Stack Club (Sudan)
It was named after Sir Lee Stack, a former British Governor-General of Sudan. The club was active in the early organized Khartoum leagues during the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium period. Clubs with colonial-era British names (including Stack, Kitchener, Slattin/Slatin, and Wingate) competed alongside emerging Sudanese sides in the 1920s–1940s.
After Sudan’s independence in 1956, the Stack Club was renamed Al-Tahrir (“Liberation” in Arabic) to reflect the new nationalist spirit. It is recorded as the winner of the Khartoum Premier League (or domestic Khartoum championship) in 1951—the first year of that competition according to some historical accounts—making it an early title holder before the full national league structure developed.
Like many other early colonial-linked or smaller community clubs from that era (Kawther, Abbassia, Abu Rouf, etc.), Al-Tahrir/Stack faded from prominence as indigenous powerhouses such as Al-Merrikh (founded 1908), Al-Mourada (1927), and Al-Hilal (1930) came to dominate Sudanese football. It does not appear in modern Premier League records or lists of active clubs and is effectively defunct as a competitive side. (Note that an “Al-Tahrir Stadium” in Khartoum has been mentioned in recent post-war rehabilitation plans, but this refers to a venue rather than an active club of the same name.)
This pattern was common: many early 20th-century clubs with British or transitional names either dissolved, merged, or simply ceased independent operations as Sudanese football nationalized and professionalized. The 1976 government decree under President Nimeiry that temporarily dissolved all sports clubs further disrupted continuity for smaller sides, though the major clubs eventually recovered.
In short, the Stack Club / Al-Tahrir represents one of the early organized teams from Sudan’s colonial and immediate post-independence football scene that no longer exists as an active club.
#NeverForget