On Sunday, Zamalek maintained its winning streak at the National League competition by a deserving a 2-0 win over Harras El-Hedoud, inching closer to qualifying to the semi-finals. The game was the last of group two in the 16th week of the competition. Zamalek is now third in group two behind Petrojet, which leads the group's top standing with 29 points and rivals Ismaili, who come second with 24 points. Zamalek, now having amassed 22 points from playing 13 matches, has to face tough competition with Ismaili to snatch second place. Petrojet maintained the top slot after beating Qanah 2-1, while Ismaili clinched second place by beating their canal town rivals Masri of Port Said 2-0. Ittihad Shorta beat Tala'a Al-Geish 1-0. The league competition comprises two groups of 11 teams each. They play a round-robin league over two rounds of 10 weeks each. The top two teams from each group qualify to the semifinals. The winners play for the league trophy, whereas the losers play-off for the third and fourth places. The results of group one saw defending champions Ahli beat Al-Ragaa 3-0 to raise its points to 26 from playing in 14 matches. Semouha leads the group with 29 points they collected in 13 matches. The Alexandria-based Semouha confirmed its supremacy of group one with an impressive 3-0 win over Makassa. Other results saw Mehalla and the Arab Contractors play to a goalless draw, as did Al-Gouna and Enppi, whereas Dakhlia defeated the Military Productions 2-0. Only four weeks remain till the conclusion of this round of the most prestigious football competition in Egypt. So far, almost all games have gone incident-free, probably being played behind closed doors. The clubs' management is in fervent negotiations with officials at the Ministry of Interior in order to bring fans back to the stadiums. Egyptian Football Association (EFA) officials find the issue of lifting the ban on the spectators' attendance a hard one for both the EFA as a federation and for the clubs as well. Holding games behind closed doors have negatively affected the incomes of the clubs from the revenues they used to generate from selling tickets. The coming days are expected to witness serious talks between EFA officials and the Clubs Premier League Committee, which is chaired by Zamalek Chairman Mortada Mansour. EFA officials intend to ask Ahli's new board chairman, Mahmoud Taher, to join forces with Mansour and the EFA in their attempts to campaign for bringing back the fans to the stadium to save the clubs from bankruptcy. The clubs are currently suffering from budget deficit while still having to pay their players and employees. Meanwhile, EFA president, Gamal Allam, and his deputy, Hassan Farid, are working hard to convince the African Football Confederation (CAF) that Egypt is capable of hosting the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. The 2017 edition is due to be held in Libya. However, according to FIFA and CAF Executive Board member, Hani Abu Rida, CAF is closely monitoring the political and security situation in Libya, which might give Egypt the chance to step in and replace its neighbouring country Libya in case CAF decides to withdraw the bid. However, Abu Rida made it clear that Libya is still the host nation of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, the third most important and most watched football competition in the world after the FIFA World Cup and the European Cup. Egypt might then bid to host the 2019 edition. The last time Egypt hosted the Africa Cup of Nations was in 2006. The pharaohs won the title then and the event was dubbed the most successful one ever, as it set a new record in spectator attendance in the history of the African competition.
