Gasogi United head coach Ahmed Abdelrahman Adel has appealed a ban imposed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) because the sanctions were taken against the ‘wrong person’.
CAF on Wednesday announced a five-year ban against three African coaches who are carrying out their duties with forged or falsified coaching license certificates.
Ahmed Adel is on the list of the banned coaches in a statement that the Egyptian describes as ‘confusing’ since he holds a coaching license issued by CAF.
After the communique, Weekend Sport understands that the club management immediately held a meeting with the coach claiming that CAF mistook him with another person since his license is still in the CAF system, proof that it is authentic.
"CAF claims that they don’t have, in their system, the license of the banned ‘Ahmed Adel’ yet our coach’s license is in the system which is an indication that they banned a different guy, not ours,” Charles Nkuriza Kakooza, the club president said.
Weekend Sport has established that the coach’s manager has already submitted a claim requesting CAF to clarify the identity of the banned coach to avoid any incident that would affect the reputation of his client.
A coaching license seen by Weekend Sport indicates that Adel holds a coaching license issued in Cairo, Egypt by CAF on July 19, 2016. It was signed by former CAF president Issa Hayatou and CAF Secretary General Hicham El Amrani.
"The license of our coach is registered in CAF’s system,” Kakooza said. "Of course seeing his name mentioned among the banned coaches affects him but all we are sure of is that his license is authentic and is qualified to be our coach,” he added.
Gasogi United appointed Adel as the club’s new head coach, alongside his assistant Bahaaeldin Ibrahim for the 2022/23 football season.
The duo put pen to paper in July after agreeing to coach the club on a one-year deal, with an option to renew for another 12 months.
The club is unbeaten in the last four league games, with three victories and a draw, under the Egyptian as they sit second on the league table, just two points behind table leaders Rayon Sports.