According to an official release from the Egyptian national team, 25-year-old winger Amr Warda was booted from the Africa Cup of Nations national team squad for disciplinary reasons. The national team is unable to replace him and will continue with a partial 22-player squad.
Egypt is hosting the tournament and is set to take on the Democratic Republic of Congo this evening in their second match, having topped Zimbabwe 1-0 in their opener. Warda earned his 29th cap in that match, coming off the bench to play for 19 minutes.
While the release did not specify the disciplinary reasons for Warda’s dismissal from the squad, officially deeming his removal from the squad for “unsporting behavior,” he was exposed after a host of women came forward with screenshots and other evidence of harassment after they rejected his advances via social media and text message. Warda eventually deactivated his Instagram account after the claims gained steam.
“Amr Warda is banned from the national squad after discussions with the team’s technical and administrative bodies,” the official statement wrote. “This is to maintain the discipline and focus of the team.”
The first to come forward was Egyptian-British model Merhan Keller who also named Egyptian internationals Ahmed Hassan Mahgoub and Mahmoud Hamdi in her accusations.
This is not the first time Warda has seen his football career affected by sexual harassment discipline. He saw a loan to Portuguese club Feirense in 2017 terminated after he was accused of sexually harassing the wives of his teammates.