Al-Merrikh Sporting Club (Arabic: نادي المريخ الرياضي) is a Sudanese professional football club based in the city of Omdurman. Their home stadium is Al-Merrikh Stadium, which is locally known as The Red Castle. Founded in 1908, Al-Merrikh is one of the oldest football clubs in Africa. They have won the Sudan Premier League 22 times and Sudan Cup 26 times. The club has a fierce rivalry with Al-Hilal with the games between them regularly selling out, as well as being the only other realistic challenger to the league crown. They won the Om-al-Dahab championship in 1965 and are the only team to have ever won this one time event.
Al-Hilal is also based in Omdurman with only Al-Ardha Street separating the teams. Between them they are Sudan's most powerful and successful football clubs.[citation needed]
Club history
Al-Merrikh was founded under the name of Al-Masalma Sporting Club in 1908 by students from Al-Masalmah district that was headed by their chairman Jek Deng Aban Gorang in Omdurman of Gordon Memorial College. The club renamed as Al-Merrikh Sporting Club on 14 November 1927.[1]