The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) has lodged a formal complaint with FIFA concerning the officiating during their 3-2 World Cup Round of 16 loss to Argentina. The complaint alleges “serious refereeing mistakes” and “double standards” by match officials, specifically naming French referee François Letexier, who they claim “caused the Egypt team to lose the match.” EFA president Hany Abou Rida has demanded an investigation into Letexier and his crew, calling for their exclusion from the remainder of the World Cup due to alleged “discrimination” against Egypt.
The core of Egypt’s grievance stems from two main incidents: a disallowed goal and a missed penalty call. In the 58th minute, Egypt’s Mostafa Ziko scored, doubling their lead, but the goal was overturned by VAR due to a foul by Marwan Ateya on Lisandro Martínez at the opposite end of the pitch earlier in the possession. Additionally, Egypt claims a penalty was not called for contact on Mohamed Salah just before Argentina scored their dramatic winning goal.
Egypt manager Hossam Hassan has been particularly vocal, accusing FIFA of prioritizing its own “interests” by wanting to keep Lionel Messi in the tournament, despite Egypt's belief that they deserved to qualify. Hassan stated, “They want Messi to stay in the tournament. In football, many things happen off the pitch because of interests. What happened was unfair. Egypt deserved to qualify. We were the better team.” Hassan was also booked after making an anti-racism gesture toward the referee, which he intended to signal perceived injustice rather than actual racist abuse.
