Egypt's FA approves 5 foreign players for each club next season
Ahmed Abd El Rasoul, , Monday 25 Jan 2021
Clubs asked the EFA to provide an alternative for the VAR if the system suddenly stopped


The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) agreed with clubs of the topflight football league to allow each club to register five foreigner players in their squad for the coming season 2021/22.

“Each team will be able to register up to five foreign players regardless their positions on the pitch, while the winter transfer market would remain in its usual date in January,” read a statement by the EFA after a meeting with representatives of Egyptian Premier League clubs.

Clubs were allowed to register four foreign players this season, with each team also allowed to register an additional fifth player from the following nationalities only: Palestinian, Syrian, Tunisian, Moroccan, Algerian, or Libyan.

Also the new regulation has lifted the ban on the signing of foreign keepers, a measure that has been implemented in 2009.

According to the EFA statement, the clubs called for putting off the formation of the Egyptian professional football clubs union until next season.

The clubs also asked the EFA to provide an alternative for the Video Assistant Referee technology (VAR) if the system suddenly stopped.

Last March, VAR was introduced in the last season of the Egyptian Premier League and the EFA management recently insisted the current season will continue using the technology despite objections by several clubs.

EFA President Ahmed Megahed stressed on Monday that he hopes the league will end as usual in July, but that would be difficult as the available VAR devices only support playing each round games every three days.

The domestic competition was suspended for almost five months last season due to the coronavirus pandemic to end unusually late in October.

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