Egyptian champions Al Ahly were awarded a 2-0 victory against rivals Zamalek after the latter failed to show up for their Egyptian Premier League match at the Cairo International Stadium on Monday.
The match was initially supposed to take place in October last year but had been postponed to allow for the hosting of the Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations.
This was the second time in less than a week that the two sides were playing against each other. Last Thursday, Zamalek defeated Al Ahly 4-3 on penalties to win the Egyptian Super Cup.
Zamalek did not appear several minutes after the scheduled time for kick off, which had been pushed forward by an hour due to weather conditions, forcing the referee to call off the game.
We arrived… Got ready… no one showed up⏱⚽️✋🏼#YallaYaAhly pic.twitter.com/IxBrjrayGf
— Al Ahly SC 🇬🇧 (@AlAhlyEnglish) February 24, 2020
Zamalek President Mortada Mansour had previously said that the club had refused to play the match fearing it may be a lot to handle for the players.
Zamalek coach Patrice Carteron had also called for the game to be postponed to allow the players time to rest following the Super Cup game.
The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) said that Zamalek will face sanctions for failing to show up for the match.
According to the EFA, after consultation with security, it was found that there were no obstacles preventing the teams’ buses from reaching the match field.
The result means that Al Ahly has now won 16 straight league matches. In that run, they have scored 45 goals and only conceded three.
They are 16 points clear of second-placed Arab Contractors and 17 points clear of third-placed Zamalek.
