Pyramids FC celebrated winning the Egyptian Premier League title, even as the Egyptian Football Association officially awarded the championship trophy to their rivals, Al Ahly.
On Wednesday evening, both teams played their final playoff matches that concluded the Egyptian league season.
Al Ahly crushed Pharco FC with a 6-0 win, while Pyramids FC thrashed Ceramica Cleopatra 5-1. As a result, Al Ahly secured the championship title with 58 points, finishing two points ahead of Pyramids FC.
This marked Al Ahly’s 45th league title in its history.
Both teams celebrated the trophy!
While Al Ahly received and celebrated the trophy, on the other hand, players and coaches of Pyramids FC were also in high spirits, declaring that they were the rightful champions and should be awarded the trophy — which would be the first in the club’s history.
Pyramids FC bases its claim on a controversial match that Al Ahly was supposed to play against archrivals Zamalek but refused because their request for foreign referees was denied by the league organizers.
Since Zamalek complied with all the requirements for the game to proceed, Al Ahly was handed a forfeit loss of 3-0.
Egyptian football rules state that if a team refuses to play a scheduled match that the opponent attends, the defaulting team should receive a 3-0 loss and have an additional 3 points deducted — a total 6-point penalty.
According to this rule, Al Ahly should have lost three points from that match and had an extra three-point deduction.
However, this did not happen. Al Ahly appealed, arguing that the league organizers were at fault for refusing foreign referees — while other clubs had been granted them. As a result, Al Ahly was handed the 3-0 loss but not the 3-point deduction.
Pyramids FC, who were leading the league at the time, appealed the decision, but their complaint was dismissed.
The club now insists that the rules must be respected and that they should be awarded the title — which is why they celebrated winning the league.
If the 3-point deduction had been enforced, Pyramids would have finished with 56 points, ahead of Al Ahly’s 55.
Al Ahly received the trophy even though Pyramids had petitioned the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to halt the award ceremony. That request was also rejected.
