CAIRO: The Al-Ahly-Barcelona match that took place yesterday caused conflict due to the huge hike in the price of tickets, the general unavailability of tickets and claims that Al-Ahly sold extra tickets that exceeded the stadium s capacity. The situation is not new; it has been the case in most of the international or championship matches that have taken place in Egypt over the past year. The latest African Cup Championship that took place in Egypt in April 2006 was marred by similar problems and claims. Ayman Abou Aaid, writer in the sports section of Al-Ahram daily newspaper, indicated in his column on page 18 of last Monday s issue, that there is what he called match ticket mobs who are specialized in selling tickets at very high prices and abuse the fact that the event is unique and lots of Egyptians have been planning to attend it a long while in advance. Al-Masry Al-Youm reported on the front page of its Tuesday issue that: the Al-Ahly club sold more than 75,000 tickets while the Egyptians security forces have explicitly stated that they will only allow 60,000 spectators. The Egyptian Football Federation told The Daily Star Egypt that the Federation is not in charge of the match and that the responsibility falls entirely on Al-Ahly. Al-Ahly club was not available to comment. The match is being held to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Al-Ahly club and will take place at the Cairo International Stadium.
