Ahly appointed Gamal Abdel Nasser as club honorary president. In the 1951–52 season, the league championship was cancelled due to the 1952 revolution, and to allow the national team to prepare for the 1952 Summer Olympics. However, the Egypt Cup and the Cairo League were played normally. Al Ahly lost both tournaments to Zamalek. The competition returned the following season and Al Ahly managed to win it for the fourth time in a row, with a narrow two points ahead of Zamalek, after the two teams tied 2–2 in the last round. In the cup, Al Ahly managed to defeat the defending champions Zamalek 4–1 in the final, in a match where Saleh Selim scored two goals and his older brother Abdel-Wahab Selim scored a goal. In the 1956–57 season, the number of teams increased to 14 teams, and Al Ahly managed to win the league nine points ahead from Zamalek the runner-up, to win the seventh title in a row. It was the first time that the team had reached 40 points. Al Ahly won the 1958–59 league championship for the ninth time in a row. El-Sayed El-Dhizui became the first Al Ahly player to be the top goal scorer in the league. The team scored 55 goals in just 18 games that season, more than 20 goals from their nearest competitors. After losing the league for the first time since the start of the competition, Al Ahly won the league for the tenth time in the club's history, in the 1960–61 season. The club won the Egypt Cup after defeating El Qanah 5–0, with Mimi El-Sherbini scoring two goals. First participation in African championships (1967–1980) After the 1967 Six-Day War and the suspension of sporting activity in Egypt, Al Ahly's board headed by Ibrahim Kamel El-Wakil announced that the club will host the military training for the members volunteering in the Egyptian Army, as well as collecting donations in the name of the club to support the military. An entire generation of football stars retired because of the war, like: Saleh Selim, Tariq Salim, Taha Ismail, Rifaat El-Fanagily, Adel Haikal and Mahmoud El-Gohary. Al-Ahly did not win the league for another 13 years. After years of deterioration, the club took the first steps in recovery when the management decided to sign Nándor Hidegkuti as head coach in September 1973, at a salary of fewer than 600 dollars. Hidegkuti