Nationals failed to defend their title in the African Champions League. They reached the semi-finals and drew 0-0 in the first leg away with Mamelodi, who also participated in the Club World Cup. Then, with a goal at home, they accidentally scored an own goal in the 90th minute, and were equalized by their opponents and missed the final due to the away goal difference.

And in the Egyptian domestic league, Cairo's nationals still have full dominance. They defeated Pehayak 6-0 in the final game, defeating the pyramids by 2 points, winning the 45th Egyptian Super League championship trophy in the history of the team.

Although there was a scandal with Ronaldo before the Club World Cup, Cairo nationals who eventually went to the United States did not have much of a big star in the team. The team's head coach Jose Rivero is from Spain and has just taken office on May 29 this year. He has coached the South African team Orlando Pirates for three years and led the team to achieve good results.

Palestinian international Ali is the main scorer of Cairo nationals. He also scored a goal for the team in the World Cup not long ago, helping Palestine defeat Kuwait 2-0. This season, Ali has made 10 goals and 3 assists in 16 appearances in the Egyptian Premier League, making him an extremely efficient shooter. He also had good efficiency when playing in the Swedish and Denmark leagues.

In addition, the 36-year-old main goalkeeper Shinavi is the main choice for the Egyptian national team. In the 2018 World Cup in Russia, he performed well in the game against Uruguay, with high contacts and resistance throughout the game, was elected as the best player, and left Suarez without any results. Shinavi debuted as a Cairo National. He has been in many teams in 2009 and has returned to his parent team to play in 2016. His existence will add guarantee to the Cairo Nationals' Club World Cup journey. After seven years, he fought Suarez again, which also confirmed the unique fate between the two.

The wonderful Club World Cup is about to begin, and Cairo Nationals will fire the first shot for the event with Miami International. Can this powerful team from Africa successfully block the host and usher in a good start to the Club World Cup? Let's wait and see together.

(Bumps/Don't light up in the east)