.jpg) Khalil withZamalek 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 | |||
| 1964–1969 | Beni Suef SC | ||
| 1969–1971 | Zamalek | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1971–1980 | Zamalek | 111 | (78) |
| International career | |||
| 1970–1980 | Egypt | 33 | (23) |
Medal record | |||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Ali Khalil (Egyptian Arabic:على خليل; born 28 November 1952) is anEgyptian football coach and a former professionalfootballer who played as astriker.[1] He is one of the icons ofEgyptian football in the 1970s and one of its greatest strikers.[2] Khalil spent all of his entire football career withZamalek. Nicknamed "Dangerous Ali", he was theEgyptian Premier League'stop scorer for two times in the1976–77 and1978–79 seasons. He representedEgypt in threeAfrica Cup of Nations tournaments.
A prolific goal scorer, he played for his country a total of 33 international matches, scoring 23 goals. The beloved Zamalek star was known for his honesty and integrity. Despite his relatively short career, retiring at 28, Khalil still maintains hispopularity despite his absence from his country over the past decades.[2] After retirement from professional football in 1980, he moved to theGulf Area and coached youth football teams, forming a large youth base. He is now a global expert in the field of preparing youngsters.[3][4]
Ali Khalil was born on 28 November 1952 inBeni Suef,Egypt. He started playing football at his home town withBeni Suef SC youth teams, he played in the U-14 team, and continued with the club until he was in the U-18 team.[5]
In 1969, he was chosen to move toZamalek by Helmy Hussein, 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 theWar of Attrition. In the final match againstAl Ahly, which was broadcast ontelevision, Ali Khalil scored both goals for his team, and Zamalek won 2-1, and after that match, Khalil became a rising star inEgyptian football.[5][6]
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Khalil played for the first team in 1971, he won with Zamalek theOctober League Cup title in the 1973–74 season. He also won with his team the1977–78 Egyptian League title, and three titles of theEgypt Cup, the first title was in1975, and in the1977 Egypt Cup, he scored twice in the 3–1 win overIsmaily in thefinal, and scored a goal in the1979 Egypt Cup final where Zamalek wonGhazl El Mahlalla by a score of 3–0.[7] Khalil played eightleague seasons with Zamalek and scored 78 goals for his team. 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 the1978–79 league season, where he scored a goal which passed through the outer torn net and landed in the goal againstIsmaily. 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.[8][9]
Khalil was Zamalek's valuablestriker 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".[10] He was theEgyptian Premier League top scorer in 1976-77 and 1978–79.[11][12] In 1980, and at the height of his career, Khalil, 28 at the time, retired from football at a relatively young age and became a coach for youth teams.[13][14]
In 1970, Khalil played for theEgypt national football team before playing in Zamalek's first team, as the national team was training inZamalek Stadium, and Khalil was staying at the time in a room under the stands, along withMussad 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 the1971 Mediterranean Games inIzmir, where Egypt finished fourth.[15]
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His actual emergence with his country was in a game that took place inCairo Stadium on 1 December 1972, againstKenya at the1973 African Games qualifiers, which Egypt 1–0. He scored his first international goal on 8 December 1972 againstTunisia inCairo at the1974 World Cup Qualifiers. He also played in the1972 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 participated in the1973 All-Africa Games inNigeria and he scored againstGuinea andUpper Volta in the group stage. Egypt won thebronze medal. Khalil played in the1974 African Cup of Nation inEgypt, where he scored the winning goal againstUganda in the group stage, and also the second goal againstIvory Coast in the group stage, and the hosts finished third. He also was a part of the team that won the1975 Palestine Cup of Nations.[16] Khalil's final international match was on 13 April 1980 in the1980 Summer Olympics Qualifiers againstZambia at theIndependence Stadium inLusaka, which finished in a 1–1 draw, and Khalil scored Egypt's goal. He played 33 caps for his country and scored 23 goals.[17]
| Egypt | ||
| Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 0 | 0 |
| 1971 | 0 | 0 |
| 1972 | 3 | 1 |
| 1973 | 7 | 5 |
| 1974 | 7 | 9 |
| 1975 | 8 | 3 |
| 1976 | 0 | 0 |
| 1977 | 6 | 4 |
| 1978 | 0 | 0 |
| 1979 | 1 | 0 |
| 1980 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 33 | 23 |
Zamalek
Egypt
Individual
