Essam Abd El Fatah, head of the Referees Committee of the Egyptian Football Association, praised the refereeing performance in the first round of the Premier League tournament.
Developing the referees
Essam Abd El Fatah said in statements to the "El Classico" program on ON Channel: "I am extremely pleased with the referees' performance; 10 matches were played in the round, and VAR was not used in any match. This is a major success for the referees, and I congratulate them on it."
He added: "It's true we don't have a magic wand, but we are developing the referees well. I know there are those lying in wait for us, but we do not pay attention to that, and significant improvements have occurred within a short period."
Penalty kick for Boushaki
He continued: "We started with the referees from a far point, and I did not expect the referees to appear in this form in the first round, given what they experienced in the past period... I call on the fans to support the referees, even though I know they are the scapegoats, as fanaticism has reached an extreme level."
Regarding Al-Ahly's penalty kick against Sharqia Enppi, he said: "We have decided to analyze controversial cases every week, just as we did in the case of Al-Ahly's penalty kick, which was a correct penalty."
Analysis under the microscope
He added: "The refereeing in the first round receives a rating of 9 out of 10, as VAR was not used in any case. However, refereeing crises emerge with big clubs because they analyze cases under a microscope."
Regarding the appointment of Mohamed El-Ghazi to officiate the Zamalek vs. National Bank of Egypt match in the second round of the league, he said: "Does Zamalek like referee Mohamed El-Ghazi? He is one of the best referees of last season."
He continued: "They said that Zamalek does not like Amin Omar, yet we appointed him in the first round. We will not listen to these destructive pens that do not aim to develop Egyptian football."
Referees of the summit match
He elaborated: "We are trying to save Egyptian refereeing. There has been no new batch of referees in Egyptian football for six years... The number of Egyptian referees does not reach 3,000... This is a disaster."
He added: "They used to talk about the strategy before, and I don't know where it is... But I do not want to go backward. The referees do not know FIFA laws; they have been applying them for five years. Foreigners have pushed Egyptian refereeing backward."
Essam Abd El Fatah concluded his statements by saying: "We support assigning the summit match to Egyptian referees, and we have no crisis regarding that. However, there is a regulation stipulating the recruitment of foreign referees if one of the two clubs requests it, and we hope the referees will place their trust in Egyptian refereeing."
