USM Alger beats Zamalek on penalties to win African Confederation Cup

USM Alger turned a tense North African final into a night of nerve and precision in Cairo, beating Zamalek 8-7 on penalties after the second leg finished 1-0 to the Egyptian side and the tie ended level at 1-1 on aggregate. The decisive match at Cairo International Stadium hinged on small margins, from Oday Al-Dabbagh’s early penalty in the fifth minute to Mohamed Shehata’s miss over the bar in the shootout, before substitute Glody Likonza converted the winner.

Zamalek struck first after Adam Kayed was fouled in the area, and Al-Dabbagh finished from the spot to give the home side hope of a comeback after USM Alger’s 1-0 first-leg victory in Algiers. That opening leg had been settled by Ahmed Khaldi’s stoppage-time penalty, which gave the Algerian club the advantage to defend in Cairo. Zamalek briefly thought they had added a second goal in the 14th minute, only for it to be ruled offside, and the Egyptians also lost goalkeeper El Mahdi Slimane to injury in the 29th minute, with Mohamed Awad coming on after 111 days without an appearance.

USM Alger did not need to dominate the ball to control the pressure. They were reported to have 66 percent possession, yet Zamalek’s crowd and the weight of the occasion still forced the final to penalties. Pierre Ghislain Atcho officiated a match that grew increasingly strained as both teams pushed through extra demands, with players remonstrating at moments and the atmosphere tightening before the shootout. In the end, both sides converted their first seven penalties. Then Shehata missed Zamalek’s eighth effort, and Likonza kept his composure to seal the trophy.

The result gave USM Alger their second CAF Confederation Cup title, following their 2023 triumph over Young Africans of Tanzania on the away-goals rule. Founded on July 5, 1937, the club has now strengthened its place among Algeria’s major continental names, and CAF said the victory carried a record USD 4 million winners’ prize, with Zamalek receiving USD 2 million as runners-up. The title also sends USM Alger into next season’s CAF Super Cup against the CAF Champions League winners.

For Zamalek, the loss stung because it came at home after coach Motamed Gamal had said before the second leg that his players would “fight till the last minute” and had criticized the referee after the first leg. For USM Alger, the win was about more than a trophy: it was another assertion of North African power in a competition where reputation, investment and fan pressure now matter as much as open-play dominance.