Al Ahly President Mahmoud El Khatib Takes Sporta to Court

The Cairo Economic Court has referred the lawsuit filed by Mahmoud El Khatib, chairman of Al Ahly SC, against sports development company "Sporta" to a commercial circuit of the North Cairo Court of First Instance, ruling that it lacked jurisdiction. The dispute arose after the company unilaterally terminated its contract with the club before the end of its term.

Case No. 186 of Judicial Year 11, filed by Mahmoud Ibrahim Abdel Razek El Khatib against Sporta, seeks an order for the company to pay EGP 25,040,269, together with costs, legal fees and immediate enforcement of the judgment.

The case documents show that under an agreement dated 14 September 2017, Al Ahly granted Sporta a licence to exploit its registered trademark "ASC" — registered with the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade for the class of sportswear and sporting goods — to supply the first football team's kit and to market and sell those products to the club's fans, for a term of three sporting seasons beginning with 2017/2018 and ending fifteen days after the final official match of the 2019/2020 season.

According to the claim, during the second year of the contract, at the start of the 2018/2019 season, Sporta notified the club — without prior warning and by unilateral decision — that it was terminating the agreement before the end of its term, in breach of its binding force and the parties' intentions at the time of contracting, causing the club the material and moral damages quantified in the statement of claim.

The dispute was presented to the Economic Court's preparation panel in an attempt to reach an amicable settlement, which failed when Sporta did not attend. The court ruled that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction and referred the case to a commercial circuit of the North Cairo Court of First Instance, reserving its decision on costs.

The ruling was issued under the presidency of Judge Mohamed Gouda Mohamed Abu Zeid, with Judges Soliman Fouad Ghobrial and Mona Ibrahim El-Tawila, and court clerk Joseph Mikhail.