Al Ahly officially announced its withdrawal from the 2023-2024 Egypt Cup due to a congested fixture list and the need for players to rest before the start of the new season.
Al Ahly president Mahmoud El Khatib met with coach Marcel Koller in a lengthy meeting on Friday, hours after the Red Devils won the Egyptian League title.
The meeting resulted in four decisions: the first was to grant the technical staff led by Koller a rest period starting from Friday, and the second was for Sami Komsan to take over the coaching of the team in the remaining league matches.
The third decision was that Al Ahly players will not join the Egyptian national team camp before September 1, which is likely to cause a crisis with the Pharaohs’ technical staff, who want to have the players on August 26.
The fourth and most significant decision was to withdraw from the Egypt Cup. According to the Egyptian Football Association regulations, Al Ahly is expected to be punished by being banned from participating in the next edition, but the matter remains unclear for now.