CAIRO (Reuters) – Players from a top flight Egyptian club walked off the pitch during a match in protest at a refereeing decision for the second time in a week on Wednesday.
The Egyptian Premier League clash at Al-Mokawloon Al Arab’s Osman Ahmed Osman Stadium was interrupted in the 57th minute when the players from the visiting Al-Ismaili club stormed off after the home side were awarded a penalty.
It was more than 20 minutes before the players could be persuaded to return to the pitch and Nigerian striker John Okoli was able to take the penalty, which he converted to give Al-Mokawloon a 2-1 lead.
Al-Ismaili equalised 19 minutes into the ample period of stoppage time at the end of the match to secure a 2-2 draw.
“We apologise for what happened and we accept any sanctions,” Al-Ismaili vice president Mohamed Shiha told reporters.
The walkoff occurred only four days after a similar incident at an Egypt Cup round of 16 tie between Enppi and Future FC that ended up taking nearly three and a half hours to complete.
The tie was deadlocked at 0-0 in the second half when the ball came off the referee and fell kindly for Future FC to take the lead.
The referee was summoned to consult VAR but a technical failure resulted in a delay of 17 minutes before he was able to deliver his decision to uphold the goal.
The Enppi players stormed off the pitch in protest and the match was delayed for 25 minutes until the club’s president persuaded them to return.
(Reporting by Shady Amir and Ahmed Mostafa, editing by Nick Mulvenney and)
