The Egyptian Professional Clubs Association will adopt an exceptional format for the league next season to address the scheduling crisis.
The 2023-2024 Egyptian Premier League season ended in August despite starting in September of 2023, making it the longest-ever domestic football season in the country’s history.
This led African and Egyptian champions Al Ahly to quit the Egypt Cup to be able to rest their squad ahead of the new season.
However, the EFA can’t repeat the same mistake once again as the upcoming league season must end before June due to Al Ahly’s participation in the newly formed 2025 Club World Cup, set to start in the summer.
To overcome this issue, the Egyptian Professional Clubs Association revealed that they would follow the Belgian format, which is as follows:
- The first round of the league will proceed as usual, with all teams playing against each other.
- Then, the top ten teams will compete to determine the champion, while the bottom eight teams will play in a separate league to avoid relegation, also in a single round-robin format.
The clubs association will present this format to the clubs in the meeting on Wednesday 18 September hoping to persuade them to accept it.
Several club officials have already rejected the idea, calling for a different approach to organizing the league to prevent delays in its conclusion.