15th August, 2018
(AFP Photo/Attila Kisbenedek)
The Egyptian government has agreed to gradually reopen domestic football matches to fans starting next month, ending a more-than-six-year ban, Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhy said in remarks published on Wednesday.
Spectators have been banned from attending local league games in Egypt since February 2012, when 74 people were killed in rioting at a local match in the coastal city of Port Said, marking the country’s worst sports tragedy.
The ban was later lifted, before it was reimposed after 19 football fans died in a stampede outside a stadium near Cairo prior to a Premier League fixture in 2015.
“The return will start with 5,000 fans per match beginning from September,” Soby told private newspaper al-Watan.
He added that heads of clubs competing in the local league had been asked to send data of their teams’ supporters in the run-up to the fans’ return.
“A meeting will be held with security agencies in the next few days to discuss the data,” he said without further details.
The official added that his ministry launched this week a campaign aimed at promoting sportsmanship among football fans in the country.
Egypt’s new league season kicked off earlier this month, with the matches played behind closed doors.
Football is Egypt’s number one sport.
During the past six years, certain fans have been allowed to attend the Egyptian national squad’s continental games amid tight security.