Ahli have announced their official withdrawal from this season's Egypt Cup due to a commercial dispute with the FA. The league champions said on their website that a decision was made by the board after considering several issues, mainly related to the club's marketing rights at the FA. A major conflict took place between the Cairo giants and the FA after the latter insisted to hold post-match conferences under the sponsorship of Vodafone; a main competitor to Ahli's new sponsors Etisalat. The dispute prompted Ahli's management to pull out of the press conferences that followed games with Harras Hodoud and Petrojet. Ahli, who clinched the Egypt Cup 33 times, have last won the competition in 2007.
