Hisham Nasr rules out investment in Zamalek football company

Zamalek vice-president Hisham Nasr says he has no plans to invest in the club’s proposed football company, despite interest from a number of Egyptian and foreign investors.

Nasr said any partnership would protect Zamalek’s ownership rights, including its emblem and identity, and would prevent the sale of shares or assets without the club’s approval.

“If Zamalek finds an investor who will take a stake of less than 50% in the football company, there will be no need for a General Assembly vote,” Nasr told Modern channel.

“The vote will have taken place in advance to secure approval if the investor is to take more than 50%.”

He added that the agreement would be signed while retaining Zamalek’s full rights, with those safeguards written into the contract.

“This will include protecting the emblem and identity of the club, as well as preventing the sale of shares or assets without the club’s approval,” he said.

Nasr also made clear that neither he nor any member of his family would become involved financially in the project.

“I do not intend to invest in Zamalek’s football company, and no member of my family will enter into a partnership in the company,” he said.

“There are many foreign and Egyptian investors who want to form a partnership with Zamalek in the football company.”

Nasr said his work at the club had always been voluntary and that his decision not to invest was linked to the scrutiny surrounding his position.

“My work at Zamalek has been voluntary from the first day, without payment, and carried out with love and sincerity,” he said.

“The law does not prevent me from investing in Zamalek’s football company, but I am always in a position where I would be accused, so I will not invest in the company.”

He called for wider support from the Egyptian state for the project and argued that football should become more commercially focused.

“It is very important that all state institutions engage with the idea of Zamalek’s football company,” Nasr said.

“Sport in general, and football in particular, must be transformed into an investment and commercial activity.”

Nasr also said it was too early to discuss whether he would stand in the next Zamalek elections.

He explained that he believed Zamalek president Hussein Labib’s assessment of the board’s performance as 4/10 was a reflection of how much of his ambition for the club had been achieved, rather than criticism of individual people.

Nasr described the club’s current situation as “a war of attrition”.

“We are still resisting. Sometimes we fall and at other times we succeed, but we will continue working until the final moment of our time at the club,” he said.

Hossam El-Zanaty remains under consideration for the role of sporting director, although Nasr said that decision would only be made after the football company process had been completed.