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Rabat – Egyptian football club Al Ahly has clarified that the concern it raised about the final of the African Champions League is solely about the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) decision and not against Morocco’s football clubs or their supporters.
Al Ahly’s board said in a statement on Sunday that they are “proud of their relationship with all the Moroccan football clubs and their supporters,” clarifying, “they are not part of the conflict.”
The Egyptian club reaffirmed its stance against CAF’s decision to hold the final in Morocco, repeatedly noting that the CAF “did not respect the concept of neutrality when designating the stadium for the match.”
Initially, the CAF received a bid from both the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRFM) and the Senegalese Football Federation to host the 2022 CAF Champions League.
While Egypt had not submitted a bid, South Africa and Nigeria had also submitted documents expressing interest in hosting the match, but had not met the host country’s bid criteria.
After Senegal withdrew its bid, Morocco became the only alternative and the only country eligible to host the final.
Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca will face Egypt’s Al ahly on May 30 in Casablanca’s Mohamed V Stadium, but the Egyptian club insists that the match “should be played on another ground in Africa.”
“[Al Ahly], which has still not received correspondence from CAF concerning the stadium of the final, clings to its legitimate right and asks for a minimum of fairness between the two opposing teams in the final,” the club said in its Sunday statement.
The Cairo club confirmed its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), noting that it is waiting for the Lausanne-based institution to decide on either hosting the match in a “neutral” stadium or to postpone the final until solving the matter.
Al Ahly also announced plans to hold an international press conference after the final “to reveal behind-the-scenes of CAF’s decision that does not respect any rules and lacks transparency.”
Following the Egyptian club’s qualification to the final on Saturday, BeIN Sports’ famous football analyst Mohamed Aboutrika took to Twitter to congratulate the team while urging its management to withdraw from the game due to “injustice” from CAF.
Read Also: Mohamed Aboutrika Urges Al Ahly to Withdraw from CAF Champions League Final
