Al Ahly warn Egyptian FA choices could deepen football crisis

Al Ahly have opened a fresh dispute with the Egyptian Football Association, accusing it of making decisions that threaten the development of Egyptian football, breaching regulations and issuing “catastrophic” statements about refereeing.

In a strongly worded letter published on the club’s official website on Sunday, Al Ahly said it had expected Egyptian football to enter a new phase of development. That phase was to follow a plan announced several weeks ago by the Minister of Youth and Sports in co-ordination with the Egyptian Football Association, with the aim of building on the Egypt national team’s impressive performance at the most recent World Cup.

Instead, the club said it had been surprised by decisions that offered little reason for optimism and risked creating further disputes across the sport.

One of Al Ahly’s main objections concerns the appointment of Essam Abdel-Fattah as chairman of the referees’ committee for the 2026/27 season. The Egyptian Football Association announced the decision recently.

Al Ahly said Abdel-Fattah had previously held the same position but had failed to deliver fair treatment for most clubs, including Al Ahly. The club also criticised language it said had been used during his earlier spell in charge, including “الاحتواء” (“containment”) and “روح البروتوكول” (“spirit of protocol”).

According to Al Ahly, those expressions led it at the time to declare that the referees’ committee had lost its credibility and integrity in the eyes of the public.

The club said it had protested by completing the league campaign with young players and footballers returning from injury, while also refusing to take part in the Egypt Cup.

Al Ahly further claimed that regulations were being breached because some bodies that had not paid sums owed to state institutions were nevertheless receiving the necessary approvals.

It said the Egyptian Football Association president had praised those bodies publicly, describing them as the most committed to making payments and saying their contracts were valid. Al Ahly argued that this created the impression that contracts held by other clubs were invalid.

The club also accused the association’s president of ignoring legitimate rights recognised internationally, particularly the distinction between contracts covering sporting activity and contracts covering commercial rights.

African Champions League places questioned

Al Ahly criticised the association’s handling of a proposal to increase the number of Egyptian clubs competing in the CAF Champions League.

The club said the association’s president had submitted a request to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for more places, but that the request had been rejected. Al Ahly claimed the decision was then kept confidential for a full week without justification.

That delay, the club said, raised questions, particularly if the purpose had been to wait until the clubs holding African licences had been identified.

The strongest criticism was reserved for recent comments from the VAR official involved in last season’s Ceramica Cleopatra and Al Ahly match during the final stage of the league, as well as remarks made by a member of the referees’ committee.

Al Ahly described the statements as “كارثية” (“catastrophic”) and said they represented a dark moment in the history of Egyptian refereeing.

The club said the VAR official had revealed that the on-field referee had unreasonably refused to award Al Ahly a legitimate penalty. It added that a member of the referees’ committee had confirmed the same incident and had clearly indicated that someone from outside the Egyptian Football Association structure was interfering in the committee’s work.

Al Ahly said it had repeatedly warned about such intervention in the past.

The club concluded that the Egyptian Football Association’s recent decisions, appointments and statements did not encourage optimism or co-operation.

It said the association must accept full responsibility for managing Egyptian football, adding that clubs had expected decisions serving the interests of all teams. Al Ahly argued that clubs were the foundation for developing the players who had helped the national team produce its respected performance at the most recent World Cup.

The club ended by expressing hope that the situation could be corrected in a way that served Egyptian football and delivered fairness to every part of the game.