In a move threatening to sweep the Corona virus into the Egyptian football stadiums, the Football Association informed the Premier League clubs of canceling virus detection swabs for players and coaches before the League and Egypt Cup matches this season, in contrast to what has been the situation since last season in light of the new Corona virus pandemic.
The Football Association's decision was not officially issued, but was notified to the clubs verbally after their refusal to bear the cost of the swabs, on the pretext that the previous five-year committee - which was running the federation headed by Amr Al-Ganaini - had borne the cost of these swabs, and the clubs were officially notified of this.
The tripartite committee that manages the Football Association gave the league clubs 15 days to pay 54 million pounds (about $ 3.4 million) for the cost of conducting Corona virus swabs for players, coaches, and administrative and medical agencies during the last season 2019-2020, and the current season 2020-2021, as well as deducting the amounts that I spent it to do Corona swabs for players before the League matches from the club's dues with the union.
Possible penalties
A source within the Football Association said in statements to the Egyptian sports website, "Fi Joule," that the clubs, according to this decision "which was not officially issued," will be obligated to take on with their knowledge matters related to swabs, analyzes, or any procedure to detect Corona virus at their expense.
In his statements, the source pointed to an expected decision from the Football Association stating that the club that will not conduct swabs 48 hours before any match will be subject to punishment, indicating that some clubs have acted and agreed to conduct the swabs at their expense, as the list of local competitions stipulates that each club conduct official swabs. 48 hours before any match, players with negative results enter the match.
For its part, the clubs had confirmed earlier that they could not pay the costs of wipes in light of the financial crisis that they are suffering from due to the Corona pandemic.
The general supervisor of the ball at the "Arab Contractors" club, Eng. Mohamed Adel Fathy, said in televised statements on the Egyptian "Ten" channel that the Football Association had not informed his team since the beginning of the season about bearing the costs of medical swabs before each match, so how will pay 3 million pounds. (About 190 thousand dollars) at a time when the club's treasury does not contain 3 thousand pounds.
For his part, President of Al-Ittihad Alexandria Club, Mohamed Moselhy, said in statements to the "Jamhour Al-Thala" program broadcast on the Egyptian "On Time Sport" channel that the Football Association's claim for Corona swabs is wrong.
Moselhi asked the president of the Football Association, Ahmed Mujahid, to reconsider the matter, indicating that the clubs had many options if the federation had informed them of the decision earlier, including contracting with different companies or providing a sponsor who would bear these costs.
For his part, the director of football at the Talaia Al-Jaish club, Brigadier General Ahmed Al-Mahdi, said that the committee running the Football Association held a meeting with the clubs, to discuss the list that did not include any clause indicating that the clubs bear these costs, and that the Football Association is obligated to bear the costs of the swabs.
The Football Association suffers from the inability to pay the cost of the previous swabs, and Jabaliya has so far paid the authorities responsible for the swabs 24 million pounds out of 54 million, at a time when the Ministry of Youth and Sports refused to bear the costs of the clubs' medical swabs, and confirmed that the issue is an internal matter of the Football Association The ministry has no income with it.