Geneva--Egypt will play their first two home 2014 World Cup qualifiers at least 100 kilometres away from Cairo, in compliance with penalities imposed by the FIFA over attacks against Algerians in Cairo last November. Algeria claimed that they were attacked by a group of Egyptians shortly after landing in the Egyptian capital to play a crucial World Cup qualifier last November. The Algerians supported their claims with a video showing that Rafik Halliche and Khaled Lemmouchia, among others, suffered head injuries in the attack. A hearing was held early on Tuesday, where Egyptian Footbal Association officials were summoned to explain the allaged attack on Algeria's bus. A decision from the world football governing body was made several hours later. Apart from relocating two World Cup qualifiers, FIFA fined Egypt CHE 100,000 (around LE500,000). A punishment on the Pharaohs was widely expected as the host nation is responsible for the safety of visiting team. Over the past few months, there have been fears that FIFA would deduct points from the African champions in the upcoming World Cup qualifying stage.
