Egyptian Al Ahly’s official social media accounts on Monday deleted controversial statements made by the club’s director of football, Syed Abdel Hafeez, amid the “corridor of honor” crisis in the Egyptian Cup final.
Abdel Hafiz sparked controversy in Egyptian circles after ignoring the corridor of honor made by the Zamalek team and his technical staff in honor of the Al Ahly players after the white team’s victory in the Egyptian Cup final. Zamalek lifted the 28th cup in their history on Thursday after beating historic rivals Al Ahli 2-1 at the Cairo Stadium in a match dominated by sportsmanship rather than Abdel Hafiz’s behaviour.
During the cup and medal ceremony for second place, the Al Ahly football director crossed the corridor of honor and walked alone to the podium, although the rest of the technical staff and the red team players were eagerly waiting for a handshake. with the Zamalek players when they passed the corridor of honor.
After the incident, controversy erupted on social networks, as opinion was divided between supporters and opponents of the position of Abdel Hafiz, which was united by years of disagreement, verbal skirmishes with the president of the Zamalek club, lawyer Mortada Mansour, who avoided shaking hands with Abdel Hafiz on the podium seconds after the incident in the corridor of honor.
And on Sunday, Abdel Hafiz made loud statements after his team’s victory over El Gouna in the Egyptian League, in which he emphasized that, as far as the honorary corridor is concerned, he does not accept that “you do it with your mood and cancel with your mood – I’m not in your power, we often decide the championship or some other championship and have not found an honorable corridor from Before.
He then responded to Mansour’s previous statements by confirming that he did not live his childhood among donkeys only because he never entered his “house and met him” in his youth without calling the president of the Zamalek club by name.
Mansour had left hours earlier to confirm in television statements that Syed Abdel Hafiz had previously said that he, as he put it, “grew up among donkeys.”
Al Ahly’s director of football continued his new statements, which caused an uproar, stating: “In the month of October I will turn 45 years old, and the next age is not older than the previous one. It is not normal for anyone to doubt my patriotism and the people of my home. It was the last day of my life,” according to Al-Masry Al-Youm. He added, “I’m not the kind of person who is in a place and his family insults and insults him in the studio, and then answers the person and says to him: “Mr Chancellor”
Mortada Mansour is known in the Egyptian sports community as “The Counselor”. And on Monday, Al-Ahli’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts deleted statements by director of football Syed Abdel Hafiz without explanation, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm, after being picked up by many analysts on social media and satellite channels. . The two Egyptian football poles are fiercely in contention for the Egyptian league title this season, with 8 rounds remaining, while the Pyramids also entered the competition this season.
