Zamalek have decided to play their CAF Champions League clash against Hilal on March 18th as previously scheduled at Alexandria Stadium, the club's board member Sabri Abou-Alam announced. "We will play in Alexandria because the club's high popularity there will benefit us," Abou-Alam told FilGoal.com on Wednesday. African governing body CAF has earlier turned down Zamalek's request to postpone Hilal clash in the Champions League for one day. The Cairo giants wanted to delay the match because it will conflict with another African encounter for city rivals Ahli. Zamalek were due to face Hilal in the second-leg of the competition's round of 32 on Sunday March 18th at the Cairo International Stadium but Ahli announced they will play Highlanders of Zimbabwe in the same day and same venue. Ahli officially chose the 74,000 seated stadium to play in at the beginning of the season while Zamalek said they will hold their home matches at the Military Academy.
Shikabala Zamalek secretary general Alaa Mekled revealed that the club held talks with Ahli to convince them play their match a day earlier but the African champions' officials refused. Zamalek couldn't bring forward the game due to Arab Champions League commitment as they will take on Ahli Jeddah away from home on the 13th of March. Five-time African champions Zamalek have an uphill task to advance to the Champions League round of 16 as they lost the first-leg 2-0 in Sudan. Meanwhile, Egyptian FA spokesman Medhat Shalabi revealed that the Arab Union Football Association (UAFA) turned down Zamalek's request to register Mahmoud Abdul-Razeq 'Shikabala' in the team's Arab Champions League squad. The UAFA said that deadline has passed and no team will be granted an exception. Shikabala has been recently given the green light by FIFA to play on a temporary basis after a long feud between Zamalek and Greek side PAOK Saloniki.
