28 February 2011
Football returned to Egypt on Sunday against a backdrop of both celebration and mourning but the continuing tensions elsewhere in North Africa sees the African under-20 championship likely to be moved from Libya and the planned restart of leagues in Tunisia called off.
Zamalek, one of Egypts top two clubs, wore black armbands and held a minutes silence for victims of the violent demonstrations, which led to the toppling earlier this month of long-standing president Hosni Mubarak, as they beat Ulinzi of Kenya in a previously postponed African Champions League match.
The 1-0 win was watched by a capacity crowd of 22 000 at Cairos Military Stadium, strictly patrolled by soldiers keen to offset any spur for violence.
The match had been due to be played on Feb. 12 but was postponed for a fortnight because of the upheaval in Egypt.
Egypts top clubs last week expressed the hope that an incident-free match would prompt the military council now running Egypt to give permission for a re-start of the league in early March and after Sundays game Zamaleks coach insisted that task had been achieved.
It was more important that we got life back to normal than worrying about the victory, Hossam Hassan told Egyptian television after a disappointing performance that saw Zamalek through to the second round of Africas top club competition.
But plans to resume league action in Tunisia were cancelled on Saturday by a brief statement from the countrys youth and sports ministry, who said all matches were postponed to a latter date for security reasons.
Tunisias prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi resigned on Sunday after violent weekend protests over his ties to the toppled former leader Zine al-Abdine Ben Ali, whose Jan. 14 departure precipitated a shutdown of all sports activity in the country.
The Cairo-based Confederation of African Football confirmed on Sunday it would make a decision this coming week over the upcoming African Youth Championships, scheduled to be hosted by Libya.
It is obvious we will have to do something and the first choice is likely a postponement, general-secretary Hicham el Amrany said on Sunday.
Ghana and South Africa have been asked to consider taking over as hosts for the eight team tournament, which serves as the continents final qualifiers for the World U20 Cup in Colombia in July and August.
It was due to start in Tripoli and Benghazi on March 18.
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