Essam Abdel-Fattah says Egyptian referee could have made different calls in Al Ahly-Zamalek derby

Essam Abdel-Fattah, chairman of the referees’ committee, says an Egyptian referee might have made different decisions during the Egyptian Premier League match between Al Ahly and Zamalek.

Al Ahly won the derby 2-0 in the sixth round of the league, with the match featuring two incidents that prompted discussion about the interpretation of challenges and the influence of different refereeing approaches.

“Had an Egyptian referee been in charge of the Al Ahly-Zamalek match, there could have been different decisions,” Abdel-Fattah told On Sport.

He said the first incident, involving Marwan Attia and Chico Banza, had been misunderstood by many analysts because play had already stopped before the contact between the two players.

“In the challenge between Marwan Attia and Chico Banza, there was something most analysts did not notice,” Abdel-Fattah said.

“The ball had gone out for a goal kick, and the assistant referee had indicated that before any contact took place. Therefore, it was a goal kick from the beginning.”

Abdel-Fattah also addressed the incident involving Achraf Dari and Chico Banza, saying the decision might have been different had the match been officiated according to the approach generally used in Egypt.

“In my view, in the Achraf Dari and Chico Banza incident, we would have awarded a penalty in Egypt,” he said. “But this is related to the difference between refereeing schools.”

He added that the referee’s performance should not be judged simply because the decisions did not match the conventions used by Egyptian officials.

“I cannot change a different refereeing school simply because it does not align with the Egyptian school,” Abdel-Fattah said.

“I would be unfair if I assessed the referee’s performance in the match on the basis of differences between refereeing schools.”

The victory moved Al Ahly up to 16 points in second place. Zamalek suffered their first defeat of the season but remained third on 13 points.

Zamalek’s next fixture is away to the Rwandan Army on Friday, 16 October, in the first leg of the round of 32 in the CAF Champions League.