Egyptian referee Gehad Grisha, who was handed a six-month ban for a poor performance in the Caf Champions League final, has been cleared to officiate at the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations – according to reports coming out of Egypt and the Egypt FA.
In the first leg of the Caf Champions League final between Wydad Casablanca and Esperance which ended 1-1, Grisha was found guilty of making unfair calls which robbed the Moroccan team of a favourable outcome.
“Egyptian Football Association refereeing chief Essam Abdel-Fattah said the appeal against Grisha’s suspension has been accepted by Caf. Accordingly, the suspension has been lifted,” the Egyptian FA said in a statement.
As far as we understand it the Referees Commission of CAF have not had any meeting since Grisha’s suspension so it is quite difficult to know where Egypt FA are getting their information from.
“Grisha will now join the referees’ training camp for the Nations Cup on Saturday.” Grisha officiated at the Fifa World Cup in Russia last year.
Egyptian referees at the 2019 Afcon will now be three, including Ibrahim Nour El-Din and Amin Omar.
CAF have not responded officially on this though, www.aclsports.com will continue to monitor information from the Cairo Headquarters of Africa’s sport governing body.
