FIFA rejects ‘government intervention’ in Egyptian football affairs following sacking of EFA board after Port Said tragedy.
Fifa will take steps to reinstate Egypt’s Football Association, which was suspended by the Egyptian government after 74 people died in violence at a match in Port Said on Wednesday.
The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, said the EFA suspension was a direct intervention into football affairs, which Fifa could not accept: “The information we have received at Fifa confirms the number of dead as 74. It was also confirmed that the government intervened directly by suspending the football association. We are going to take up the case from tomorrow so that this association is reinstated because it is the [body] that has the responsibility to organise the competitions and it must carry on.”
The incident, when fans invaded the pitch in Port Said after home team al-Masry beat Cairo giants al-Ahli, was Egypt’s worst football disaster. Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri sacked the EFA board. It was also the incident with the highest number of victims in Egypt since an uprising brought down the government of Hosni Mubarak early last year.
