Amr El Ganainy breaks silence on Mohamed Salah, Shikabala, and Al Ahly pressures

Former Egyptian FA president and ex-Zamalek board member Amr El Ganainy has delivered a series of frank revelations about his turbulent time in football administration.

Speaking on Ahmed Shobeir’s TV show “I Admit”, he revisited his 2012 resignation from Zamalek, his spell leading the interim “five-member committee”, and controversies involving Mohamed Salah, Shikabala and Al Ahly.

El Ganainy said he quit Zamalek’s board after the club backed away from an agreed deal to reappoint Hossam Hassan as coach, insisting: “My word is my bond; this is the code of honor I abide by.”

He strongly rejected suggestions he used his banking position to favor Zamalek, stressing: “The President said that flattery is corruption, and I am not corrupt.”

He added that, as FA chief, he applied the regulations equally and never granted any club something “it is not within his rights according to the regulations.”

On the famous Shikabala–Hassan Shehata dispute, he recalled imposing a record fine and loaning the player to Al Wasl, while denying he ever sided against the coach.

He also revealed how he personally helped defuse Salah’s feud with the FA, calling the Liverpool star “like my younger brother”، and defended making him Egypt captain on merit, not favoritism.
​