FIFA Executive Committee member and vice president of the Egyptian Football Association resigned from his post at the national body, reports Inas Mazhar. While EFA President Samir Zaher was meeting Serbia's Milovan Rajevac, one of the candidates to lead the Pharaohs as head coach, Abu Rida presented his resignation to EFA Secretary-General Ehab Saleh, who later confirmed the news. "I didn't really resign but what I presented was actually sort of an apology of my inability to continue the term because of the reasons I mentioned," Abu Rida told Al-Ahram Weekly. "I was advised by many during the past two years to resign especially by oppponents of the EFA, but I refused to quit then so as not to embarrass my colleagues. I tried hard all that time to mend fences between the members, but they were constantly squabbling and this can't work anymore. I had to leave for good." According to Abu Rida, he was forced to resign because it became very difficult for him to continue serving the federation in what he described as chaotic conditions and the ongoing split in decisions among its members who failed to agree on several major issues including naming a successor to Hassan Shehata as head coach of the national team and the new format of the national league. A FIFA member since 2009, Abu Rida was also angered by the refusal of Zaher to appoint former national team assistant coach Shawki Gharieb, who reaped much experience with the national team in the past seven years, as head coach of the Pharaohs. Zaher countered that he did not approve of any former member of the team staying on. Abu Rida could not be reached for comment but apparently the main reason for the resignation coming at this time is to protect his FIFA post after the world governing body warned the EFA it will impose sanctions against the federation in case of any governmental interference. Abu Rida once confided to Al-Ahram Weekly that after joining the FIFA Executive Committee with international football icons including Franz Beckenbauer and Michel Platini, it was hard for him to continue working with his local colleagues in the national federation. The working systems between FIFA and EFA is huge and created a gap he said he could not bridge. After the resignation, Abu Rida will prepare for elections to the EFA seat which is scheduled for next summer following the Olympic Games of London 2012. Abu Rida, the Egyptian and African representative at FIFA, world football's governing body, resigned before, 18 months ago, but his resignation was rejected then by the EFA board. Later he took over as president of the EFA following a court order which banned the current president Zaher from his post. Abu Rida took the helm for only a few months before Zaher recaptured his position following another court ruling. Abu Rida became the fourth member of the board to resign in the last year. Mahmoud Taher, Mahmoud El-Shami and Ayman Abu Younes left mainly because of the same reasons Abu Rida gave.
