Egyptian Champion, Ahly FC suspeds goal hero over Pro Morsi Celebration
Oladunjoye Opeyemi
Egypt’s Al-Ahly football club on Tuesday suspended striker, Ahmed Abdel Zaher from next month’s FIFA Club World Cup for celebrating a goal with a salute in support of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Al-Ahly said they would also sell the 28-year-old at the end of the season and deprive him of prize money from the Cairo club’s victory Sunday in the final of the African Champions League.
Abdel Zaher held up four fingers when he scored Al-Ahly’s second goal in the 4-0 win over South Africa’s Orlando Pirates.
The four-finger salute has been adopted by supporters of President Mohamed Morsi, who the army overthrew on July 3.
Al-Ahly’s football committee had on Monday recommended Abdel Zaher be suspended from the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco, following uproar in the media.
Egypt remains deeply polarised between Morsi’s supporters and the military-installed government four months after his ouster.
More than 1,000 people, mostly Pro-Morsi protesters have died in various clashes. Many of them killed when police dispersed a protest camp in Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya square.