Africa Cup of Nations host Egypt bogged down in domestic football crisis
“This is the hardest season in the history of Egyptian football,” Amer Hussein, chairman of the domestic league’s competition committee which schedules matches, told AFP.
With leading top-flight clubs also involved in African and pan-Arab competitions, the knock-on effect on the domestic calendar has this year thrown the Egyptian league into disarray.
It does not augur well for June and July, when Egypt will host the Cup of Nations for the fifth time, with 24 teams participating for the first time in an expanded format.
Egypt was chosen ahead of South Africa after Cameroon was stripped of its hosting duties by the Confederation of African Football. The tournament is due to take place during the searing Egyptian summer, from June 21 to July 19.
The domestic league is set to run on well beyond the end of the Cup of Nations, with the possibility of extended runs in international competitions for Cairo giants Al Ahly and Zamalek potentially making things even more complicated.
The hasty preparations for the Cup of Nations have compounded the league’s woes at a time when Ahly and Zamalek have been hitting out at organisers along with their new, Saudi-funded rival Pyramids FC.
– “Tensions running high” –
In February, Pyramids FC publicly accused the federation of favouring their rivals. The club called the scheduling of fixtures an “injustice” to them and threatened to complain to FIFA.
Turki Al Sheikh, an influential Saudi businessman and a close political advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, has bankrolled the club after buying it last summer.
He has completely rebranded it with an aggressive marketing campaign and gone on a signing spree, bringing in foreign players from the likes of Brazil and Syria.
Al-Ahly, Egypt’s and Africa’s most successful club, have even refused to comply with the packed domestic schedule. They implicitly hit out at Pyramids FC, saying they would not bow to “pressure from a certain party”.
“Tensions are running high and that frightens football officials in Egypt with the Africa Cup of Nations around the corner,” said Amir Abdel Halim of popular Egyptian football website Fil Goal.
He said football authorities were trying to contain the “anger of Ahly supporters”, while also encouraging new “investments in Egyptian football embodied in Pyramids FC”.