{"id":33805,"date":"2026-05-05T16:48:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=33805"},"modified":"2026-05-05T16:48:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:48:41","slug":"north-africa-football-heats-up-as-al-ahly-close-in-on-egyptian-top-spot","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/north-africa-football-heats-up-as-al-ahly-close-in-on-egyptian-top-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"North Africa\u00a0football heats up as Al Ahly close in on Egyptian top spot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Al Ahly have reignited the Egyptian title race after a convincing Cairo derby win over Zamalek SC, cutting the gap to just three points at the top of the table.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Zamalek remain level on 50 points with Pyramids FC, but both sides have seen their lead under pressure after dropping points in recent fixtures.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In Ghana, Medeama SC have moved five points clear at the summit following a 2-0 win over Bibiani Gold Stars, with just four matches left in the season.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Over in Democratic Republic of the Congo, defending giants TP Mazembe and Maniema Union began their championship campaigns with victories, while AS Vita Club suffered back-to-back defeats.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In Lesotho, Lijabatho FC are closing in on a historic first league title, sitting four points clear with only two rounds remaining in the season.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":33806,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-33805","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Al Ahly have reignited the Egyptian title race after a convincing Cairo derby win","published_date":"2026-05-05 16:47:40","news_description":"Al Ahly have reignited the Egyptian title race after a convincing Cairo derby win","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33807,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33805\/revisions\/33807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}