Amin Omar appointed referee for Al Ahly’s third meeting with Smouha

Amin Omar will referee Al Ahly’s Egyptian Premier League encounter with Smouha in the third round of the season, with the Cairo Stadium fixture scheduled for Thursday at 20:00.

The match will bring the third round of league matches to a close and will be the second game officiated by the 40-year-old referee this season.

Omar will be assisted by Ahmed Tawfik Taleb and Khaled Hussein, while Ahmed Hamdy has been appointed as the fourth official. Mahmoud El-Desoky will oversee the video assistant referee system, with Amr El-Shenawy serving as his assistant.

It will be the third time Omar has taken charge of a match between Al Ahly and Smouha. Their first meeting under his supervision came in the 2014-15 season and ended in a 1-1 draw.

The second was played during the 2018-19 campaign, when Al Ahly secured a 1-0 victory. Geraldo scored the only goal of that match.

Omar has refereed 32 Al Ahly matches during his career. The Cairo-based club have won 22 of those games, drawn eight and lost two.

His record in matches involving Smouha includes 24 appointments. Smouha have won six of those fixtures, drawn eight and been defeated in 10.

The appointment comes as the two clubs look to improve contrasting starts to the new league campaign.

Smouha began the season with a 1-0 defeat by Al Masry before drawing 0-0 with Petrojet.

Al Ahly, meanwhile, have won their opening two matches, defeating Eastern Company, Enppi and ZED in the first two rounds.

Al Ahly are third in the table, while Smouha sit 16th ahead of Thursday’s meeting.

The fixture at Cairo Stadium is therefore set to provide both sides with an opportunity to strengthen their early-season positions, while Omar takes charge of an encounter involving two teams with markedly different records in the opening stages of the campaign.