Al Ahly penalty against Enppi was correct, referees’ committee agrees

The referees’ committee, led by Essam Abdel-Fattah, has unanimously agreed that Al Ahly were correctly awarded a penalty in their Egyptian Premier League match against Enppi.

Al Ahly won the opening-round fixture 3-2, with the decisive incident coming in the 68th minute when Achraf Bencharki was judged to have been pushed from behind inside the penalty area.

Ahmed Sayed “Zizo” took responsibility from the spot and converted the penalty to bring Al Ahly level. The committee later reviewed the decision and its members agreed that the award was correct, based on the push on Bencharki.

The result gave Al Ahly their second consecutive victory against Enppi after a run of five matches in all competitions without a win over their opponents.

Enppi had taken control of the match by scoring twice through Ali Ehab and Mohamed Essam. Al Ahly’s goals came from Marwan Attia, Zizo and Mohamed Magdy “Afsha”.

The match was also the first in charge for Al Ahly manager Houcine Ammouta. The club came back after falling three goals behind and moved into the group of teams at the top of the league table.

The penalty decision was the central refereeing point from the game, with the committee’s members reaching a unanimous conclusion that the contact on Bencharki justified the spot-kick. Zizo’s successful effort restored parity before Al Ahly completed the turnaround to secure all three points.

Al Ahly will now prepare for their second league match, against ZED, on Friday. Enppi will also play on the same day, when they host Wadi Degla.

The opening-round victory places Al Ahly among the early leaders and continues their recent improvement in the fixture against Enppi, following the end of their five-match winless sequence in all competitions. It also provided Ammouta with a winning start to his tenure, despite the difficult position his side had faced during the game.

The referees’ committee’s assessment confirms that the penalty awarded for the challenge on Bencharki was regarded as a legitimate decision rather than an error by the match officials. Zizo’s conversion proved important in Al Ahly’s comeback and contributed to their 3-2 victory in the opening round of the Egyptian Premier League.