Al-Ahly club’s board of directors announced it would not take part in football tournaments organized by the Egyptian Football Association, until the association meets a set of demands Al-Ahly announced.
Al-Ahly club’s board of directors, headed by Mahmoud al-Khatib, issued decisions, in a meeting, held Thursday afternoon, in objection to “arbitration errors” that occurred during Al-Ahly-Farco match.
Al-Ahly-Farco match was held, Wednesday, in the twenty-eighth round of the Premier League, which ended in a goalless draw.
Mahmoud Ashour, the referee of the VAR in the Al-Ahly and Farco match, canceled a goal for Al-Ahly, scored by South African Percy Tau, for offside.
The decisions of the Al-Ahly club’s board of directors were as follows:
1- Demanding the dismissal of the referees committee, which has lost its integrity and credibility.
2 – Demanding the suspension of the VAR referee in the last Al-Ahly match until he is investigated for what he did.
3- Al-Ahly will not participate in the competitions organized by the Egyptian Football Association until the demands of Al-Ahly club are met.
4 – Al-Ahly will complete the general league matches with the juniors team, and the players who recovered from injury.
Khatib, the club’s president, will clarify the decisions within the next few hours, according to Al-Ahly club’s statement, on Thursday.
Minutes after the Al-Ahly club’s decisions were published by the club’s official accounts on social media platforms, the club’s fans launched on those platforms the hashtag #Support_Al-Ahly_Decisions to top the Twitter trend in Egypt, in light of several consecutive losses witnessed by the Al-Ahly football team recently.
The Egyptian Football Association responded to the Al-Ahly board decisions.
Gamal Allam, president of the Egyptian Football Association, responded to the statement issued by Al-Ahly club regarding what the club described as arbitration errors in the Al-Ahly and Farco match.
“I am currently with the juniors’ team on a national mission in Saudi Arabia, in preparation for facing the Saudi team in the Arab Cup final. We respect all clubs and their requests, and I will discuss any problem related to any club after my return from Saudi Arabia,” Allam told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
The president of Zamalek Club, Mortada Mansour, commented on Al-Ahly board decisions saying that Khatib was “playing with fire”, especially with regard to deciding to complete playing the league matches with the juniors’ team.
“Al-Khatib is playing with fire,” Mansour said in a statement to the Zamalek TV channel, adding that the country “cannot bear the manipulative use of the public.”
“It is not reasonable to issue a statement everyday. You are alienating all people captain Khatib. Take it a bit slower, we are not going to set the country on fire because of a canceled goal,” he continued.
“Al-Khatib is the reason for what is happening to the Al-Ahly team, when he refused to cancel the league at the time of the coronavirus pandemic and insisted on completing it,” Mansour continued.