2023-2024 Egyptian Second Division B, Group B

2023-2024 Egyptian Second Division B, Group B

 

Season	2023-2024
Dates	13 October 2023 – 26 April 2024
Champions	Tersana
Promoted	Tersana
Relegated	MS Maghagha
Matches played	72
Goals scored	166 (2.31 goals/match on average)
Biggest home win	Egypt Stars – Maghagha 4-0 (round 4, 10 November 2023) Tersana – Al Wasta 4-0 (round 14, 16 February 2024)
Biggest away win	Beni Mazar – Tersana 0-5 (round 7, 8 December 2023)
Highest scoring	Beni Mazar – Tamya 3-4 (round 9, 29 December 2023)
Longest winning run	Tersana – 7 matches (rounds 5-12, in round 8 they did not play)
Longest unbeaten run	Tersana – undefeated
Longest winless run	Maghagha – 13 matches (rounds 2-15, in round 7 they did not play)
Longest losing run	Telephonat (rounds 6-9) and Beni Mazar (rounds 5-9) – 4 matches

 

Competition details and format

 

The Egyptian Second Division B has been newly established in 2023 as the third tier in the Egyptian football system, in between the Second Division (which now includes a single group of 20 professional teams) and the Third Division, which goes down a level, becoming the fourth tier in Egypt. However, the Second Division B group winners are entitled to participate to the promotion play-off to the Egyptian Premier League, along with the team classified third in the Second Division, which makes promotion to the Premier League possible directly for teams in the Second Division B, without the need to pass through the Second Division. 2023-2024 was the first season of the Second Division B. It was organized by the Egyptian Football Association. Initially, it had been planned that the Second Division B inherit the format of the former Second Division, with three groups of about 18 teams. However, in summer 2023 it was decided that the 56 teams be split across six groups, of either 9 or 10 teams each.

 The teams were distributed according to their geographical location: groups A and B included teams from Upper Egypt, groups C and D – teams from Greater Cairo and the North-East, and groups E and F – teams from Alexandria and the North-West. Groups A, B, C and D had 9 teams, while groups E and F had 10 teams.

The winners of each group gained promotion to the next year Second Division, but they also qualified to the promotion play-offs for the Premier League, along with the third classified in the Second Division. Teams classified bottom in each group were relegated to the Third Division.

The competition format was established as a double (home and away) round-robin championship, each team playing all other teams twice, once at home and once away, a total of 18 rounds. In groups A, B, C and D there are only 4 matches in each round, and one team receives a bye in each round, because there were only 9 teams in each group. The competition started on 11 October 2023, with matches in groups E and F. In Group B, the season started on 13 October 2023 and ended on 26 April 2024. Games were played usually on Fridays, rarely in other days, in the afternoon, and spectators were allowed to attend, in most cases.

In Group B, at the beginning of the season the main contenders for promotion were considered Tersana, El Minya and Fayoum, which had just been relegated from the Second Division. Newly-promoted Egypt Stars were also expected to compete well and try to reach the top of the table. At half-season, Tersana were in top position, six points ahead of Egypt Stars and Tamya. El Minya and Fayoum came in fourth and fifth place respectively, even farther away from the leaders. On 16 February 2024, in round 14, Tersana won 4-0 at home over Al Wasta, maintaining a 10-point gap over second classified Fayoum, impossible to recover in the three games remaining for both teams. Therefore, Tersana were mathematically promoted to the Second Division and qualified for the play-offs. Fayoum came in second position, 15 points behind Tersana, and El Minya were third, three points behind Fayoum.

The fight to avoid the only one relegation spot involved most of the other teams. Newly-promoted MS Maghagha, Al Wasta and Beni Mazar were among the most vulnerable, along with Telephonat Beni Suef. At half-season, Telephonat Beni Suef were bottom of the table, just one point behind Beni Mazar and two points behind MS Maghagha and Al Wasta. With two rounds to go, Telephonat Beni Suef were saved, after winning 2-0 over Tamya. Before the last round, four teams were still involved in the battle to avoid relegation: MS Maghagha and Beni Mazar sharing the last place, Tamya (which had a very poor second half of the season) and Al Wasta two points above them. These four teams met in the last round: Maghagha at home against Al Wasta, and Tamya at home against Beni Mazar. A draw would have saved both Al Wasta and Tamya, while Maghagha and Beni Mazar both needed to win to be certainly saved. Both matches ended up in draws, and MS Maghagha were therefore relegated because of their lower number of total goals scored than Beni Mazar, while having the same goal difference.

