Al-Hilal Club (Omdurman)

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, on the heels of a failed uprising by pro Egyptian elements antagonistic to the Anglo part of the then Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the British colonial authorities banned many activities and organizations that could potentially disrupt their hold on the region. The only organized activities permitted were sports clubs and Scouting.

In 1930, four graduates from Gordon Memorial College (now the University of Khartoum) – Hamdnaallah Ahmed, Yousif Mustafa Al-Tinay, Yousif Al-Mamoun, and Babiker Mukhtar Tatay – decided to establish a sports club as an outlet for their and others' youthful energies. On 13 February 1930, a dozen of yet-to-be the founding fathers of Al-Hilal, mostly graduates from Khartoum Memorial College, met in the house of Hamdnaallah Ahmed in Al-shohada Omdurman, to discuss the details of the new sports club.

At that time, sports clubs were named after neighbourhoods, cities and famous figures. Examples included Team Bori (after a Khartoum neighbourhood), Team Abbas (after a famous person) and Hay Alisbtaliya (after an Omdurmanian neighbourhood). The meeting concluded that the new club should have an inclusive name, and not be named after a specific neighbourhood or person.

The story goes that the club founders had been unable to agree upon a name for the proposed club when the meeting was temporarily adjourned at dusk for the evening prayers at a nearby mosque. After prayers and en route back to the meeting house, one of the founders, Adam Rajab, is said to have looked up at the night sky, saw a crescent ("Hilal" in Arabic), and remarking that it was the crescent of the Muslim lunar month of Rajab, asked the others "why not we name it Al-Hilal?". Everyone welcomed the idea, and on 4 March 1930 Al-Hilal became the official name of the club and the first to hold this name in Sudan and the Middle East.

The uniform chosen was dark blue and white – after the white crescent against the dark blue night skies. In light of the aforementioned pro-Egyptian uprising, however, the British colonial authorities initially refused to permit formation of a team whose symbol, a crescent, was reminiscent of the crescent prominently featured on the Egyptian flag of that time. Only after repeated reassurances that the team was simply an athletic outlet for apolitical college students, and that its symbol had no political overtones, did the British authorities relent and allow the team to form.

The first squad included many of the founders that were present at the establishing meeting. The following list includes the founding fathers of Al-Hilal and their roles.

(F) = denotes Founder

• Sudan Premier League: 27

Champion: 1965-66, 1966-67, 1969-70, 1973-74, 1981-82, 1983-84, 1984-85, 1986-87, 1987-88,1989-90,1991-92, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017 (Record)

• Sudan Cup: 7

Champion: 1998-99, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2016

• Khartoum League: 16

Champion: 1952-53, 1954-55, 1957-58, 1958-59, 1959-60, 1960-61, 1962-63, 1964-65, 1966-67, 1968-69, 1970-71, 1972-73, 1981-82, 1983-84, 1989-90, 1993-94

• CAF Champions League

Runner-up: (2) 1987, 1992

• Arab Cup Winners' Cup

Runner-up: (1) 2001

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player - GK  SDN Younes Eltayeb (on loan) El-Hilal SC El-Obeid (Until June 2021) - MF  SDN Elsheikh Mohamed (on loan) Al Khartoum SC (Until June 2021) - FW  SDN Eskandar Samuel (on loan) Al-Ahly Shendi (Until June 2021)