The Board of Directors of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), headed by Gamal Allam, will meet on Thursday, to discuss the national team’s recent deterioration and several administrative issues.
The EFA was heavily criticised due to its president’s conflicting statements, which showed that the current board became doomed to failure after less than 6 months of assuming the task.
Sources in the EFA revealed that Allam is not willing to resign.
The sources added that the Allam’s board will not relinquish the management of the EFA, stressing that he has not sinned in anything, but rather he is blamed for the mistakes of the past. He noted that the current EFA board was elected only 6 months ago. During this period, the board has been through a lot, including the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, the World Cup qualifiers, and replacing the coaching staff after its failure to qualify for the World Cup.
The source indicated that the Board of Directors of the EFA decided not to give in to the pressures and will continue its work.
It was Allam’s decision to dismiss Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz after the loss to Senegal in the World Cup qualifiers and replace him with a local coach despite the opposition of other board members.
Egypt’s current head coach Ehab Galal had a bad spell with the national team losing two of three games which angered the Egyptian fans, sports officials in Egypt, and the public opinion, especially the defeat against Ethiopia in the AFCON qualifiers.
The sources confirmed that Galal is not willing to resign, as he believes he was exposed to many difficult circumstances, mainly the unavailability of the players who play in European leagues.
Galal decided to take a week off to think carefully after the offensive campaign he was exposed to during the past few days.
Meanwhile, Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhi awaits the report of the Transparency and Corruption Committee regarding the EFA.
The Minister decided to postpone a scheduled meeting with the EFA board until the issuance of the aforementioned report.
This comes in light of the keenness of the Ministry of Youth and Sports to play its role towards the stability of the sports system; by activating its role in oversight and accountability of all sports and youth organizations
The committee consists of consultants and specialists from the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The committee investigates several topics, mainly the circumstances that led to the EFA’s failure to apply for hosting the final game of the CAF Champions League, between Egypt’s Al Ahly and Morocco’s Wydad. The game was finally held in Morocco and Al Ahly lost.
The committee also examines the finances of the current EFA board.
It is scheduled to complete its work within the coming days. It would issue a detailed report that includes the results of its work and recommendations.
In the same context, Hazem Imam and Mohamed Barakat, the EFA board members, informed Minister Sobhi that they will resign after the national team’s defeat against South Korea last Tuesday. Allam is currently making an attempt to convince Barakat and Hazem to withdraw their resignation.
The regulation in this regard states in Article No. (37) Paragraph (I) as follows:
That if more than 50% of the positions in the Board of Directors of the Football Association become vacant, the Board of Directors is automatically dissolved, and an extraordinary general assembly shall be held in accordance with Article 33 of these regulations, in order to elect a new Board of Directors.
The extraordinary general assembly shall be held within at least three months after the board positions become vacant, and during this period the Executive Director conducts the daily business of the Egyptian Football Association.
Sobhi commends the dissolution of the EFA board only in the event of financial corruption; after referring the case to the prosecution and then the judiciary.
The Egyptian national team suffered a 4-1 defeat against South Korea in a friendly match that brought them together on Tuesday at Seoul Stadium on the international agenda.
