Jihad Jarisha, a member of the main referees committee of the Egyptian Football Association, issued an official statement following the end of his tenure on the referees committee.
The Football Association had previously announced its thanks to the entire referees committee, which was led by Colombian Oscar Ruiz, with the formation of a new committee to be announced in the coming days.
See.. Officially | The Football Association announces the departure of the members of the referees committee
Jihad Jarisha wrote on his account on the social media site "Facebook": "A statement and an account of my period in the previous referees committee, and Egyptian refereeing".He added: "On February 16, 2026, my message to Engineer / Hani Abu Rida, the balance of justice among the referees began to falter, please intervene quickly because we are going down the wrong path for Egyptian refereeing and justice".
He continued: "And because Engineer Hani does not accept to intervene, he did not intervene and left the man to complete until the end of the season and the reckoning at the end of the season, and that is something truly respectable".
He went on: "At the end of June 2026, my message to Engineer / Hani Abu Rida at the end of the Capital Cup on the day of the final match, the season has officially ended, thank you Hani Abu Rida, President of the Egyptian Football Association, thank you the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Football Association, today my mission as a member of the main referees committee has ended over a year and a half, and I will not work again in Egyptian refereeing, except as chairman of the main referees committee, or as a member of the Board of Directors of the Association".
He added: "For a year and a half I worked with all sincerity and dedication for the benefit of Egyptian refereeing, and with all the strength I had, I never remained silent for a day inside the referees committee, I always say what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong, I did not please any creature at the expense of Egyptian refereeing".
He continued: "I was always clear and my opinion was clear, I did not flatter or hypocrite or nod my head to please the committee chairman, on the contrary I was all the time clear and my opinion was clear in front of everyone, which the committee chairman testifies to, that I am always a person of opinion and thought, and I never hesitated for a day to express my opinion for the public good of Egyptian refereeing".
He completed: "My conscience refereeing was my permanent weapon for the benefit of Egyptian refereeing, but all the time my opinion was among 5 opinions and the majority decision always prevailed, and with full respect for everyone, there were many decisions and opinions that I completely disagreed with and opposed, but that never came out of the closed rooms and within the scope of the referees committee, out of respect for myself and respect for the Board of Directors of the Association".
He stressed: "The first season ended and everyone praises the refereeing, as well as half of the past season and everyone praises the refereeing, but after February things happened that affected in one way or another the balance of justice among the referees and the inevitable result of that was the lack of success of some referees on the field".
He went on: "My opinion has not changed and will not change, that refereeing needs a comprehensive change, (it comes on the shell) and this is what I said before entering the committee, but after entering I became certain that it needs more than that, through situations, people and conscious management for the benefit of Egyptian refereeing".
He pointed out: "All my words in the media before entering the committee, I stick to every word through an experience I await and look forward to, built on clarity, transparency and frankness, and we say what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong without any compromises or calculations, we need justice among all referees through performance, sweat, effort and work without connections or favoritism or interventions, especially external ones which I reject and have completely rejected, so there is no one guardian over Egyptian refereeing from outside the Association and the referees committee and this cannot exist again because this is the basis of failures".
He added: "We need the referee who excels and works hard to play and the referee who errs to be punished no matter what his name is, and we do not cover up referees' mistakes and invent excuses for them to cover their mistakes or invent terms that have no basis in truth and were the reason for the entry of foreign referees committee chairmen (the entry of foreigners to Egypt) after the disastrous 2021 season, the worst in the last 20 years with the entry of 38 foreign refereeing crews to Egypt at that time, and we punish the erring referee but of course we do not announce his punishment".
He continued: "After every two or three weeks we announce the committee's opinion on controversial cases and say what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong and display VAR calls and conversations publicly in controversial cases and do not wait for clubs' complaints or requests or objections, for there is nothing to hide or fear, the path to success in Egyptian refereeing is disclosure, clarity and frankness, and fearing God Almighty without any calculations, and achieving justice among the referees and through justice among the referees we will see justice among all clubs, with the acknowledgment that refereeing errors will continue but to a reasonable extent that everyone accepts with the recognition of errors, with the development of refereeing to reduce errors to the maximum possible degree".
He stressed: "An experience I hope will be realized on the ground, for the benefit of Egyptian refereeing, with full freedom in forming the referees committee for the choices of the committee chairman and with complete freedom without the slightest interventions to impose specific names on him".
