Man arrested after 'taking Egypt football player's exams for him'

The father of an Egyptian footballer has denied reports in local media that his son had a friend pretend to be him to take exams.

Egyptian police reportedly arrested the man for sitting a computer studies exam in place of Mostafa Mohamed, who is currently in Cameroon playing for Egypt at the 2022 African Cup of Nations tournament.

The mid-year exam was being held at a private higher education institute in the town of Shabramant in Giza Province west of Cairo, according to Egyptian media.

 Mohamed is studying for an Information Technology qualification at the Higher Institute for Management and Information Technology.

The man refused to show his identification card when asked to do so by exam invigilators, who suspected him of impersonating the football player, a report in Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper said.

The accused said that he was trying to "save his friend so that he would not fail the exam".

"I wanted to stand by his side because now he represents Egypt in the African Championship and he had to take an exam and he is a hero," he reportedly said.

The examining committee notified the institute's administration, who then informed the police. Mohamed's friend is currently the subject of a police investigation.

In statements to Egyptian newspaper Al-Watan, Galatasaray forward Mohamed's father strongly denied the incident.

"If he had an exam, he would have apologised or submitted a petition to the ministry of education," he said.

Egypt will play Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations' round of 16 in Cameroon on Wednesday.