The national league will resume on 15 April. Inas Mazhar reports In a press conference held on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Egyptian Football Association, EFA President Samir Zaher announced that the second round of the league will resume on 15 April and will end 10 July. Zaher said the EFA had received the approval of the Military Council. However, the FA Cup will be cancelled as the agenda will be full during the period between 11 July to 26 July with engagements that include the World Military Cup and the quarter-finals of African club championships. Zaher confirmed there will be no changes in league rules, including the relegation of three teams to the second division. Reports have been calling for the scrapping of the relegation rule this season. The first half of the national league ended 31 December with each team playing 15 matches. Zamalek are on top of the table six points ahead of second-place Ahli. In an earlier story Al-Ahram Weekly wrote that Zaher met this week with the new Minister of Interior Mansour El-Essewai to discuss the possibility of resuming the national football league competition suspended for almost two months because of the 25 January revolution. Though El-Essewai expressed support for Zaher, who was speaking on behalf of the presidents of the league's 16 football clubs, the final decision rests with the Military Council currently running the country. El-Essewai promised to support the league once it returns, providing all the same security precautions. The police are the only security body in the country in charge of supervising football matches whether national or international. Hundreds of armed policemen are usually seen seated on the track surrounding the pitch of any stadium. The police's shocking exit from the streets of the country on 28 January, the deadliest day of the protests, left a huge security vacuum which has yet to be completely filled. Although the police have been returning to their posts, the procedure has been gradual. The National Sports Council is still the government body running sports in the country since a ministry of youth has not yet been established. Head of the NSC Hassan Sakr had met with Zaher and the clubs and agreed to resume the league by mid-April. However, this was apparently done without the army's approval. The military looked set to agree on a resumption after Defense Minister Mohamed Tantawi, the head of the Military Council, met with representatives of the military football team Al-Geish last week and asked them about their thoughts concerning the competition. Football clubs in Egypt, especially the 16 teams who play in Egypt's biggest and most popular sports competition, are suffering from the suspension. Training and the playing of friendly matches isn't helping the players maintain their fitness and their skills. According to Adli El-Qei, marketing director at the Ahli club, the suspension of the league competition is already affecting the clubs. "The players have lost their spirit and touch on the field and the club is already facing a financial problem in terms of paying the installments of the contracts of the players. We cannot even think about buying new players. "The players themselves have refused to reduce either their salaries or their contracts and insist on collecting their money." El-Qei said that cancelling the competition will lead to the bankruptcy of football clubs since sponsors will deduct from the rest of their contracts. Ahli alone would lose not less than LE 13 million. The rest of the clubs will lose their share as well. There will be no income coming from TV commercials and broadcasts as well as from the sponsors of the clubs. Speaking to CNN Arabic, El-Qei described the upcoming scenario as a disaster. "The players will stay at home and will have nothing to do and I guess they will not be keen to train." Meanwhile, head coach of the Egyptian national team Hassan Shehata said he would announce his squad for the upcoming Africa Nations Cup qualifier against South Africa on Saturday after all three teams, Ahli, Zamalek and Haras Al-Hedoud, have played their respective African club matches by 19 March. Zamalek is the only club which will play later, on Sunday 20 March. Ahli is to take on Super Sport of South Africa tomorrow Friday, in Cairo, while Zamalek plays Club Africain of Tunisia in Tunis on Sunday. The Pharaohs are set to leave for Johannesburg on Sunday for the game on 26 March. Shehata and his staff will have only five days to prepare the team for this crucial game. He will depend mainly on the three clubs as they are the ones in form so far, in addition to the European-based players to join the squad. The Egyptian Embassy in South Africa has been following up with the SA federation for preparations to receive the team. Egypt, the African champions, will have to stay in a hotel only about 10 to 15 km away from the training ground and the stadium. The announcement that South Africa will host the game at the famous Ellis Park Stadium, which hosted the opening of the 2010 World Cup, has brought optimism to Shehata and his players because this is where the Pharaohs beat then World Cup champions Italy 1-0 in the 2009 Confederations Cup. The fixture was expected to be played at Soccer City, the 95,000-capacity stadium on the border of Johannesburg and Soweto that hosted the World Cup final last year. But a pitch that was relaid after a U2 pop concert last month cut up badly from the start of the Soweto derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates two weeks ago. According to cafonline, there were so many divots that the referee halted play in the middle of each half for a 'water break' on an afternoon that was not particularly hot, allowing ground staff to rush around the pitch and make temporary repairs. Although Ellis Park is the home of the Golden Lions Super 15 rugby union team, it has hosted numerous football fixtures and was among the 10 South African venues for the World Cup. South Africa lead Group G with four points after two gamess followed by Niger (three), Sierra Leone (two) and title holders Egypt (one). Only mini-league winners are guaranteed a finals place. Egypt wanted the game postponed until June because no domestic football has been possible since the popular uprising against the rule of Hosni Mubarak began two months ago, but South Africa insisted the fixture go ahead as scheduled. Another worry for Shehata is Egypt's top goalkeeper Essam El-Hadari who might be suspended again by FIFA after failing to pay the fine imposed on him and his former club FC Sion of Switzerland. Shehata hopes that such a decision will not be made before the game. Ahli recently received a reply from FIFA on the letter they sent enquiring about when they would receive the $796,500 which both El-Hadari and the Swiss club did not pay despite the end of the deadline. According to Ahli, FIFA said they will follow it up and if both decline to pay, the Egyptian goalie could be suspended again while Sion might be relegated to the second division. The Sudanese Club Merrikh to which El-Hadari currently plays said that they were not involved in the issue and there is no way they will ever pay the fine for El-Hadari who abruptly left Ahli for Sion in 2008. In January, FIFA noted that the Swiss Federal Court has dismissed both the appeals lodged respectively by El-Hadari and by the FC Sion club against the decision passed by the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) on 1 June 2010. The case followed the decision of El-Hadari to terminate his contract with Ahli. According to FIFA, it meant that the decision of the first instance deciding body, the Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) of FIFA, concerning the sporting sanctions imposed on the player and FC Sion remains unchanged. According to a statement by FIFA in January, the player should therefore be imposed a restriction of four months on his eligibility to participate in any official football match and FC Sion shall serve a ban from registering any new players for the next two registration periods.
