Mosimane’s Ahly give Egyptian FA R1.2 million to hire Europe refs | African News

In a bizarre move, Pitso Mosimane’s Al Ahly have handed the Egyptian Football Association a cheque of R1.2 million to bring in European referees from the world’s top five leagues. Ahly, basking in glory after storming into the Caf Champions League semis for the third successive season, are demanding quality refereeing for the next two league matches, which are crucial in their domestic campaign.

Saad Shalaby, Al Ahly’s executive director, confirmed that the reigning African champions had sent an official letter to the Egyptian FA making the request “for the team’s league games against Talae’ea El Gaish and Ceramica Cleopatra”. Attached to the letter, Shalaby said, was a cheque for US$80,000 “as the cost of assigning the on-field referees and the VAR referees.” 

The Cairo giants take on El Gaish on Wednesday before visiting Ceramica in Giza, an Egyptian city on the west bank of the Nile. They are under pressure to win their three games in hand to retain pole position after amassing 31 points off 12 games [10 wins, one draw, one loss]. Zamalek, who are at the top, have 35 points.

The Club of the Century has previously made a similar demand, but this time they have taken it a step further by attaching the ref’s fees, leaving the federation with no excuses. The call has been made after concerns that local officials do not handle their matches as well as they should. 

“The club requested that the referees be chosen from any of the top five European leagues [English Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1]. The referees should be ranked among the top five in the league,” the club said. Mosimane has won the Champions League twice, while he missed out on the domestic league title last season as Ahly’s bitter rivals Zamalek won it.

The first domestic title he lifted was almost wrapped up when he took over. This season presents him an opportunity to win one he can truly call his own. He will have one eye on making history by winning the Champions League thrice successively, after sailing through to the semi-final, thanks to a 3-2 aggregate win over Raja Casablanca. After a 2-1 victory in Cairo, the title-holders successfully held their hosts to a 1-1 draw in Casablanca, earning their spot in the top four.

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