Al Ahly penalty was correct but Eastern Company ENPPI defender should have been booked, referees’ committee says

The Egyptian Football Association’s referees’ committee has ruled that Al Ahly were correctly awarded a penalty in their opening league match against Eastern Company ENPPI, but said the defender should also have received a yellow card.

The committee reviewed the incident in a video published on the official Egyptian Football Association page. It concluded that referee Mahmoud Nagy was right to point to the spot after the Al Ahly attacker was pushed in the back inside the penalty area.

However, the committee said Nagy should have shown the Eastern Company ENPPI defender a booking for the challenge.

The incident was analysed by referees’ committee member Gamal El Ghandour, who explained the decision in the video.

“There are considerations that we must take into account,” El Ghandour said. “Did the attacker try to play the ball? Yes, the attacker was trying to play the ball.”

He added: “The defender was the one who did not try to play the ball and was content with pushing the attacker in the back.”

El Ghandour said the force of the contact had to be judged in the context of the players’ positions and movement.

“In this position and with the attacker’s movement, the defender did not need to use a strong push to bring him down,” he said. “The push was enough to prevent the attacker from reaching the ball in this situation.”

He went on to confirm that the decision had been checked by the video assistant referee and upheld.

“Therefore, there was an offence and there was a penalty,” El Ghandour said. “The referee’s positioning helped him see the penalty, and the on-field decision was a penalty, which was supported by the VAR referee.”

He concluded: “The decision of the main referees’ committee is that it was a penalty, and the referee should have shown a yellow card.”

The decision came after an eventful opening match for Al Ahly, who began their league campaign with a 3-2 victory over Eastern Company ENPPI.

The game was played at Cairo International Stadium, where Al Ahly secured all three points despite conceding twice. The penalty incident was subsequently reviewed by the referees’ committee as part of its published analysis of decisions from the opening round of the competition.

The committee’s assessment therefore supported the on-field penalty decision while identifying an additional disciplinary action that, in its view, should have been taken against the defender.