Ex-FIFA Referee Forced to Flee African Nation Following Shocking Claims Over His Sexuality Leading to Threats From Fans

The soccer world is in shambles again. A big controversy is taking over in the Egyptian soccer scene. While European soccer deals with the case against Juventus and transfer window shenanigans, Egyptian soccer is witnessing a big drama unfolding before their eyes. It is related to the refereeing committee and how it caught on fire after allegations and counters of those allegations.

This back-and-forth is between a club head and a former FIFA referee, now the head of the Egyptian refereeing committee. The story has come to a part where one had to flee the country for security reasons in midst of false allegations.

All this took place in the middle of the Egyptian Premier League. Teams haven’t even played half of their matches yet and the referee had had to leave the country. The safety concerns came from the increasing threats after they made some baseless allegations against the former FIFA referee.

Ex-FIFA referee resigned from his position in EPL

The threats came from soccer fans in Egypt after the head of the Zamalek club, Mortada Mansour, made public remarks about Mark Clattenburg. They signed Clattenburg after the league was stunned by overwhelming criticism of refereeing standards during the 2020/21 season. His time in Egypt, however, was short-lived. Reportedly Mansour has put up remarks about sexuality, accusing the former FIFA referee to be gay.

After they made the comments, Clattenburg had to leave the country due to increasing concerns about his safety. The Sun reported that the league is making changes in the appointments of the referee. Clattenburg showed his concerns about multiple officials making questionable decisions.

Read More: F1 Fan Turned Soccer Coach, Who Broke the Mold to Start Rally Racing Career, Now Open to Coaching Job for 2026 FIFA World Cup

They also reported that Clattenburg didn’t get his last two-month salary, which amounts to around $70k. Clattenburg came with a vision to bring a revolution in the refereeing of EPL, but due to unforeseen events, he had to call it quits before that dream could become a reality.

Mark Clattenburg came with a vision

Just after his appointment in June 2022, he took a press conference and talked about his vision for the job. He said, “My target is to have an Egyptian referee in the World Cup. It is difficult to evaluate the performance of the Egyptian referees as I am not here for a long time… I will follow the coming league games and I will evaluate the referees’ performance and statistics. We have a training program for the referees with coaches from FIFA to prepare them for the coming period.“

Watch this story: Breaking Post Brittney Griner Special Request From Megan Rapinoe POTUS Confirms National Security Team Put To Work Amid Medal of Freedom Talks

This will be a big loss for the soccer community in Egypt. It’s not every day you get a referee who has worked for FIFA and has experience as much as Clattenburg did. What are your views on this fiasco? Tell us in the comments.