
Ahmed El-Mergany (Photo: Al-Ahram)
Egyptian club Wadi Degla officially decided on Friday to part ways with midfielder Ahmed El-Merghany, after his recent public criticism of president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.
El-Merghany, a fromer Zamalek player, vented his anger on El-Sisi after Wednesday's terrorist attack that hit two cities in North Sinai, leaving 17 army personnel, and more than 100 assaillants killed.
"Wadi Degla want to confirm its respect for freedom of speech, but at the same time the club totally refuses seeing any one of its staff expressing his political views in public," a statement by Wadi Degla club said.
"The club previously rebuked its former coach Hisham Zakaria for criticising the Muslim Brotherhood through media as we are against mixing politics with sports," the club added.
"I met with club executive director who talked to me politely and told me that I had made a mistake and that my relationship with the club had ceased," El-Merghany told a TV programme on Friday.
The 27-year-old player accused El-Sisi of being the main reason behind the recent North Sinai attacks, describing him as a "failure".
Wadi Degla initially decided to suspend the player indefinitely, before deciding to wave him.
On Friday night, El-Merghany appeared on a show on Dream TV in which he was severely attacked by Zamalek chairman Mortada Mansour and Egyptian Football Association's spokesman Azmy Megahed.
Immediately after the show, some social media users created a Twitter hashtag in Arabic that translates to 'support El-Mergahny' to assure that he has the full right to express his opinion.
On Saturday morning, Ahram Online reached Wadi Degla president Hassan El-Mestkawy who refused to comment on the incident, saying that the football team is not under his supervision.
Wadi Degla currently lie in eighth place in the Egyptian league table with 50 points, 27 behind leaders Zamalek.
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