Zamalek announced late on October 11 that its board under president Hussein Labib had decided to lodge a formal complaint with the Egyptian Football Association over the refereeing in the Cairo derby. The club stated that it suffered injustice in the match against Al Ahly which ended in a 2-0 defeat and represented its first loss in the 2026-2027 Egyptian Premier League campaign. According to the statement the Slovenian referee Rade Obrenovic and his team issued decisions deliberately directed against Zamalek including two unawarded penalties and multiple incidents that were not reviewed by VAR. The club described the appointed crew as unknown and far below the standard required for one of African football’s flagship fixtures.
The Zamalek statement held the main referees committee responsible for the outcome alleging that it had been swayed by a pre-season campaign targeting the club leading to a lack of fairness and favoritism toward the opponent. It emphasised that the club was not casting doubt on the overall integrity of the refereeing system but was calling for the committee to review its appointment processes to prevent recurrence. Communications director Maher Gharib told Egyptian media that the board had fully approved the statement and that the club was simply exercising the rights available to it under the regulations to address errors that influenced the result.
A source within the referees committee told FilGoal that the body would not examine the disputed decisions because its involvement had ended with the appointment of a foreign refereeing team. The source noted that the committee had succeeded in securing international officials for the derby despite a crowded calendar that included multiple UEFA Champions League and other European matches at the same time. This position was echoed by committee head Essam Abdel-Fattah who rejected any suggestion of bias or external influence on the appointment process.
Abdel-Fattah told On Sport FM that refereeing standards are comparable worldwide although different schools interpret physical challenges differently and that the Slovenian referee had previously taken charge of a UEFA Nations League fixture between Belgium and France. He insisted the committee respects all clubs equally and works only to bring in the best available officials adding that no referee can be guaranteed to perform flawlessly even at the highest level. The football association is expected to forward the complaint to the committee for a formal reply along these lines.
The result extended Al Ahly’s current winning run against Zamalek to four successive matches across all competitions including a 3-0 victory in last season’s corresponding fixture. A review of Egyptian Premier League records shows Al Ahly with 53 wins in derby encounters against Zamalek’s 29 and 51 draws. The Cairo derby continues to draw intense attention across the continent where scrutiny of officiating remains a recurring theme in matches between Egypt’s two most successful clubs.
Zamalek sits among the early frontrunners in the Premier League table prior to the derby and had built a strong start to the campaign before the loss at Cairo International Stadium. The club maintained in its statement that the refereeing errors had wasted the efforts of both players and technical staff while calling for greater accountability from those responsible for appointments. Further updates on the complaint are anticipated once the referees committee issues its formal response to the football association.
