Essam Abdel Fattah reveals details of communication with Danny Makkelie for the summit match

The head of the referees committee, Essam Abdel Fattah, explained the details of the negotiations that took place with Dutch referee Danny Makkelie to officiate the anticipated clash between Al Ahly FC and Zamalek SC in the sixth week of the Egyptian League, revealing the circumstances that prevented the final agreement with him to officiate the match.

Essam Abdel Fattah stated during a call-in on the "El Laeib" program broadcast on MBC Masr that communication with Danny Makkelie has indeed occurred. However, he pointed out that the referee previously officiated the match between Al Ahly FC and Pyramids FC, which ended in a 1-1 draw and was surrounded by some controversy regarding the officiating decisions.

The head of the referees committee added: "We are trying to choose the most suitable for the match," explaining that he preferred not to use Maqili at the moment, with the possibility of selecting him to officiate another match in the future, or during the next season.

Abdel Fattah confirmed that the decision to exclude Makili was made to give new referees the opportunity to appear for the first time in top matches. This is a proactive step to limit the usual crises and public and media controversy that accompany refereeing decisions in these sensitive encounters.