Egypt were disqualified from the North African Championship back in December, which serves as qualifiers for the U-20 AFCON. This occured after 17 COVID-19 cases were discovered among the squad and coaching staff before their opener against Libya.

The EFA tried to solve the issue before their two remaining games by calling-up players from Egypt to fly to Tunisia including Mostafa ‘Messi’ from Ceramica Cleopatra and El-Gouna’s Ahmed Hossam.

On the morning of their second game against the hosts, the coaching staff announced that many players had recovered and could complete the squad. However, one of the swab tests was made at an unrecognized lab.

Therefore, despite the number of cases among the squad then dropping nothing could be done as the Young Pharaohs couldn’t meet the number of players required in the matchday squad (15).

Now, five months after the incident, the EFA have decided to punish many of the parties involved in this scandal. Head coach Rabie Yassin was handed a six-month ban from all football related activities. And he has to pay a EGP200k fine.

Meanwhile, the team doctor Walid Manzour was given a three-month ban and a EGP100k fine. ENPPI player Abdelrahman Amr also has to pay a EGP50k fine.

Finally, Amr’s teammates Hossam Ashraf (Zamalek) and Arabi Badr (El-Gouna) were handed a EGP20k fine each.