Millions in the air and massive crises… Al-Ahli’s season starts with Messi and ends with the Confederation.

Egypt’s Al-Ahly’s season was not just a blip for a team accustomed to standing on the podium, but it turned into one of the Red Castle’s worst years, after results took an unusual dip despite apparent managerial stability under Mahmoud Al-Khatib.

Except for winning the local Super Bowl, Al-Ahli failed in the trials that have always been a testament to its reputationsuch as losing the league and cup, through a heartbreaking exit from the African Champions League, to an even heavier blow after failing to secure a place in the next edition of the continental championship.

Behind the faltering artistic scene, questions from fans have intensified about the decisions of the Board of Directors, which many saw as a direct cause of the confusion, whether it was the contract documents, the change of technical personnel or the crisis management level in the dressing room, in a season when the team did not have its usual personality.

Between planning errors and mismanagement of details, Al-Ahli found themselves at the end of the season with a record that did not match the scale of spending or the ambitions of the fans, so that criticism turned into an open confrontation with the administration, amid demands for a comprehensive review, before the scope of failure widened at the most prestigious club in Africa.