Both teams will not lack for experience when they take to the field this weekend in the African Champions League final but first leg hosts Al Ahly will have a bevy of players who have played in multiple continental club finals previously.
The Cairo giants are looking to extend their record number of 10 triumphs in the competition but need to get past holders Wydad Casablanca, who are away in the first leg on Sunday but home in Morocco for the return on 11 June.
At left back, Ahly will field Tunisian international Ali Maaloul, who competed in two African Confederation Cup finals (2010 and 2013) with his home club CS Sfaxien before another four at Al Ahly after moving to the Cairo giants in 2016.
This year’s decider will be a seventh final for him, taking him level with the three other Al Ahly players who have made record seven African club competition finals appearances.
Tough-as-teak defender Wael Gomaa played in seven Champions League finals between 2001, when the Cairo giants beat Mamelodi Sundowns, and 2013.
Only 5?? days left for the #TotalEnergiesCAFCL finals 1st-leg! ??
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Gomaa won six of them, to add to three Africa Cup of Nations titles with Egypt and more than 100 caps for his country in a storied career.
Emad Moteab played in six Champions League and one Confederation Cup final for Al Ahly between 2005 and 2017 and Hossam Ashour in the same mix between 2006 and 2018.
Mohamed Aboutrika had six Champions League finals appearances, which will likely be matched this weekend by Amr El Sulaya.
The 33-year-old has played in five Champions League finals in the last six years.
It will also be a fifth Champions League final for goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy, 34, although he was struggling with injury in recent weeks, while Hussein El Shahat, Yasser Ibrahim and Ramy Rabia are all lining for final No 4, which gives Al Ahly a major boost in terms of having the nerves to deal with the contest.
Percy Tau joins Maaloul as the only Al Ahly players to have competed in an African club competition final for another club too. Tau was in Sundowns’ winning side of 2016 and again in the Ahly line-up last year when they lost away in Casablanca to Wydad.
Their Moroccan opponents have had a significant overhaul in personnel in the last 12 months and in their semifinal against Sundowns in Pretoria earlier this month used only five players from the victorious 2022 winning side.
Mohamed Ounajem is the only surviving player from the Wydad team that won the Champions League in 2017 and was also in the 2019 final as a runner-up but missed out last year.
Wydad captain Yahya Jabrane and flying fullback Ayoub El Amloud, who scored against Sundowns in semifinal second leg in Pretoria, played in both the 2019 and 2022 Champions League finals.