Al Ahly submitted an official complaint to the Egyptian Football Association against referee Mahmoud Wafa, who officiated the team's match against Ceramica Cleopatra in the first round of the championship group of the Egyptian Premier League.

The match ended in a 1-1 draw, but Al-Ahly objected to the refereeing performance, stating in their statement that the referee committed what they described as "blatant" errors that affected the outcome of the match. The most notable of these was the failure to award a legitimate penalty, along with verbal and physical transgressions against the team's players.

In its complaint, Al Ahly requested several measures, most notably listening to the conversations that took place between the on-field referee and the VAR referee during the review of the penalty kick incident, and announcing the details to uphold the principle of transparency, with the club committing to pay the required fees for this.

The club also called for an investigation into the decisions made by the referee after the match, as well as an investigation into the reasons for appointing him to manage the game despite having officiated a previous encounter between the two teams that witnessed similar errors, in addition to his return from Libya just hours before the match.

Al Ahly concluded its statement by affirming its right to take all necessary legal actions regarding the referee's conduct before the relevant authorities.