Egyptian Premier League clubs protest against decision to restart season, Ismaily latest to join amid saving lives form covid-19
The Egyptian Premier League restart received a huge boost this week after Egypt’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Ashraf Sobhi declared last Monday that the prestigious competition could resume July there instructing clubs to resume training on 20 June.
This decision could have been a good one for Egyptian football and highlights how initiative the country is but Premier League clubs have started protesting against the government’s decision to restart the season.
Beginning it all was Al Masry and Wadi Degla who first disagreed with the FA and government’s decision and now is Ismaily who now support most league teams refusal to resumption of top flight football amid saving lives in Egypt.
In what is the club’s latest update, Ismaily president Ibrahim Othman has released a statement, explaining why they refuse the decision to resume the Egyptian Premier League.
“We are committed to the decision of most league teams to refuse the resumption of competition in order to save lives during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic,” Ibrahim Othman said in a statement.
“The EFA’s normalization committee should’ve talked to clubs first before the Minister of Sports and the EFA announced the date of the league’s resumption.
“What if a foreign professional player contracted the virus and lodged a complaint against the club with FIFA? The law has stressed the need to provide protection for players in the event of a pandemic.
“As the president of this club, I am responsible for what may happen to any of its members, so it’s not possible to risk the lives of these people in light of the increasing number of daily cases and deaths.”
The North Africans is one of the African countries mostly affected by the pandemic. As at Wednesday, 47, 856 covid-19 cases have been confirmed, 12, 730 have recovered and 1,766 have been confirmed dead.
Despite the coronavirus situation in the country, football season could still restart where Egyptian Premier League official together with appropriate bodies will meet clubs to take majority decision- whether to restart or cancel the season.
Connect with Futball Surgery
