Mansour suspended as Zamalek president

The Egyptian High Council of Sports (HCS) decided to suspend Mortada Mansour from Zamalek presidency on Saturday after his verbal spat with Ahli officials in the Egyptian Cup final.<br>

كتب : Ahmad Saied

السبت، 17 يونيو 2006 - 19:56
The Egyptian High Council of Sports (HCS) decided to suspend Mortada Mansour from Zamalek presidency on Saturday after his verbal spat with Ahli officials in the Egyptian Cup final.

Zamalek vice president Raouf Gasser will be granted all authorities of the chairman until Mansour's presidency is put to a referendum for the club's general assembly, the HCS said in a statement.

Mansour was spotted by national TV while launching a severe verbal attack on Ahli treasurer Mahmoud Bagnid in the last minutes of his side's 3-0 defeat on Friday.

"What Mansour did provoked the Egyptian public opinion, breached all the sports protocols and smeared our nation's image in front of a huge crowd," read the statement that was obtained by FilGoal.com.

Eye witnesses said Mansour lost his tempers due to continous mocking slogans chanted by Ahli fans and that he exchanged angry words with Ahli officials, telling them to control their supporters.

The situation escalated rapidly as Mansour tried to assault Bagnid despite the presence of a representative of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The incident forced security forces in plain clothes to intervene to protect the top official and evacuate the main tribune of the Cairo International Stadium.

Mansour, who might face a six-month sentence due to insulting Ahli president Hassan Hamdi, has yet to comment on these decisions.

On the other hand, the Egyptian FA emergency committee decided to disallow Zamalek from playing the Egyptian Super Cup match against Ahli, with Enppi playing instead of them.

The committee also handed Zamalek a 250,000 EGP fine for Mansour's spat with the Ahli officials and for the players' refusal to accept the second-place medals.

"Given the weakness of the general rules of the sport, which leaves us with no power to make any forceful decisions against any club board, we decided to send Mansour's file to the HCS for them to make a decision about him," said the committee in a statement.

"We have also decided to fine Zamalek 250,000 after club players refused to accept the runners-up medals, in addition to choosing third-place Enppi to play the Egyptian Super Cup on July 23rd."