Al Ahly have demanded for the Court of Arbitration for Sport to rule on a neutral venue to host the CAF Champions League final or the match to be postponed.
The club are fighting CAF’s decision to host this year’s CAF Champions League final at the Stade Mohamed V in Casablanca, which is Wydad Athletic Club’s home ground.
It appears as though Wydad would get a massive home-ground advantage, which has led Al Ahly to contest the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The reigning champions stated earlier this week that they “will play the CAF Champions League final no matter where the game is held” but argue that official rules after the change to a once-off final two years ago state the venue will be neutral between the two finalists.
“Al Ahly SC’s legal team submitted on Tuesday the club’s complaint to CAS against CAF’s unfair decision over the CAF Champions League final venue as CAF decided to hold the game in the same venue for the second consecutive season, giving one team the home advantage in the final,” the club said in a statement.
“The legal team submitted all the documents and paid the required fees. The legal team highlighted the club’s demands of either holding the game in a neutral venue or postponing the game until CAS determines the case.”
In addition, Al Ahly sent a letter with six crucial demands, including a 50-50% capacity in the final to the Confederation of African Football, insisting they have not yet received any official documentation from CAF about the host city and stadium.
Here is Al Ahly’s demands to CAF:
“1- Setting the standards to hold the CAF Champions League final including (the capacity of the stadium, allocating 50% of the stadium’s capacity to Al Ahly fans) to provide equal opportunities. The club will pay the prices of the allocated tickets from different categories and we are waiting for your response about the prices of the tickets.
“2- We would like CAF to guarantee that half of the stadium’s capacity will be allocated only for Al Ahly fans and we want CAF to coordinate this demand with the parties responsible for organizing the match.
“3- Guaranteeing the safety of everyone involved in the match and ensuring that the organizers of the match will apply all the regulations of CAF and FIFA to prevent any factor that would affect the performance of the players.
“4- Facilitating the visa procedures for Al Ahly fans to ensure that our fans can easily travel and attend the match in their allocated seats (half of the stadium’s capacity). We would like you to take into consideration the shortage of time and that we are waiting for your response in the next 72 hours.
“5- Appointing one of Africa’s top referees in the continent to officiate the match and do not consider any referees who committed controversial mistakes and caused problems in any of the previous CAF competitions.
“6- Appointing European referees for VAR, which was done during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers especially since the winner of the game will represent Africa in the FIFA Club World Cup.”
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