Zamalek’s Carteron: Egyptian league the strongest in Africa

Seifeddine Jaziri of Zamalek (r) celebrates goal during the 2021 CAF Champions League football match between Zamalek and Tusker at the Borg El Arab Stadium in Alexandria, Egypt on 22 October 2021 ©BackpagePix

by Graeme Jackson

Monday Oct 25, 2021. 16:00

Zamalek coach Patrice Carteron has labelled the Egyptian Premier League (EPL) as the best on the African continent, following his team’s success in the CAF Champions League this past weekend.

The reigning EPL champions secured a place in the CAFCL group stage with an emphatic 4-0 (5-0 on aggregate) triumph over Kenya’s Tusker on Friday 22 October in a second preliminary round tie.

With a place in the next phase of the top-tier continental competition secured, the White Knights will turn their attention to the defence of their Premier League crown, which they begin with a match at home to ENPPI on Tuesday evening.

“We respect the African Champions League, we take every match seriously, and the preliminary round match does not mean that it’s easy so we were excited about that,” Carteron said in the Tusker post-match press conference, as quoted by KingFut.

The Frenchman added that the EPL offers a great challenge in and of itself, with the Cairo club hoping to win back-to-back domestic league titles for the first time since their triumphs in 2002-03 and 2003-04.

“The performance was important and will give us a boost in the coming period. Also the addition of Mostafa Fathi and [Mohamed] Ounajem, they will give us additional attacking strength. But now the problem is that we still don’t know what our home stadium will be in the league.

“The Egyptian Premier League is the strongest in Africa. We will forget about the Champions League and focus on the upcoming ENPPI match in the league, which won’t be an easy match.”