Ahly club denies threatening to withdraw from Egyptian League

Ahly’s president denied that his club threatened to pull out from the Egyptian League because of a dispute about the sale of TV rights to matches, Ahram Online reported Monday.

“We didn’t think of withdrawing from the domestic league at all, but all the same we are sticking with selling the TV rights of our matches away from the collective deal,” Hassan Hamdy said in a press conference held by the club.

Hamdy added: “Our TV rights were estimated to be LE35 million ($5 million), so we will hold the tender on time.”

Egyptian state television won in December the rights to air Premier League matches for the next season for $10 million after reaching a deal with a committee that includes most of the clubs in the country.

However, Ahly rebuffed the collective agreement with other Egyptian clubs, favoring to sell its own TV rights individually like Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.

“We will stand by our decision until we get the club rights, and that is not contradicted by the country’s interest like what some people say about us,” said Hamdy in defense.

“Real Madrid and Barcelona suffered the same pressures when they decided to sell their TV rights separately, but finally FIFA took their side.”