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| Egypt manager with the referee |
Egypt’s football federation announced Wednesday, July 8, 2026, that it has filed a formal complaint with FIFA seeking the removal of the officiating team that oversaw the Pharaohs’ 3-2 last-16 defeat to Argentina.
“Hany Aburida, President of the Egyptian Football Federation, submitted a complaint to FIFA requesting an investigation into French referee François Letexier,” the federation said.
“We call for action after serious refereeing errors and apparent double standards that we believe cost the Egyptian team the match and eliminated them from the World Cup.”
The dispute centers on two pivotal decisions. Early in the game, a goal by Mostafa Ziko, which would have put Egypt up, when they were leading 1-0, was ruled out after VAR intervened, citing a prior foul by Lisandro Martínez.
Egypt then restored the lead when Ziko scored again, putting the team 2-0 and close to a historic quarterfinal berth.
Late in stoppage time, with Argentina mounting a comeback through Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi, controversy returned during the build-up to Argentina’s winner by Enzo Fernández. Egypt contend that they should have been awarded a penalty after Alexis Mac Allister allegedly pulled Hamdy Fathy in the box.
The federation’s complaint asks FIFA to investigate the match officiating and consider sanctions against the refereeing team.
“Aburida demanded the investigation of the entire team of referees, including the video technology referees, because of the blatant errors and insisting on not reviewing some of the footage that we believe are in favour of the Egyptian national team, and we see in it the Pharaohs’ right to a correct goal and a penalty,” said the Egyptian statement.
It added that the president had also “demanded the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes and proving the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian national team.”
The statement echoed remarks by Egypt coach Hossam Hassan immediately after the game.
“I do not want to put it nicely and talk about hard luck. We have been cheated unfairly today, we have suffered injustice,” Hassan told journalists.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play. There has not been respect or fair play.”
Hassan told BeIN: “Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions 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 champions received support at every level.”
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