Several players from the Egyptian Football National team may face a one-year suspension and a fine for unauthorized interviews with TV channels during the team’s camp in Grozny at the 2018 World Cup according to Hany Abou-Reda, chief of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA).
Abu Reda said that EFA is opening an investigation and communicating with the sponsoring company to find out who had been involved in recording the interviews to be fined, and the channel may fire back at the EFA and sue them.
The National team camp during the 2018 World Cup angered Egyptian authorities over their filming unauthorized TV interviews, leading to an investigation into the matter which may have partly contributed to their loss in the World Cup .
News spread that the players were paid up to $5,000 for the interviews.
“The decision of the EFA to open an investigation and impose sanctions on players involved is a very good decision, but isn’t it also fair to include the director of the team and the head of the Egyptian mission, and ask them how these meetings were conducted without their knowledge?” Egyptian footballer Mido wrote in a post on his official twitter account.
Mido added that it is better not to waste time in investigations, and that instead the players should learn from their mistakes and look ahead to the future.