 

Team changes from the 2022-2023

 

To the Second Division B

 

Promoted from the Third Division

 

MS Maghagha

Beni Mazar

Al Wasta

Egypt Stars

 

Relegated from the Second Division

 

El Minya

Tersana

Fayoum

Tamya

Telephonat Beni Suef

 

From the Second Division B

 

None, as this is the first season of the Second Division B

 

Teams

 

Note that some of the teams play their home games outside their home town.

 

Team	Home town	Governorate	Stadium	Town	2022-2023
El Minya SC	Minya	Minya	Minya University	Minya	6th in the Second Division, Gr. A
Tersana SC	Giza	Giza	Mit Okba	Giza	8th in the Second Division, Gr. B
Fayoum SC	Fayoum	Fayoum	Ittihad El Shorta	Cairo	12th in the Second Division, Gr. A
M.S. Tamya	Tamya	Fayoum	Media	6th of October	13th in the Second Division, Gr. A
Telephonat	Beni Suef	Beni Suef	Mit Okba	Giza	15th in the Second Division, Gr. A
M.S. Maghagha	Maghagha	Minya	Matay	Matay	1st in the Third Division, Gr. C
Beni Mazar SC	Beni Mazar	Minya	Matay	Matay	2nd in the Third Division, Gr. C
Al Wasta SC	Al Wasta	Beni Suef	Al Wasta	Al Wasta	1st in the Third Division, Gr. D
Egypt Stars	Al Wasta	Beni Suef	Egypt Stars	Al Wasta	2nd in the Third Division, Gr. D

 

Geographical distribution of the teams

 

Teams in Group B are located in the governorates of Minya, Beni Suef, and Fayoum, and there is one team from Giza Governorate.

 

Location of teams	No. of teams	Name of teams
Minya Governorate	3	El Minya, Beni Mazar, M.S. Maghagha
Beni Suef Governorate	3	Telephonat Beni Suef, Al Wasta, Egypt Stars
Fayoum Governorate	2	Fayoum, M.S. Tamya
Giza Governorate	1	Tersana

 

Round 1 (13 October 2023)

 

El Minya – Beni Mazar 1-1

Tamya – Tersana 0-4

Maghagha – Telephonat 2-1

Fayoum – Al Wasta 0-0

Egypt Stars bye

 

Round 2 (19-21 October 2023)

 

Tersana – El Minya 1-1

Beni Mazar – Maghagha 3-0

Egypt Stars – Tamya 3-0

Telephonat – Fayoum 2-3

Al Wasta bye

 

Round 3 (27 October 2023)

 

El Minya – Egypt Stars 2-1

Maghagha – Tersana 0-2

Fayoum – Beni Mazar 3-0

Al Wasta – Telephonat 0-0

Tamya bye

 

Round 4 (10 November 2023)

 

Tersana – Fayoum 0-0

Tamya – El Minya 2-1

Beni Mazar – Al Wasta 1-1

Egypt Stars – Maghagha 4-0

Telephonat bye

 

Round 5 (17 November 2023)

 

Telephonat – Beni Mazar 3-2

Maghagha – Tamya 1-1

Fayoum – Egypt Stars 0-0

Al Wasta – Tersana 1-3

El Minya bye

 

Round 6 (30 November – 1 December 2023)

 

Tersana – Telephonat 2-0

El Minya – Maghagha 1-0

Tamya – Fayoum 1-1

Egypt Stars – Al Wasta 1-1

Beni Mazar bye

 

Round 7 (8 December 2023)

 

Telephonat – Egypt Stars 0-3

Fayoum – El Minya 1-1

Al Wasta – Tamya 0-1

Beni Mazar – Tersana 0-5

Maghagha bye

 

