Essam Abdel Fattah, head of the referees committee at the Egyptian Football Association, responded to the current controversy regarding reports that Mohamed Marouf, the referee of the Al Ahly and Zed match, asked Wael Gomaa, the team manager, to send off the team player Ali Mahmoud because he had not been sent off.
Media personality Karim Hassan Shataya stated in a television interview on Al Hayat channel that he has information that referee Mohamed Marouf told Wael Gomaa, "Send off Ali Mahmoud because I won't be able to protect him again."
Abdel Fattah said in a statement on the "On Target" program broadcast on "On Sport" channel: "We will meet to discuss everything; any conversation by the referee is recorded."
He added: "We will see and hear, and everything will be clarified, and all the details are in the VAR room, because all the referee's conversations are recorded."
He continued: "We will hear everything regarding this matter, but in fact, I don't know what to say. I am very upset that there are some people who claim honesty but have no trace of honesty, neither in word nor in the truth of the information."
He concluded: "We are significantly developing the performance of the referees, because the truth that emerged to us during the camps was very difficult matters."
He finished: "My evaluation of the referees in the second round of the Premier League championship is 7.5 out of 10."
