ZED deserved a penalty against Ceramica Cleopatra, says referees chief Essam Abdel Fattah

Essam Abdel Fattah, chairman of the referees’ committee, has admitted that ZED should have been awarded a penalty in their Egyptian League match against Ceramica Cleopatra.

ZED lodged a complaint about the officiating after losing the eighth-round fixture 2-1. The referees’ committee has since decided to suspend referee Hamada El Qallawy and video assistant referee Khaled Gamal El Ghandour over the incident.

“We consider every complaint and respond to all complaints by showing the controversial refereeing decisions after the end of each round,” Abdel Fattah said on On Sport.

“El Qallawy correctly awarded a penalty to ZED, but the video assistant referee intervened and the referee accepted the VAR officials’ view before reversing his decision.

“That was the wrong decision, and this was announced during the analysis of the decisions from round eight.”

The incident occurred after Ceramica Cleopatra goalkeeper Mohamed Alaa was judged to have fouled ZED player Tarek Alaa. El Qallawy initially pointed to the spot, but was then asked by El Ghandour to review the footage at the pitchside monitor.

After checking the replay, El Qallawy withdrew the penalty award.

Abdel Fattah said the error resulted from a failure of communication between the referee and the video assistant referee, rather than from any requirement for the on-field official to make a faster decision.

“There was a shortcoming between the referee and the video assistant referee in that situation,” he said. “The referee should have asked for more footage to settle his decision.

“We do not ask the referee to rush when making a decision after reviewing a VAR incident. We ask him to make the correct decision.”

The Egyptian Football Association’s official account published the referees’ committee’s analysis of the match incidents, which concluded that the referee had made a mistake by failing to award ZED a penalty.

A source from the referees’ committee had previously told FilGoal.com that the decision to suspend El Qallawy and El Ghandour was linked to the failure to award the penalty against Ceramica Cleopatra.

Abdel Fattah said the incident was the first error made by both officials during the current season, while also defending their performances overall.

“Mistakes can happen in football,” he said. “El Qallawy and El Ghandour are having a good season, and this is the first mistake for both of them this season. This mistake is a lesson for them.”

Ceramica Cleopatra moved up to fourth in the table with 18 points after the victory, while ZED remained 10th on 11 points.