Abdel Fattah praises criticized referee

CAIRO - 11 September 2017: Egyptian Football Association board member, Essam Abdel Fattah, showed his support to Egyptian referee Ahmed Hamdy who took charge of the Egyptian League game between Al Ahli and Al Jaish on Sunday. Hamdy’s decisions in the game, that ended in a 1-1 draw, caused a lot of criticism.

“He is one of the best referees in Egypt, but he wasn’t lucky during the game,” Abdel Fattah told Egypt Today on Monday.

Hamdy disallowed three penalties for Al Ahly during the game, and granted a controversial penalty to Al Jaish which gave them the opportunity to open the score.

Abdel Fattah added, “We are following a reward and punishment system, the referee was banned after the game.”

Abdel Fattah praised the referee’s performance at the first fixture of the Egyptian League, saying “Referees’ performance was great except in Al Ahly’s game against Al Jaish,” Abdel Fattah spoke to Youth and Sports radio station.

Al Ahly lost the first two points in their campaign to defend their title.