Sports marketing company Sports HQ offered on Monday to organise the postponed Cairo derby between Ahly and Zamalek in the Egyptian Premier league in the United Arab Emirates. "Since we believe in both the strength and the big value of the Egyptian league and also amid the trend of seeing all big leagues expanding their popularity in other countries, we would like to suggest organising the Cairo derby in the UAE," reads a statement by Sports HQ. The anticipated derby was scheduled for this Saturday, but the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) announced late last week the postponing of the match indefinitely upon the request of security authorities. Sports HQ did not suggest a definite date for holding the match in UAE. The EFA's decision to postpone the derby caused an outcry by several clubs and officials due to the disruption of the competition. League champions Ahly refused on Thursday to play in the Premier League before playing their postponed match against Zamalek, adding more pressures in the ongoing crisis. Zamalek's president gave a similar reaction, saying that although the club respects the security instructions, it rejects the EFA decision to play the Arab Contractors' match instead. Despite the objection, Zamalek faced Arab Contractors on Saturday and won the match 2-1. Sports HQ said, "We are ready to organise a high-level match like we did before in the two friendly matches of Ahly against Italy's AS Roma and Dutch side Ajax, which were hailed as successful and well-organised." "We hope that this match will be the start of holding Egyptian League matches annually in different countries as this will be of a huge impact on one of the prestigious competitions in the region," the statement concluded. Ahly and Zamalek met twice before in the UAE during Egyptian Super Cup matches. The Reds won the title in 2015, while the Whites were the winners in 2017.
