The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) issued a recommendation to skip the relegation rule this season because of the turmoil in the country which halted the football activities for almost three months. “The Egyptian FA recommends cancelling the relegation this season upon the request and approval of the clubs. The clubs had to go through exceptional circumstances and the league was suspended for 80 days,” EFA spokesman Azmi Megahed told the EFA website on Monday. The EFA representatives had a meeting with the clubs’ officials to get their approval before taking the decision. There have been fierce debates in the media concerning relegation this season, especially as the popular Alexandrian based club Ittihad of Alexandria is going down, alongside Arab Contractors and Smouha. The clubs have threatened to complain to FIFA, claiming that the turmoil in Egypt has affected their performance, and therefore they asked for relegation to be cancelled this season. “The board will have another meeting on Sunday to make the official announcement. It is expected to have 19 teams in the top flight next season and six teams will be relegated at the end of next campaign to get back to normal,” Megahed added.ahramonline .