Egyptian domestic football season has been deferred for an indefinite period by the Egyptian Football Association on Monday. This means, the scheduled Premier League football season would not kick start on its scheduled date, i.e., Wednesday. FA issued a statement on its website and told about its decision, however, they also informed to have requested to Interior Ministry’s approval to continue with the season, but they have yet to receive any reply from the ministry. Notably, 74 fans were killed in a violence that broke out after a premier league match between Ahly and Masry teams at Port Said Stadium. Besides, there were hundreds of injured fans too. No domestic match has since been played in Egyptian domestic premier league this year. Earlier, the news came to postpone the matches until 31st October, but very soon that decision was canceled too. Egyptian Sports Minister Al-Emary Farouq told about Prime Minister’s call directing him to take cabinet and presidential approval before commencing domestic season ahead of the recent massacre.
He also told about some clubs who are continuously forcing him to go ahead with the schedule to prevent any financial loss due to this halt. Moreover, many regional state cabinets are also complaining about similar protests from various regional clubs. This is also true that if the season doesn’t takes place on scheduled time, there would be a huge revenue loss to every participating club, hence these clubs, especially small clubs, are insisting to go ahead with the season with extra security arrangements.
Nonetheless, top security officers, who have observed on-ground atmosphere, have warned about any resumption whatsoever. Moreover, last month, fans of Cairo’s Al Ahly club, whose members were died in the violence, had demonstrated at FA’s headquarter against its preliminary decision to continue with the matches. Notably, said violence was one of the deadliest in soccer history where crowd’s over exaggeration resulted in uncontrolled violence and severe disturbance. Perhaps, the violence continued over several days across various places: some of them were reacting to the unfortunate demises of their near ones; others were again demonstrating as what they did in February. Citing the financial effects of this halt, Zamalek Football club’s president said, “If the Sports Ministry fails to organise the domestic league, it must compensate us with 12 million Egyptian pounds, to pay the salary bills of the club.” Other clubs also have similar demands in case if no season takes place this year.