The Egyptian Football Federation (EFF) has issued an official complaint to FIFA, demanding an investigation of the match referee team that handled Egypt’s spectacular 3-2 loss to Argentina in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match.
Egypt’s elimination from the tournament was the result of “double standards” by the VAR officials and “serious refereeing mistakes” by French referee Francois Letexier, EFF president Hany Aburida alleged in a statement made on Wednesday.
The drama started when Mostafa Ziko had his goal disallowed after a VAR review at the time Egypt had a lead on Argentina.
It followed when a foul was detected on Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez, early in the attack.
Ziko then fired his next shot but it sailed past the posts as Egypt got a lead of 2-0, after which it looked as if Egypt was safe.
Read more: Egypt named among top 10 best performing FIFA World Cup 2026 teams
Argentina, however started to retaliate with Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi before Enzo Fernandez scored the game-winner.
Egypt’s main grievance centres on the build-up to that decisive goal, claiming Hamdy Fathy was pulled down by Alexis Mac Allister inside the penalty area and should have been awarded a spot-kick.
The federation also lashed out at VAR for not investigating the incident.
The EFF demanded that FIFA look into the video assistant referees and the entire officiating staff and seek to have them removed from the rest of the World Cup if they were found to have committed offences.
Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan was also displeased after the game, stating the Egyptian team was treated unfairly.
He pointed to their lack of respect in the decisions and added that Argentina might have been treated favourably owing to their dominance as the defending world champions, thereby keeping Lionel Messi in the tournament.
FAQs
So what did Egypt complain about to FIFA?
Egypt faced a major issue with key decision-making in the match against Argentina that led to their exit and they say it was unfair.
What decisions are currently in contention?
Egypt challenges the offside call on Mostafa Ziko’s shot, and believes Hamdy Fathy should have been awarded a penalty before Argentina scored the winning goal.
What does Egypt want FIFA to do?
The Egyptian Football Federation has demanded an investigation into the individual referees and the fact that FIFA’s removal of referees from the World Cup be done if the errors are confirmed.
Also read: FIFA World Cup 2026: Argentina beats Egypt after hard-fought encounter
