The Egyptian Minister of Youth and Sports, Ashraf Sobhi on Sunday responded to statements by Mortada Mansour, former president of Zamalek Club, regarding his return his office at the club on Thursday.
“There is no basis for what was reported about Mortada Mansour’s return to head the Zamalek club in the coming period,” Sobhi said during a phone-in with TV host Amr Adib, presenter of the “al-Hekaya” show (The Story).
“The former president of Zamalek contacted Hussein Labib, head of the temporary committee in the White Club, in the past hours to inform him that he will be at the club on Thursday,” he said.
“Mansour informed Labib that he will come to the headquarters of the White Club on Thursday, to collect his belongings from his office, and this is his right,” Sobhi said, stressing: “What was reported about Mansour’s return to the presidency of Zamalek is incorrect.”
“The road map that was announced before is clear and everyone is committed to it.
“New elections will be called for before the end of August.”
In May, The State Council’s Administrative Court ruled to cancel the decision of the Egyptian Olympic Committee to suspend Mansour, former president of Zamalek Sporting Club, from sports-related activities for a period of four years.
The Egyptian Olympic Committee in October suspended Mansour from his post as Zamalek’s president and banned him from entering stadiums. It also handed him a four-year ban from sports-related activities and fined him LE100,000.
Mansour has appealed against all these decisions before the State Council’s Administrative Court.
The court on Sunday said that its ruling doesn’t affect the decision of Egypt’s Youth and Sports Ministry in late November to suspend and exclude Zamalek’s board.
Mansour is still eligible to run for the Zamalek presidency elections scheduled for November.
