Abu Dhabi: The UAE Arabian Gulf Super Cup, due to be held in Cairo next month in a historic first time outside the Emirates, may have to switch venue due to fears over potential violence.

A ban on Egyptian fans is already being considered for the September 13 showdown between Al Ahli and Al Jazira given the acrid hostility between the country’s two biggest clubs, Al Ahly and Zamalek.

Gulf News has learnt from Arabic sources that military college students in the city have been invited to help fill the 30,000-capacity stadium given the sanctions mooted by the Egyptian Interior Ministry and the Egyptian Football Association.

It is understood that organisers are assessing whether it would even be safe enough to stage the clash in the Egyptian capital given security concerns.

Labelled as “the most violent derby in the world” by Britain’s The Guardian newspaper in 2008, the latest Ahly-Zamalek clash in the Egypt Cup final provoked its customary fury in the stands and on the pitch earlier this month.

Two Ahly players were dismissed as the Egyptian champions lost 3-1 amid crowd disturbances.

On Tuesday, the club’s striker, Amir Gamal, was stabbed by an angry fan as dozens of protesters broke into the club’s training ground.

Egyptian media reported that Gamal’s teammate, Hossam Ghaly, was also attacked as supporters railed against their team’s recent poor run of form, which included the defeat to Zamalek and a CAF Champions League exit.

Two days later, the Ahly board announced that the club would boycott the draw for the new Egyptian Premier League season on Monday if their security demands are not met.

On Friday, Martin Jol quit as coach after only six months in charge.

Meanwhile, Egyptian officials had requested that Zamalek’s African Champions League clash with Nigeria’s Enyimba on August 14 was brought forward a day due to security fears.

The game was eventually played last Monday after Enyimba complained about the short notice of the rearrangement.

Presentation Sports, the Egyptian marketing agency organising the UAE Super Cup, has yet to respond to Gulf News’s request for a comment about the game’s future.

A press conference, already arranged in Cairo for September 1 to discuss ticket prices and other issues, should clarify the situation.

The UAE football fraternity had greeted the “unique and historic” news that the traditional season-opener was being held in Egypt with unconfined joy earlier this month.

The Pro League Committee (PLC) said switching the clash between the 2016 Arabian Gulf League champions Al Ahli and the President’s Cup holders Al Jazira to Egypt would add “new fraternal dimensions” with the UAE.

The Egyptian-UAE footballing alliance was initiated last October when more than 25,000 fans crammed into Al Ain’s Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium to watch Egypt’s Super Cup between Ahly and Zamalek.

The same venue also hosted a friendly between Ahly and the Italian giants AS Roma in May.

The resounding success of both games persuaded Presentation Sports to approach the PLC about staging the UAE Super Cup in Egypt, with Cairo being chosen above Munich and London.

Ahmad Khalifa Hammad, the Chief Executive of Al Ahli, was “very pleased” to be returning to “our second homeland” of Egypt, 46 years after the Red Knights were the first UAE club to visit the country.

Al Jazira’s Chief Executive, Ayed Mabkhout, hoped the encounter would be “a great festival rather than a football game”, given that it will coincide with the Eid Al Adha holidays.