Egypt to apply new football laws as referees prepare for domestic season

Essam Abdel-Fattah, chairman of the referees’ committee, says the latest amendments to football’s Laws of the Game will be implemented in Egypt’s domestic competitions during the 2026-27 season.

The changes were announced by FIFA before the 2026 World Cup, and Egypt’s referees will be briefed on them when their pre-season camp begins on Sunday.

“The referees’ camp for the new season starts tomorrow, Sunday, and we will inform them about the new amendments to the Laws of the Game,” Abdel-Fattah told FilGoal.com.

He said the opening lecture of the camp would focus on the parts of the law that can be introduced immediately, while other changes would require approval from the competitions committee before they can be used in domestic football.

“We will explain in the first lecture for the referees the new amendments to the articles of the law which we will certainly be able to implement,” Abdel-Fattah said.

However, he added that three of the amendments would need to be written into the competition regulations. The referees’ committee will therefore hold a meeting with the competitions committee before those measures are applied.

“There are amendments that must be approved by the competitions committee, so we will hold a meeting with them because there are three amendments that must be added to the regulations in order to implement them,” he said.

One of the measures concerns the use of referee cameras, which Abdel-Fattah said should be arranged through a contract with the competitions committee.

“Among them, for example, are the referees’ cameras, which the competitions committee is supposed to contract for,” he added.

Another amendment relates to a team withdrawing from a match, or a player leaving the pitch in protest at a referee’s decision. Abdel-Fattah said that matter also needed to be formally included in the regulations.

“There is also a clause concerning a team withdrawing or a player leaving the team’s pitch in objection to the referee’s decision, and it must be included in the regulations,” he said.

The full referees’ committee is chaired by Abdel-Fattah. Gamal El-Ghandour and Samir Osman are the vice-chairmen, while Ahmed Wagih and Mahmoud Ashour are members.

The draw for the new Egyptian Premier League season is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 5 August.

Zamalek won the Egyptian Premier League title last season, while Pyramids won the Egypt Cup.

The implementation of the amendments will therefore involve both the referees’ committee and the competitions committee, with the latter responsible for approving the three measures that require changes to the domestic regulations. Referees will receive details of the changes during the camp beginning on Sunday, ahead of the new season.