Round 8 (15 December 2023)

 

Maghagha – Fayoum 0-0

El Minya – Al Wasta 3-3

Tamya – Telephonat 3-0

Egypt Stars – Beni Mazar 1-0

Tersana bye

 

Round 9 (29-30 December 2023)

 

Al Wasta – Maghagha 1-1

Beni Mazar – Tamya 3-4

Tersana – Egypt Stars 1-0

Telephonat – El Minya 0-1

Fayoum bye

 

Table at half-season

 

1	Tersana	8	6	2	0	18-2	20	Promotion to the Second Division
2	Egypt Stars	8	4	2	2	13-4	14
3	Tamya	8	4	2	2	12-13	14
4	El Minya	8	3	4	1	11-9	13
5	Fayoum	8	2	6	0	8-4	12
6	Al Wasta	8	0	6	2	7-10	6
7	Maghagha	8	1	3	4	4-13	6
8	Beni Mazar	8	1	2	5	10-18	5
9	Telephonat	8	1	1	6	6-16	4	Relegation to the Third Division

 

In case that two or more teams are equal on points, the goal difference is the main ranking criterion.

 

Round 10 (12-13 January 2024)

 

Beni Mazar – El Minya 3-1

Tersana – Tamya 3-0

Al Wasta – Fayoum 0-1

Telephonat – Maghagha 3-1

Egypt Stars bye

 

Round 11 (19 January 2024)

 

Maghagha – Beni Mazar 1-1

Tamya – Egypt Stars 0-4

Fayoum – Telephonat 1-0

El Minya – Tersana 0-1 – played on 2 February 2024

Al Wasta bye

 

Round 12 (26-27 January 2024)

 

Egypt Stars – El Minya 0-2

Tersana – Maghagha 2-1

Beni Mazar – Fayoum 0-0

Telephonat – Al Wasta 0-3 (awarded, 4-3 in the field)

Tamya bye

 

Round 13 (9 February 2024)

 

Fayoum – Tersana 1-1

El Minya – Tamya 2-0

Al Wasta – Beni Mazar 1-0

Maghagha – Egypt Stars 0-0

Telephonat bye

 

Round 14 (16 February 2024)

 

Beni Mazar – Telephonat 0-1

Tamya – Maghagha 1-1

Egypt Stars – Fayoum 0-1

Tersana – Al Wasta 4-0

El Minya bye

 

Round 15 (1-2 March 2024)

 

Telephonat – Tersana 0-1

Maghagha – El Minya 0-0

Al Wasta – Egypt Stars 0-1

Fayoum – Tamya 2-0

Beni Mazar bye

 

Round 16 (8 March 2024)

 

Egypt Stars – Telephonat 0-1

El Minya – Fayoum 1-1

Tamya – Al Wasta 1-3

Tersana – Beni Mazar 3-0

Maghagha bye

 

Round 17 (19 April 2024)

 

Fayoum – Maghagha 1-4

Al Wasta – El Minya 0-1

Telephonat – Tamya 2-0

Beni Mazar – Egypt Stars 3-1

Tersana bye

 

Round 18 (26 April 2024)

 

Maghagha – Al Wasta 1-1

Tamya – Beni Mazar 1-1

Egypt Stars – Tersana 1-2

El Minya – Telephonat 1-2

Fayoum bye

 

Final table

 

1	Tersana	16	13	3	0	35-5	42	Promoted to the Second Division
2	Fayoum	16	6	9	1	16-10	27
3	El Minya	16	6	6	4	19-16	24
4	Egypt Stars	16	6	3	7	20-13	21
5	Telephonat	16	6	1	9	15-23	19
6	Al Wasta	16	3	7	6	15-19	16
7	Tamya	16	4	4	8	15-31	16
8	Beni Mazar	16	3	5	8	18-27	14
9	Maghagha	16	2	8	6	13-22	14	Relegated to the Third Division

 

In case that two or more teams are equal on points, the goal difference is the main ranking criterion, followed by the total number of goals scored.