Nigerian players holed up in hotel due to Egyptian league suspension protests

al-ahly protest_22-10-12

By Andrew Warshaw

October 22 – A protest against the suspension of the Egyptian domestic league briefly forced Nigerian players who had arrived for an African Champions league game against Al-Ahly to be holed up in their Cairo hotel.

Last week the start of the Egyptian league was postponed for the second time by the Egyptian Football Association because, it said, it had not received sufficient security guarantees as a result of the February stadium disaster in Port Said in which 74 people were killed.

Witnesses said Al-Ahly players and supporters marched to the Egyptian Presidential palace to press their demand for a resumption of the league before heading to the hotel where the visiting Sunshine Stars team were staying in an attempt to stop the Nigerian side getting to the ground for the second leg of the African Champions League semi-final.

After a 30-minute delay, a first-half goal from Gedo was enough to send Al-Ahly through to the final on a 4-3 on aggregate and a meeting with Tunisian rivals Esperance next month.

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