Egypt Announce Resumption of Domestic League

Egypt’s domestic season is to resume on August 7, three months after it was halted owing to the coronavirus outbreak, authorities have confirmed.

While the remainder of the continent’s domestic leagues remain paused or cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) are ready to restart their league after the government decided to allow sports to resume starting July.

The country’s top-flight has 17 rounds remaining, with Al Ahly holding a sixteen-point advantage at the top of the table over Arab Contractors.

EFA’s head of the Competitions Committee Hossam El-Zanati confirmed the decision on Thursday saying the season will first restart with the postponed games and that they will soon announce the schedule on two phases.

“The first phase will include the games scheduled to be played from 7 August until the end of the month, and it will be revealed as soon as we reach a final decision regarding Aswan SC stadium as the club requested to play its games in Cairo,” he said.

“The second phase of the games is scheduled to be played starting from 1 September until the end of the season. This will be announced shortly after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decides the final dates of the semi-finals and finals of the African Champions League and the Confederation Cup,” El-Zanati added.

Egypt confirmed its first coronavirus case in February 14 and its health ministry has since announced 71,299 cases and 3,120 deaths.

Majority of African countries have called off their 2019-20 domestic seasons, with Benin and Ghana being the latest, though several nations hope to continue in the coming months.