Egypt coach accuses FIFA following his team’s painful exit from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, claiming controversial officiating and questionable decisions played a major role in their defeat to defending champions Argentina.
Egypt’s hopes of reaching the quarter-finals ended on Tuesday after Argentina recovered from two goals down to claim a dramatic 3-2 victory in their Round of 16 clash. Led by Lionel Messi, Argentina mounted a second-half comeback, with Messi scoring the equaliser and creating another goal before Enzo Fernández found the winner deep into stoppage time.
Despite the thrilling contest, much of the post-match discussion centred on Egypt’s frustration with several officiating decisions.
Speaking after the game, Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan suggested that factors beyond football influenced the outcome, alleging that FIFA and the match officials favoured the reigning world champions.
“We looked better than the reigning champions—better in everything—but the result was influenced by internal factors on the pitch and external factors off it.
“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running. In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champion received support at every level,” Hassan said.
The Egyptian coach also questioned the appointment of French referee François Letexier, revealing that his team had objected to the referee’s selection before the match.
“There seems to be pressure from the Argentine side on this outcome. We were objecting to the selection of the referee because of the French situation, but everybody has to suffer at some point, and we suffered,” he added.
One of the major talking points during the encounter was a goal scored by Egypt that was later ruled out after a VAR review. The Egyptians were also unhappy that an incident involving Mohamed Salah and Alexis Mac Allister in the build-up to Argentina’s winning goal was not reviewed for a possible foul.
Hassan insisted those decisions significantly affected the match and denied his team a fair opportunity to progress.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play. A penalty was ruled out. It was not even checked by the VAR, and our second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed.
“I want to put it in beautiful words and say, ‘Hard luck,’ but we have been treated unfairly, and it has been an injustice,” he said.
The coach further disclosed that he confronted referee Letexier immediately after the final whistle.
“What I told the referee was, ‘This is unfair.’ I said maybe he is carrying a scar or has something to hide. If somebody is trying to hide something, they often fail to hide it,” Hassan stated.
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Egypt forward Mostafa Zico also voiced his disappointment over the officiating, saying his side lost control of a match they had firmly in their grasp.
“Hard luck. The match was in our hands and slipped away at the last moment. Strange things happened on the pitch.
“We were hard done by today, and everyone saw that. We were winning 2-0. After the 2-0 result, everything went against us. I don’t even know why the second goal was disallowed, but we must look for a solution,” Zico said.
