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Egypt club to sell player over political gesture

Cairo: Egypt's newly crowned African club champion Al Ahly says it will sell striker Ahmed Abdul Zaher after he used a four-fingered hand gesture linked to supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.   Al

egypt club to sell player over political gesture egypt club to sell player over political gesture
Cairo: Egypt's newly crowned African club champion Al Ahly says it will sell striker Ahmed Abdul Zaher after he used a four-fingered hand gesture linked to supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
  








Al Ahly has already suspended Abdul Zaher, who made the gesture after scoring in Sunday's 2-0 win over South Africa's Orlando Pirates in the African Champions League final second leg in Cairo.
   
The club said Tuesday it will put the striker up for sale and will not take him to next month's FIFA Club World Cup.
   
In a statement, Al Ahly said Abdul Zaher had admitted making a mistake.
   
It added that the club's decisions were based on its tradition of "refusing to mix between politics and sports, discriminating between members of the game" and observing FIFA rules.
   
Later Tuesday, the club issued a further statement to say that it will give Mohammed Abu Treika, the scorer of Al Ahly's other goal in the final, a 50,000 Egyptian pound ($7,250) fine for refusing to collect his winner's medal during the post-match ceremony.
   
The gesture by Abu Treika, one of his country's best known footballers, has been widely seen in Egypt as a snub for the interim military-backed government installed after Morsi was ousted.
   
Abu Treika had instead celebrated the victory with his team's fans, who had been allowed to watch a major match in Cairo in big numbers for the first time since an outbreak of stadium violence at Port Said in February 2012 had killed 74 people, most Al Ahly fans.
   
After Sunday's match, Abu Treika wore a T-shirt with the number 72, a reference to the number of Al Ahly fans killed in Port Said.