Jamal Al-Ghandour, Vice Chairman of the Referees Committee, emphasized the possibility of Jamal Al-Ghandour officiating Al Ahly matches in the coming period.
Al-Ghandour said via MBC Masr 2 channel: “Khaled Jamal Al-Ghandour, my son, and Ahmed Mahrous Al-Ghandour, my brother’s son, are among the best referees in Egypt. They have been on the scene despite my not holding any position, but they have been treated unjustly because of me. I do not feel embarrassed to analyze the situations in which they were involved in matches, nor do I feel embarrassed to praise them or criticize the mistakes they make.”
He continued, “In the Referees Committee, we work collectively and make decisions collectively or by majority. The decision that comes out of the committee is our collective decision, and we collectively decided to analyze controversial cases after each round.”
He added, “In the first round, no referee needed to refer to video technology, and there were no controversial cases except for Al Ahly’s penalty kick. Therefore, we needed to explain it according to the standards so that people would understand the decision.”
He concluded, “Mahmoud Wafa officiating Al Ahly matches? Why not? He is an international referee and is among the referees, but there is an art to assigning matches. We do not want to see a referee returning from travel a day before a match, or a referee officiating two consecutive matches for a team. I want to place the referee in proper conditions, and when I feel that the conditions are suitable, he will be present. However, I will not defy the clubs, nor will I place a referee in challenges that could be dangerous. We took advantage of the opportunity of Amine Omar’s return from the World Cup, even though he had not been present in Al Zamalek matches for a long time, but he led the first match against Al Ittihad in a distinguished manner. Therefore, Wafa or others, each referee will be present in the conditions suitable for him.”
