CAIRO: This year football witnessed a players' transfer season like never before: a lot of speculation, rumors and business, but very little facts. Players manipulated clubs and clubs manipulated each other as agents and the media threw around accusations. Three players were the stars of this transfer season: Hosni Abd-Rabou, Amr Zaki and Hani Saied. They captured the attention of the media and the fans. Every move they made was headline news. In the three cases, there was a clear demonstration of ignorance of the rules and regulations governing transfer procedures by all parties involved. Each of the involved parties interpreted the rules in their own way, without knowing what the exact regulations are. "There are two reasons for this problem; first, players lack the culture of behaving like professionals, and second, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) has no firm rules. And even if they did, they don't apply them, Haytham Nabil, editor-in-chief of YallaKora.com sports website, told Daily News Egypt "The solution is to simply have rules and regulations and apply them strictly, he added Nabil expressed his concern about the possibility of conflict between fans due to this tension especially with a Cairo derby on July 20. Abd-Rabou, who was named African Cup 2008's Best Player, still doesn't know where he is going to play next season. After his loan period from France's Strasbourg to Ismaili ended, the Dervishes, as the team is known, were supposed to fulfill a buyout clause in his contract and the French side claimed that the deadline was June 30, 2007. Ismaili hadn't paid the transfer fees and so Abd-Rabou was sold to Ahly which paid ?700.000 to get him on a permanent basis. Ismaili then raised the issue to the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS), which ruled in Ahly's favor. Ismaili officials then announced they had reached a deal with Strasbourg to keep the player for ?300,000 plus last year's ?500,000. Abd-Rabou changed his mind after Ismaili fans carried his "coffin in front of his house and threatened that they would kill him if he goes to Ahly. Meanwhile, England's Wigan Athletic made an offer to Zamalek to acquire the team's star striker Amr Zaki after helping Egypt win the African Cup of Nations in May. Zamalek had previously pledged to let go of Amr if he wins the cup, but quickly rescinded on their decision and opted to keep him, at least until after the Ahly games in July. The player insisted he should leave and complained to the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), which pushed Zamalek to hold back his payments and opt for terminating his contracts. Zamalek insisted Zaki received all his earnings, but the striker disagreed with club President Mamdouh Abbas and revealed he might resort to FIFA to settle the dispute. The third fiasco of the season stars Egypt defender Hani Saied who signed a pre-contract agreement with Zamalek before retracting at the 11th hour and expressing his desire to join rivals Ahly. Add to that Zamalek goalkeeper Mohamed Abdel Monsef's accusation that Saied assaulted him and stole the contracts while he was on his way to meet the club administrative to register the contracts with the EFA. Both Saied and Abdel Monsef were interrogated by police. "The whole system needs to be changed, EFA vice president Ahmed Shobeir told Daily News Egypt. "Players need to know their limits and act more professionally, he added. "There must be clear rules applied to everyone objectively to restore calm and prevent any possible problem in the future, said Adly El-Qeeiy, marketing director of Ahly, in an interview with Middle East News Agency (MENA). FIFA President Sepp Blatter likened these transfer cases to slavery, dismissing the concept of long-term contracts altogether. "The important thing is, we should also protect the player, he told Sky Sports News. EFA Chairman Samir Zaher had repeatedly vowed to solve all players' unsettled disputes so they could focus on the ongoing World Cup qualifiers. Egypt could be facing an early first-round exit.
