Kuwaiti side deceived into facing amateur team in friendly, media say

KUWAIT (Agencies): Kuwaiti Premier League club Kazma were delighted to get a 7-1 friendly victory over Egyptian opponents Telephonat Beni Suef ––– until they discovered that their rivals in the match were a group of amateur players unconnected with the Egyptian side. Organisers of the game at Kazma’s training camp in the Egyptian city of Alexandria apologised, saying they had been deceived into thinking the rival team represented the Beni Suef side, who play in Egypt’s third tier. Egyptian media reported that Kazma had instead faced a group of amateur players and that Telephonat Beni Suef had denied any knowledge of Thursday’s game, triggering a war of words on social media. The Kuwaiti club put out a statement holding the organisers responsible and demanding an apology. StarMaker Football, the company organising the camp, issued a statement, which the Kuwaiti club reposted on the X social media platform, apologising for what it called an “unintentional mistake”. “Unfortunately, the company was deceived by the representative of the Telephonat Beni Suef club, who later turned out to have no connection to the club,” the statement read. “He also falsely claimed that the competing team represented Telephonat Beni Suef.” Egypt’s Football Association pledged to work with their Kuwaiti counterparts to investigate the incident and said no more friendlies with foreign teams would be allowed without its permission.