Former Al Ahly SC sporting director Abdel Aziz Abdel Shafi, widely known as “Zizo”, has criticised the club’s latest restructuring decisions, warning that repeated changes within the football department are negatively affecting former players and staff members entrusted with leadership roles.
The comments came after Al Ahly announced a series of administrative and technical changes as part of a restructuring of the football sector ahead of the new season.
The Egyptian club dismissed Danish coach Jesse Torp and his technical staff, while director of football Walid Salah El-Din also left his role. The club subsequently appointed Wael Gomaa as the new director of football and Mohamed Youssef as head of the youth sector.
Speaking during a televised interview on Al-Nahar channel, Zizo described the decisions as routine rather than exceptional, but expressed concern over the increasing frequency of changes within the club’s structure.
He said the repeated replacement of technical and administrative figures had become one of the unusual features at Al Ahly in recent years, particularly regarding coaching appointments.
Zizo added: “Recently, former stars have been employed in administrative and technical positions, then they leave after a few months, which harms the stars themselves because it affects them psychologically and professionally, such as Mohamed Ramadan and Walid Salah El-Din.”
The former sporting director argued that the issue had become a recurring “negative phenomenon” within the club, warning that constant turnover was leading to the burnout of individuals closely associated with Al Ahly.
He also called for greater confidence to be placed in people from within the club system, saying he was dissatisfied with a policy that he believed had damaged the “Red Castle”, the nickname commonly associated with Al Ahly.
Zizo further questioned the club’s transfer strategy in recent seasons, arguing that greater focus should have been placed on promoting academy talents instead of spending heavily on new signings.
According to the former official, Al Ahly possessed enough quality within its youth structure to support the first team more consistently.
Zizo himself served as Al Ahly’s sporting director after the election of club president Mahmoud El Khatib in December 2017 before leaving the role in November 2018.
The restructuring debate was also addressed by former defender Hany Ramzy, who criticised the decision to remove Walid Soliman from leadership of the youth sector.
Ramzy, who previously headed Al Ahly’s talent discovery committee, defended the work carried out within the academy structure and highlighted the emergence of several promising players.
He said the youth sector had successfully developed talents now playing in Europe, including Hamza Abdel Karim and Bilal Attia, while also supplying players to the senior side.
Ramzy added: “The youth sector has achieved its goal of providing outstanding talents to the first team, which has recently happened with the promotion of several players, including some who have moved to Europe, such as Hamza Abdel Karim , Bilal Attia and Ziad Ayoub.”
He insisted that Walid Soliman’s departure was unnecessary and questioned the decision to appoint Mohamed Youssef to lead the youth setup, arguing that the responsibilities differed significantly from his previous role as sporting director.
The criticism from two former senior figures reflects growing debate over Al Ahly’s long-term sporting strategy as the club prepares for another major transition ahead of the new campaign.
