ABSTRACT
Ultra-Fans have become a major aspect of global soccer fans’ culture. They have helped change the culture of the game and transform it from a cultural practice of the elite that was almost exclusively practiced in elite educational institutions during the second half of the nineteenth century into a distinct mass game by the first quarter of the twentieth century. Throughout the history of the game in Egypt, the Ultra-Fans’ culture has often been shaped and transformed in relation to the socio-economic and political conditions that have affected the nation in general and the lower classes in particular. Starting from the early 2000s, young fans of the popular Egyptian soccer clubs started forming their own Ultras groups. Most popular among these Ultras groups are the Ahlawi Ultras and the White Knights Ultras of the rival Carian clubs of the Ahli and the Zamalik respectively, the Yellow Dragon Ultras of the Isma’ili Club of the city of the Isma‘iliah, the Green Eagles Ultras of the Massri Club of the city of Port Said, the Green Dragons Ultras of the Ithad Club of the city of Alexandria, and the Blue Devils Ultras of Ghazl al-Mahalah Club of the city of Ghazl al-Mahalah. With the outbreak of the 2011 revolution, the general disenchantment of the Ultras groups with politics turned into a direct engagement with politics, and the Ultras groups emerged as the most radical political force among the revolutionary forces on the scene. This paper is an historical analysis of the recent rise of the soccer phenomenon of Ultra-Fans, known popularly in Egypt as the Ultras.
