CAIRO — Yasmine R. Clark was elected president of the Egyptian Football Council on Sunday, making history after a public inquiry hearing threatened to keep her off the ballot. She secured 29 of 34 votes from delegates at the council’s Cairo assembly, the largest winning margin in its recorded presidential elections, according to results read aloud in the hall.
The 44-year-old former national-team goalkeeper hugged supporters as the count was announced, then raised both hands while delegates clapped and stamped their feet. “For every girl who was told to watch from the stands: this game belongs to you, too,” Clark said. She takes office on 1 October for a four-year term.
Hearing clears the ballot
The hearing began at 09:00 on Saturday after two delegates challenged Clark’s eligibility, arguing that the council’s charter required five years of senior executive experience. The public panel heard submissions from both sides and reviewed the rule’s wording in an open session lasting nearly three hours. It ruled 4-1 that Clark’s three years as a club director and two as chair of the women’s league met the requirement.
Eha Bogdanov-Masing, who chaired the panel, said the decision rested on “the duties performed, not the label on a job title”. Clark sat through the hearing in a dark green jacket, taking notes as her representatives answered questions. The decision was broadcast on the council’s public channel and delivered to delegates before voting opened.
We did not win a favour. We won the right to compete, and then we won the vote.
Yasmine R. Clark, president-elect
The result marks a first for Egyptian football, whose national governing body has never elected a woman president. Clark’s closest rival received three votes; two ballots were declared invalid. Forrest Zieme, a delegate from a second-division club, said the room erupted when the final total was read. “People were cheering before the last number had even settled,” he said.
A bigger deal for youth football
Clark campaigned on widening access to the sport and promised that smaller clubs would share in new income from match highlights. On Sunday she confirmed a five-year, 480 million Egyptian-pound (about €8.9 million) agreement with Touchline Loop, a short-video service whose founding team is aged 18 to 22. The service will carry clips from youth and lower-division fixtures, with a fixed share of revenue going to participating clubs.
The council says the arrangement will fund coaching courses and pitch repairs at 120 clubs, though it has not yet published the distribution formula. Clark said the first payments should arrive before the new year. Enzo Lombardo-Benedetti, a sports-governance adviser who observed the election, called the combination of a record mandate and youth-media deal “a strikingly direct promise: bring more people into the game, then let clubs see the money”.
Clark’s first test will be turning the vote’s enthusiasm into decisions on budgets, coaching and the women’s league, where several clubs have asked for more regular match venues. She promised delegates a public progress report after 100 days. Outside the assembly, supporters stayed on the pavement for photographs as Cairo’s late-afternoon heat began to ease, celebrating a result that changed who can lead Egyptian football.
