Al Ahly explain decision to request foreign referees

by Staff Reporter

Tuesday Apr 26, 2022. 13:00

Al Ahly have explained why they recently requested the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) to bring in foreign referees for the remainder of their Premier League games.

The Red Eagles are currently second on the league standings, four points behind leaders Zamalek, but Al Ahly have three games in hand as the battle for the championship continues.

The Cairo-based giants, who are under the guidance of accomplished South African coach Pitso Mosimane, suffered their first league defeat of the season when they 1-0 to Al Masry on April 9.

However, Al Ahly requested foreign referees for their league games as they believe refereeing mistakes have affected their results.

The reigning African champions have since issued the following statement as they further explained why they made the request:

“Al Ahly sent an official letter to the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), clarifying some points regarding the club’s request to have foreign referees for the club’s upcoming matches in the league.

“Al Ahly mentioned in the letter that the club’s request to have top-ranked referees from the top five leagues in Europe, with the club bearing the high costs of bringing in the foreign referees, is an inherent right for all teams in the league.

“The club also discussed the motive behind the request after demanding the EFA in the past two years to find solutions to improve the refereeing standards and reduce the mistakes of the referees but the EFA did not take effective steps in that direction.

“The club affirmed that bringing in top-class referees will have a major positive impact on the league and will be a great opportunity for the Egyptian referees to benefit from their experience.

“The club explained that we did not request referees from one league but five leagues to widen the choices of selection.

“The club included a list of four demands from the EFA:

“1- The club would like the EFA to reveal the details behind the unsuccessful attempts of bringing in the referees.

“2- The club would like to know whether the apologies from the top five leagues are temporary or permanent.

“3- The club adheres to its request of having foreign referees for the upcoming league games and the club waits for a response from the EFA about the available dates to have foreign referees.

“4- The club wants a detailed schedule of the team’s upcoming matches in the league to decide the games that will be officiated by foreign referees.”