00:06North Africa is a hotbed of club football.
00:13The strength of the football economies means the best local players can remain in their domestic competitions
00:20and not immediately relocate overseas to earn the club's money.
00:26Consequently, the powerhouses of Egyptian football, Al-Akhli and Zamalek, have taken a stranglehold on the CAF Champions League,
00:35with squads of international quality.
00:41An indication of the potential of Egyptian club football is the meteoric rise of Pyramids FC.
00:49Only formed in 2008, an injection of first Saudi, then Emirati investment has led to an unstoppable rise,
00:58culminating in the 2025 CAF Champions League crown.
01:05The best thing about today is you can find all the supporters united together.
01:10You'll find Zamalek and Al-Akhli supporters, families, boys.
01:14This is a huge thing that everyone came together.
01:17Congratulations to Pyramids!
01:22Pyramids have a long way to go to match 12-time champions Al-Akhli, the CAF club of the 20th
01:28century.
01:28They have parlayed their regional dominance into four bronze medals at the FIFA Club World Cup,
01:35establishing North Africa as the third most powerful region for club football in the world,
01:41behind Europe and South America.
01:46The only North African team to reach the final is Raja Casablanca.
01:50When the tournament was staged in Morocco in 2013,
01:54they upset Ronaldinho's Atletico Mineiro before succumbing to Bayern Munich.
02:06Raja's derby with Casablanca rivals, Widad, is one of the most fierce in Africa.
02:12Raja has its roots in trade unionism,
02:15while Widad with a club of the Moroccan royal family.
02:20Matches between the pair are now amongst the most dramatic displays of supporter culture in the world.
02:29In Tunisia, the derby between Club Africain and Esperance steals the show,
02:35with 65,000 fans regularly packing the Hamadi Akhrebi Stadium.
02:46While in Algeria, the Algiers derby between MCA and USM has been overtaken in recent years
02:54by the rivalry between modern powerhouse, CR Belouisdad,
02:58and the club that represents Algeria's second largest city, MC Oran.
03:06All of these contests testify to the health of club football in North Africa,
03:11and the intensity of support that characterises the game in the very best football nations.
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