Ahmed El Ghandour returns to Egyptian Premier League refereeing after year-long absence

Ahmed El Ghandour will return to officiating in the Egyptian Premier League when he takes charge of El Gouna’s meeting with Al Mokawloon Al Arab on Wednesday, ending a lengthy absence from the competition.

The Egyptian Football Association’s Referees Committee has appointed El Ghandour as referee for the match, which will be played at 17:00 local time at Khaled Bichara Stadium.

The fixture is part of the third round of this year’s Egyptian Premier League and marks El Ghandour’s first league assignment of 2026. He last refereed in the competition in October 2025, having taken charge of four matches during the previous season.

El Ghandour subsequently went without an Egyptian Premier League appointment for the remainder of that period and into the early stages of the current campaign. His selection for Wednesday’s game therefore brings him back to the top-flight schedule after an absence of about a year.

He was also involved in several matches in the Egyptian Professional League last season, but had not been appointed to referee an Egyptian Premier League match since his appearance in October 2025.

The match comes at a difficult start to the campaign for both clubs, although their positions in the table are markedly different. El Gouna sit 12th with two points from their opening two games.

Al Mokawloon Al Arab are bottom of the table in 20th place and have no points after suffering two defeats. Wednesday’s meeting will give both sides an opportunity to improve their early league records, with El Gouna seeking its first win and Al Mokawloon Al Arab attempting to collect its first points of the season.

The appointment is also the latest under a new leadership structure within the refereeing department. Essam Abdel-Fattah became chairman of the Referees Committee after Oscar Ruiz, the Colombian official, left the position following the conclusion of last season.

El Ghandour’s return takes place against that backdrop, with the committee now responsible for assigning the officials for the Egyptian Premier League’s fixtures. His selection for the El Gouna-Al Mokawloon Al Arab game represents his first top-flight appointment since his previous run of four matches last season.

The two teams will meet at Khaled Bichara Stadium at 17:00 on Wednesday in the third round of the competition, with El Ghandour overseeing the contest.