Shalabi said the EFA made its decision based on a request from Olympic national team coach Eduardo Vingada.

Vingada had asked the EFA to postpone the league matches in order to prepare for the Olympic team’s African Games qualifier against Ethiopia, Shalabi told reporters.

The Portuguese coach is planning a closed camp for the national team players that will from March 5th and until the game against Ethiopia, which will take place in Cairo on March 11th.

The Egyptian Olympic game had lost the first-leg of the African qualifier against Ethiopia 2-0 in Addis Ababa last week.

Shalabi said that the postponement will also benefit the Egyptian clubs competing on the African level.

The EFA had previously turned down Ahli’s request to postpone their game against Masri in the same week for 24 hours.