The “Corona Smear” scandalizes the anger of Egyptian clubs … and demands millions of pounds

The reason for the crisis is that the precautionary measures imposed in the country and decided by FIFA also require medical samples for players before any match to indicate whether they are infected with the Coronavirus or not.

The Egyptian Federation announced at the start of the matches last June that the cost of the levies came from FIFA, and that there was no cost to the clubs.

But clubs were taken by surprise on Monday, almost 8 months after matches returned, with letters asking them to pay the cost of smears done for their players in past and current seasons.

Faraj Amer, a well-known businessman and president of the Smouha Alexandria Club, posted on his Facebook account the letter sent by the Football Association asking him to pay 3 million pounds for the cost of the levies for the footballers of the first team of the club.

Faraj expressed his admiration for this as the federation had previously announced that the clubs would not bear anything and the cost would be borne by the union and the funding would come from FIFA, stressing that his club would not pay anything.

What Amer posted sparked a big wave of comments on social media, and some of the tweeters described it as indicating a state of confusion in Union decisions.

Amer told “Sky News Arabia” that he had contacted officials from the Football Federation, confirming his objection, as well as other club leaders, to paying the levies, as it was the opposite of what had happened. was announced several months ago, in addition to the fact that the required cost is very huge.

Amer added that federation officials have asked club presidents to submit their proposals on how to pay the cost of the levies, but everyone has insisted that clubs bear nothing as these are imposed measures. by FIFA and the State.

Amer pointed out that the Football Federation’s medical committee is in the process of contracting a private health services company that will provide swabs to players over a period of around 8 months.

“No one informed us that the clubs would pay anything for the levies which reached more than 15 levies for each player of the clubs first teams,” he added.