Cairo's Ultras

"Recommended"—CHOICE

"Close paints an evocative portrait of the varied and ambiguous roles sports can play in an autocracy, where a regime’s reliance on bread and circuses may eventually wear thin in the absence of genuine progress."—Lisa Anderson, Foreign Affairs

“The issues in this book are at the core of sport sociology, cultural studies and sports media communication. I salute the author for bringing into the analysis both the traditional mainstream and digital social media. . . . The book is critical as it revisits debates on gender, masculinity and political discourse in African football fandom and protest cultures, illuminating how gender equality remains an unsolved question in Egypt.” —Lyton Ncube, Critical Arts

"[Ronnie Close] offers a rich and often fascinating account of how the two main Cairene ultra groups (Ultras Ahlawy and Ultras White Knights) have fared from the revolution until their ‘official disbandment’ in 2018. . . .not to be missed for anyone working on the Ultras in Egypt for some time to come."—Asian Journal of Sport History & Culture

“This is a lively and authoritative account of the counter-culture of the Egyptian Ultras, full of richly detailed observations of their collective behavior, their aesthetic, and their performances. It is also much more than this. It is a study of resistance to the forms of power of late capitalism. Ronnie Close succeeds in using this material to develop a convincing and original argument about the force of the aesthetic moment and of collective action to challenge and to disrupt hegemonic power.” —Charles Tripp, Professor Emeritus of Politics, SOAS, University of London

“A timely and detailed account of the birth, life and afterlife of one of Egypt’s most important youth movements. Cairo’s Ultras tells a tale of triumph and turmoil revealing how the Ultras bridged leisure and politics to pose as much of a threat to Egypt’s militarised police-state as it did to its sports establishment and football big-business. Historically rich and theoretically compelling, this is a must read for anyone interested in Egyptian youth cultures.”—Ramy Aly, The American University in Cairo

“Of all the events that occurred during the recent Egyptian Revolution and its aftermath, few were more horrifying than the February 2012 massacre of more than seventy Ultras Ahlawy football fans following a match in Port Said. Ronnie Close knows many of the club members personally, and with the help of these connections he records an important story for posterity. He also offers a daring assessment of Egypt’s present-day political landscape.”—Graham Harman, SCI-Arc, Los Angeles