الاهلي لم يعترض على حكم القمة قبل مواجهة الزمالك

Al Ahly did not object to the appointment of Slovenian referee Rade Obrenovic for their league meeting with Zamalek, Egyptian Referees Committee chairman Essam Abdel-Fattah has said.

The two Cairo clubs will meet at Cairo International Stadium on Sunday, 11 October, in the sixth round of the Egyptian Premier League.

The Egyptian Football Association’s Referees Committee confirmed Obrenovic as the match official after attempts to appoint a referee from one of Europe’s leading leagues.

“We contacted the five major European leagues to bring in referees for the derby,” Abdel-Fattah told Al Nahar TV.

“Three countries – Germany, England and Italy – apologised. Spain agreed, but sent the names of referees who were not from the elite group, and Portugal did the same.”

Abdel-Fattah said the committee had also considered a number of high-profile officials, including Poland’s Szymon Marciniak, but he was unavailable because he had another match at the same time.

“We were looking for an elite referee. We contacted Marciniak, but he had a match at the same time, as did a large number of referees who have officiated at World Cups,” he said.

The committee eventually selected Obrenovic, who has officiated internationally and is used by several Arab leagues.

“We reached an agreement with the Slovenian referee Rade Obrenovic, who officiated France against Belgium,” Abdel-Fattah added.

“Many countries rely on him in leagues such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and we felt he was suitable based on what was presented to us. Slovenia is a major country in refereeing; a Slovenian referee officiated a World Cup final.”

VAR changes and Ashour departure

Abdel-Fattah also outlined plans to update the Video Assistant Referee system in Egyptian football.

“The Football Association has formed a committee, and one member of the Referees Committee will be part of it, to launch a new tender for upgrading VAR technology,” he said.

“We will request the VAR updates that we need during the coming period.”

Mamdouh Ashour, the Referees Committee member responsible for VAR, resigned after receiving an offer from a television channel, according to Abdel-Fattah.

“Ashour has a good offer from one of the satellite channels. I gave him another week to consider whether to stay or move into analysis,” he said.

“It is not permissible to combine working on the Referees Committee with analysing the Egyptian league.”

Abdel-Fattah said Ashour had been uncertain about joining the committee from the outset because he wanted to pursue a career in football analysis.

On his replacement, he added: “Mohamed El-Sabahi is making a great effort on the Referees Committee and has considerable VAR experience. We will all help him.”