Egypt’s beautiful game is in an ugly state these days. Already marred by deadly violence and bitter infighting in recent years, a series of unseemly squabbles among the sport’s top leadership last week plunged the game into deeper disarray – just four months before the football-mad nation of 100 million is to host the Africa Cup of Nations
Egypt replaced Cameroon as host last month after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decided in December that the central African nation was not ready to host the 24-team tournament. A record seven-time champion, Egypt last hosted the tournament in 2006. It was selected ahead of South Africa to host the competition for the fourth time.
The honour of hosting the continent’s prime football competition has been stained in recent weeks though by local developments that include a top team deciding to boycott all meetings of the country’s football association, a state of affairs that threatens to cast a dark shadow on the June 15 to July 13 tournament.
Unfortunately, disgraceful scenes in Egypt’s beloved game are nothing new.
In 2012, Egypt's football scene was jolted by the death of more than 70 supporters of Al Ahly, the Cairo club that is arguably Egypt's biggest, in a massive post-match riot in the coastal city of Port Said. Three years later, about two dozen fans of Zamalek, Al Ahly's crosstown rival, were killed outside a suburban Cairo stadium in a stampede sparked by police firing tear gas.
Following the Port Said tragedy, fans were banned from attending matches. They have recently been allowed back, but only in limited numbers.
More recently, the Egyptian Football Association and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah had a public spat about the federation illegally using images of the star striker in advertising, something that the Egypt international said could jeopardise his lucrative contracts with global sponsors.
Salah, the Premier League’s top scorer last season, also publicly criticised the association over its management of Egypt’s disastrous World Cup campaign in Russia last year, when the Pharaohs lost group matches against Uruguay, Russia and Saudi Arabia before crashing out. In particular, he complained that fans and TV reporters were allowed up to his hotel room ahead of matches and the team was forced to travel economy class.
The turmoil continues.
On Saturday, Al Ahly said it would lodge an official complaint with CAF and the National Olympic Committee against the Egyptian Football Association for inviting Zamalek’s chairman, Murtada Mansour, to a meeting of club representatives.
A pro-government lawmaker and one-time judge, Mr Mansour is widely reviled for his public bullying and constant threats to release voice recordings allegedly touching on the integrity of his rivals.
CAF suspended him late last year for saying the election of its chairman, Ahmad Ahmad, was corrupt. The Olympic Committee sanctioned him for his violation of its values and ethics. Mr Mansour says neither body has jurisdiction over him and threatened to throw the Cairo-based CAF out of Egypt.
Al Ahly says the Egyptian Football Association’s invitation to Mr Mansour breached those suspensions. Al Ahly also decided after an emergency meeting of its board to boycott all meetings of the association, and to ignore any decisions made at the recommendation of Mr Mansour.
It has also decided to boycott competitions organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations, which is chaired by Saudi Arabia’s Turki Al Sheikh, who until recently was the kingdom’s top sports official but is now in charge of cultural activities and entertainment.
That decision stemmed partly from an incident during Wednesday’s federation meeting during which numerous media reports suggested Mr Mansour insulted representatives of Al Ahly, taunting them about what he alleged were bribes they received from Mr Al Sheikh.
Al Ahly’s delegate walked out the meeting in protest, while Mr Mansour and the association’s vice chairman Ahmed Shobeir, a retired Egypt international and an Al Ahly stalwart, had a shouting match.
But the antipathy runs deeper than Wednesday’s fracas, rooted in part in Mr Al Sheikh’s short-lived appointment as honorary chairman of Al Ahly last year, a role he appeared to take more seriously than the ceremonial title warranted. Mr Al Sheikh spent millions on new signings and renewing players’ contracts before falling out with the club’s elected chairman Mahmoud Al Khateib, who publicly voiced his opposition to Mr Al Sheikh’s interference in the club’s affairs.
Mr Al Sheikh angrily quit the honorary position and bought a top-tier club he re-named Pyramids, using his deep pockets to turn the franchise into a frontrunner in the Egyptian league while continuing to publicly deride Al Ahly, and Mr Al Khateib in particular, for supposedly taking financial advantage of him.
The boycott of pan-Arab competitions, Al Ahly said, was in response to “insults” of its board members by Mr Al Sheikh. Al Ahly also vowed not to play any more league matches without its fans present, a stand that places the club on a likely collision course with the country’s powerful security agencies, which have the final say on match attendance.
If all of this turmoil is starting to feel repetitive, blame can be laid at the feet of the country’s football association, says Karim Ramzy, a prominent host of a football talk show aired by a private channel.
“Any student of Egyptian football realises that this crisis is a repeat of near annual crises,” he said. “We are dealing with a federation that does not have fixed regulations with which to run competitions.”
Mr Ramzy said he could not rule out the cancellation of the top-tier competition to allow preparations for the African tournament to proceed smoothly.
Across Egypt meanwhile, fans and critics alike are taking pot-shots at the nation’s football leadership.
"You, all football parties in Egypt, are shooting yourselves in the foot," top football critic Hassan El Mistikawi wrote Sunday in the daily Al Shorouk. "Do you really think that you can walk with your feet missing?"
The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
'Operation Mincemeat'
Director: John Madden
Cast: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden, Kelly Macdonald and Penelope Wilton
Rating: 4/5
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Game Of Thrones Season Seven: A Bluffers Guide
Want to sound on message about the biggest show on television without actually watching it? Best not to get locked into the labyrinthine tales of revenge and royalty: as Isaac Hempstead Wright put it, all you really need to know from now on is that there’s going to be a huge fight between humans and the armies of undead White Walkers.
The season ended with a dragon captured by the Night King blowing apart the huge wall of ice that separates the human world from its less appealing counterpart. Not that some of the humans in Westeros have been particularly appealing, either.
Anyway, the White Walkers are now free to cause any kind of havoc they wish, and as Liam Cunningham told us: “Westeros may be zombie land after the Night King has finished.” If the various human factions don’t put aside their differences in season 8, we could be looking at The Walking Dead: The Medieval Years.
Company%20Profile
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What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre, four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: seven-speed dual clutch automatic
Power: 169bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh54,500
On sale: now
HEY%20MERCEDES%2C%20WHAT%20CAN%20YOU%20DO%20FOR%20ME%3F
%3Cp%3EMercedes-Benz's%20MBUX%20digital%20voice%20assistant%2C%20Hey%20Mercedes%2C%20allows%20users%20to%20set%20up%20commands%20for%3A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Navigation%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Calls%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20In-car%20climate%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Ambient%20lighting%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Media%20controls%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Driver%20assistance%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20General%20inquiries%20such%20as%20motor%20data%2C%20fuel%20consumption%20and%20next%20service%20schedule%2C%20and%20even%20funny%20questions%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EThere's%20also%20a%20hidden%20feature%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20pressing%20and%20holding%20the%20voice%20command%20button%20on%20the%20steering%20wheel%20activates%20the%20voice%20assistant%20on%20a%20connected%20smartphone%20%E2%80%93%20Siri%20on%20Apple's%20iOS%20or%20Google%20Assistant%20on%20Android%20%E2%80%93%20enabling%20a%20user%20to%20command%20the%20car%20even%20without%20Apple%20CarPlay%20or%20Android%20Auto%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
On racial profiling at airports
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
The specs: 2019 Cadillac XT4
Price, base: Dh145,000
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged in-line four-cylinder engine
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 237hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 350Nm @ 1,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.7L / 100km
FULL%20RESULTS
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
