By Andrew Warshaw
September 20 – Egyptian fans have won a major political coup by preventing FIFA Executive Committee member Hani Abou-Reida, the country’s most powerful football official, from becoming the new Egyptian Football Association (EFA) chairman.
The EFA’s Appeals Committee disqualified Abou-Reida (pictured top) along with his main rival Mohamed Abdel-Salam who runs the Maqassa club.
Hardcore fans describe Abou-Reida as being part of the former regime and of conspiring against Al-Ahly in the notorious Port Said disaster (pictured below) in which 70 Ahly fans died.
Port Said club Al-Masry were initially banned by the EFA for two years following February’s clashes at the end of an ill-tempered league game.
However, the ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) because the EFA declined to send a representative to attend a CAS hearing.
The so-called Ultras Ahlawy allege that Abou-Reida deliberately played a role in the EFA gaffe in order to spare Masry, his hometown club.
The highly political Ultras vowed not to let the EFA resume domestic football activities until “justice is done” in the Port Said case.
They listed six demands that included the disqualification of Abou-Reida from next month’s elections.
According to some reports, Abou-Reida is a close associate of former FIFA powerbroker Mohamed Bin Hammam, still fighting to clear his name over charges of bribery and corruption when he was running for the Presidency of FIFA.
It is understood the Egyptian was one of those who accompanied Bin Hammam to the infamous Trinidad and Tobago meeting in May last year where attempts to buy the votes of Caribbean officials were allegedly made.
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