Zamalek: Refereeing errors influenced derby defeat by Al Ahly

Zamalek’s communications director Maher Gharib says the club’s statement criticising the referee in their 2-0 Egyptian Premier League defeat by Al Ahly was approved by the board and was not issued to appease supporters.

The Cairo rivals met at Cairo International Stadium in the sixth round of the league, with Al Ahly’s victory taking them temporarily top of the table on 16 points. Zamalek suffered their first defeat of the season and remain third on 13 points.

“There is no truth in the claims that Zamalek’s statement against the referee was issued by an individual decision,” Gharib told Modern Mti Tv. “I do not know why such decisions are being questioned.”

He added: “We are talking about the board of a major and historic club such as Zamalek. It is shameful to question its decisions. I stress the word shameful – nobody should be asking who knows and who does not.”

Gharib said each board member was responsible for a specific area of the club’s work and defended Zamalek’s right to formally challenge officiating decisions.

“When clubs such as Abu Qir Fertilizers have observations, do they not have the right to submit a complaint and object?” he said.

‘The referee affected the result’

Gharib claimed the appointed official was not good enough for a match of the importance of the Cairo derby.

“The referee was not at the required level for the derby,” he said. “A match of this size in Egyptian football should not be handled by a referee of this standard. With full respect to the Main Referees Committee, any justifications are unacceptable. Al Ahly and Zamalek deserve better referees.”

He continued: “The referee, without question, affected the result of the match. Can Zamalek simply stand by and refuse to use the powers given to it by law to complain about what happened?”

Zamalek’s board, led by Hussein Labib, said it would submit an official complaint to the Egyptian Football Association against the Main Referees Committee, accusing it of injustice during the derby and stating that the officials’ decisions had contributed to the defeat and wasted the efforts of the players and coaching staff.

The club said an unfamiliar refereeing team, far below the standard required for the fixture, had made “deliberately directed” decisions against Zamalek which affected the course and outcome of the game. It also cited the views of several refereeing experts who said Zamalek should have been awarded two penalties and that more than one incident involving the club had not been reviewed by VAR.

Zamalek held the Main Referees Committee responsible for the loss, alleging it had been influenced by a campaign before the start of the league and had shown favouritism towards one side.

The club said it still rejected any general suggestion that the integrity of the refereeing system was compromised, but called on members of the committee to reconsider referee appointments and ensure fairness remained central to officiating.

A source on the committee told FilGoal.com that it would not analyse the controversial incidents because its role ended once a foreign team of officials had been appointed. The source said the committee was responsible only for Egyptian refereeing, adding that it had arranged the foreign officials despite the scheduling of UEFA Champions League matches and other European competitions.

Gharib said: “The statement was not issued to satisfy the fans. The fans lost the match, so how could a statement alone satisfy them?”

Zamalek travel to face Rwandan Army on Friday, 16 October, in the first leg of the round of 32 in the CAF Champions League.