Egypt lost 3-2 to Argentina in the 2026 World Cup round of 16 on Tuesday and players, coaches and now the Egyptian FA have all shared concerns over what they perceived was bias.
The Egyptian side were 2-0 up before an Argentinian comeback – thanks to goals from captain Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernández – sent them crashing out of the tournament.
A disallowed goal and an apparent missed foul on Mohamed Salah in the penalty area prompted an outcry from Egypt, who believe the refereeing was set in the South American side’s favour.
Egyptian statement
A request for FIFA to remove the match officials from the rest of the tournament has been made by the Egyptian Football Association.
They have also lodged a complaint and asked for an investigation into what they term double standards.
A statement from the Egyptian FA read: “Hany Abou Rida, president of the Egyptian football federation, filed a complaint with FIFA, demanding an investigation into the French referee Francois Letexier after the serious refereeing mistakes committed by the team of referees and double standards, which caused the Egypt team to lose the match and leave the World Cup.”
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Manager’s outrage
Egypt coach Hossam Hassam shared his anger at what he thinks was unfair treatment from the referees in his post-match interview.
He said: “There have been a lot of things to be questioned on and off the pitch.
“Negative aspects all around. It’s just about credibility, lack of credibility with how things unfolded.
“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running.
“The world champion received support at every level. There seem to be pressures from the Argentina side on this outcome.”
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An injustice
Hassam, who was booked for protesting Argentina’s late winner, continued his rant as he said: “A penalty [for Egypt] was ruled out – it was not even checked by the VAR – and our second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed.
“We have all seen the shirt pulled back [by Alexis Mac Allister] and not even a VAR check.
“Life is unfair, normal life is unfair, so why is there no fairness in sports?”
That sentiment was backed up by Egyptian forward Zico, who said: “The referee was really unfair. The injustice was clear.
“There’s been an unfairness right from the start of the match.
“It is clear that this tournament has been fixed.”
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