Mortada Mansour, president of the Egyptian club Zamalek, reappeared in a telephone interview on his club’s channel, after about a year and a half of absence.
And the last intervention made by Mortada Mansour on the channel Zamalek More than a year and a half ago, specifically in November 2020, before his departure from the club presidency in the same month, to return to his position in the same month last year.
Mortada Mansour spoke during the phone call in several files that occupied the sports arena during the last period, specifically since Zamalek won the Egypt Cup at the expense of the traditional rival Al-Ahly, last Thursday.
honor corridor crisis
Mortada Mansour commented on the position of Sayed Abdel Hafeez, Al-Ahly’s director of football, who refused to pass the honorary corridor prepared by Zamalek players after the 2021 Egypt Cup final, as well as not shaking hands with the White Club president.
And the president of Zamalek said: “What Sayed Abdel Hafeez did, was not on his own, so that we do not burden him with more than his capacity and size.”
And he added, “There are instructions that came to him not to enter the honorary corridor by (Mahmoud Al-Khatib), the president of Al-Ahly.”
Delete the video of Sayed Abdel Hafeez’s statements
On the other hand, Mortada Mansour commented on the crisis of deleting the video of Sayed Abdel Hafeez’s statements after the El Gouna match from Al-Ahly channel, in which he launched an attack on many people, including the president of Zamalek.
In this regard, Mortada Mansour said: “I filed a complaint with the United Company about the meeting that Al-Ahly TV had with Sayed Abdel Hafeez, the director of football, after the El-Gouna meeting.”
He added, “I was surprised by Syed Abdel Hafeez’s insult to me on Al-Ahly channel, on the instructions of club officials and its president, and I informed the officials of these statements, and they reviewed them and issued a decision to delete this intervention from all accounts of the United Company through social media.”
And he concluded: “Al-Ahly President Mahmoud Al-Khatib issued an official statement confirming that he supports these statements, and ordered his pages to republish that intervention again, in defiance of all.”
A message to the president of Al-Ahly
Mortada Mansour also sent a letter to Mahmoud Al-Khatib, President of Al-Ahly, after accusing him of giving instructions to Sayed Abdel Hafeez not to pass the honorary corridor.
Mortada Mansour said: “I will not respond to what Mahmoud Al-Khatib, president of Al-Ahly, is doing during the last period, by highlighting some people to provoke me to go out and talk about it.”
The President of Zamalek indicated that he refused to reconcile with Al-Khatib before reaching a solution in the case against him, and obtaining a ruling in it.
And he added: “After the ruling came in my favour, I confirmed that I am ready to sit with Al-Khatib and the club heads to reach a solution to the high prices of players, because it has become very difficult.”
Al-Khatib had obtained a ruling from the Economic Court to imprison Mortada Mansour for two years on charges of insulting and slander, before the President of Zamalek succeeded in appealing to one of them and canceling the prison sentence.
Behind the scenes of the podium
Mortada Mansour confirmed that Sayed Abdel Hafeez’s crisis was not the only one in the 2021 Egypt Cup final, as he revealed Amri Farouk, Al-Ahly’s vice president, to withdraw from the podium because of his presence on it.
He explained: “When I came to the stadium, Al-Amri Farouk said if Mortada Mansour stood on the podium, I would leave, but the officials intervened.”
And he continued, “Al-Amri Farouk said during the meeting that preceded the match that the president of Zamalek would provoke a crisis with Ahmed Diab, president of the Egyptian Clubs Association, but the latter responded to him and assured him that he would not provoke any crisis in order to preserve the protocol.”
Solh Mortada Mansour and Ahmed Diab
In the end, Mortada Mansour revealed a session he had with Muhammad Halawa, a member of the Future Club, in the presence of Ahmed Diab, president of the Association of Clubs, stressing that the latter apologized to him and the views were brought closer, and the dispute that erupted between them during the last period was ended.
And he concluded: “We started a new page with the Association of Clubs, and with Future, and if we have rights that they have, we will get them, and if they have rights that we have, they will get them.”
It is noteworthy that the last period witnessed a strong dispute between Mortada Mansour and Ahmed Diab, against the background of a leaked call between them, before the President of Zamalek continued his attack on the President of the Association of Clubs.