You may need to take notes: It’s a super busy football weekend
⚽ Brace yourselves for a jam-packed football schedule over the long weekend, with everything from the Egyptian League, the English Premier League, La Liga, and more.
Egyptian League: Frontrunner Al Ahly will face Enppi in an away game at 5pm tonight, while Zamalek (second in the league) will play against El Dakhleya at 7pm. Al Ahmar (27 points) managed to get a leg up against Al Abyad (24 points), the defending champion for the last two seasons, after its victory over Pyramids and Zamalek’s defeat against Aswan.
Saturday + Sunday in the Egyptian League:
Pyramids v Ghazl El Mahalla (2:45pm Saturday)
Al Masry v Al Ittihad Al Sakandary (7pm Saturday)
Ceramica v Future (7pm Saturday)
Haras El Hodoud v Ismaili (2:45pm Sunday)
National Bank v Aswan (2:45pm Sunday)
Smouha v Pharco (7pm Sunday)
El Gaish v Arab Contractors (7pm Sunday)
English Premier League: Manchester City is seeking to narrow the gap with league leaders Arsenal (who lost two points in a draw with Newcastle yesterday), but for that it will have to beat Chelsea at home, in the Stamford Bridge match that starts at 10pm.
La Liga: The Spanish League returns tomorrow after a long hiatus with two matches: Elche plays Celta Vigo at 7:30pm and Valencia faces Cadiz at 10pm. Then on Saturday, Real Madrid will face a difficult away game against Villarreal at 5:15 pm, followed by Real Mallorca v Valladolid at 7:30pm and Espanyol v Girona at 10pm.
And on Sunday: Almeria plays against Real Sociedad at 3pm, Rayo Vallecano plays against Real Betis at 5:15pm, and Seville plays Getafe at 7:30pm. Finally, Atletico Madrid faces off against Barcelona at 10pm.
FA Cup: Manchester United will hit the field against Everton, at 10pm on Friday.
Saturday/Sunday matches in the FA Cup:
Crystal Palace v Southampton (2:30pm Saturday)
Tottenham v Portsmouth (2:30pm Saturday)
Middlesbrough v Brighton (5pm Saturday)
Brentford v West Ham (7:30pm Saturday)
Liverpool v Wolverhampton (10pm Saturday)
Man City v Chelsea (6:30pm Sunday)
Serie A:
Juventus v Udinese (7pm Saturday)
Monza v Inter Milan (9:45pm Saturday)
Sampdoria v Napoli (7pm Sunday)
Milan v Roma (9:45pm Sunday)
Gulf 25: The 25th edition of the Arabian Gulf Football Championship, which includes eight teams divided into two groups, will be hosted in Basra, Iraq. Kuwait has historically dominated the championship having clinched 10 titles, while Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iraq tie for second place with three titles each. All participating teams have taken home the cup at least once, except for Yemen (despite participating nine times). Bahrain is the defending champion, having come out on top in the last edition of the championship in 2019 for the first time in its history.
The tournament kicks off tomorrow, with a match between Iraq and Oman in the first group at 5:45pm, after which Yemen will play with Saudi Arabia at 8:30pm.
The second group matches start on Saturday: Bahrain will face the UAE at 3:15 pm, and Kuwait face Qatar at 6:15pm.