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Goalkeeper slapped with 4-match ban for striking referee
10th April, 2026 05:29 PM
Al-Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy has been given a four-match ban for striking a referee on the head following a 1-1 draw with Ceramica Cleopatra in the Egyptian Pro League.
The Egypt international, who was on the bench for Tuesday’s game, was angered by Al-Ahly not being awarded a penalty for a handball in added time.
“A four-match ban and fine of 50,000 Egyptian pounds (approx. Ksh122k) for assaulting the referee by pushing or pulling [use of the hand without violence],” said a league statement on El-Shenawy’s punishment.
World Cup
The 37-year-old was Egypt’s first-choice goalkeeper at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and is expected to be in his country’s squad for this summer’s World Cup in North America.
He will now be sidelined until the final week of the league playoffs, when the competition’s top seven teams face each other in a championship round.
Defending champions Al-Ahly are third after one match in the play-offs on 41 points, five points behind leaders Zamalek.
The incident continues a pattern of bizarre incidents in African football, happening days after Zambians also made headlines for seemingly taunting their own national team during the FIFA international friendlies.
The Chipolopolo were walloped 5-0 in a friendly match against world champions Argentina on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Buenos Aires.
After the match, a section of the fans resorted to mocking and poking fun at the game, posting hilarious comments about the African nation’s display against the world champions.
Trolled
Power Dynamos custodian Willard Katsanda was among the victims of the several stray fans, with one joking that his conceding against Messi was tantamount to seeing a dream come true.
“Our goalkeeper Ati Messi’s goal was a dream come true,” Aggrey Mukonka jibed.
Oliver Chanda, who also scored an unfortunate own goal, was not spared, with a fan hailing him as the first player to score an own goal against Argentina.
A different fan claimed that their players had divided allegiance during the tie, stating that some could have been supporting their Argentine opponents.
Another dismissed the result as a hoax, borrowing from the April Fools’ Day trend by joking that the game will actually be played on April 1 and not March 31.
