The Ahly club team and press corps arrived at Cairo airport Friday morning from Mali on board a military aircraft. The team and the media accompanying them had been stuck in Mali for five days due to clashes breaking out between forces loyal to Mali’s deposed president and the military, which staged a coup in March.
Major General Aboul Dahab, director of the armed forces’ Moral Affairs Department; Khaled Abdel Aziz, director of the National Council for Youth; and Hassan Hamdy, Ahly chairperson, met the team at the airport.
A press conference was held at the airport where Ahly club board member Khaled al-Darandaly, head of the mission in Mali, gave a speech amid a rapturous reception from fans.
Ahly, the most popular team in Egypt, played in the first round of the African Champions League against Mali’s team on Sunday, but could not fly back immediately due to bad weather.
On Tuesday, fighting broke out between loyalists to the ousted president and forces supporting the military coup.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
