The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) announced Tuesday that it has withdrawn its youth team for the U20 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers after several members were diagnosed with COVID-19.
Minister of Sports Ashraf Sobhy dispatched a special plane to transport the mission from Tunisia and return them to Cairo on Wednesday, after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) had refused to postpone Tuesday’s Libyan match.
The CAF subsequently deemed the Pharaohs’ team to have lost to Libya 3-0 as per the competition’s regulations after failing to present 15 players on the list for the game, an initial condition for CAF to sanction holding the match.
Nine players from the team had been tested for coronavirus, however results on Monday showed three of them as negative. The number of remaining players was one short at a total of 14, including the goalkeeper.
