Read 3 minutes8 Jul 2026 06:12 PM IST
The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) criticized the Video Assistant Referee (VAR). Argentina came back from 0-2 down to win the Round of 16 match 3-2. EFA said several decisions made during the game had a direct impact on the results.
“The Egyptian Football Association cannot remain silent about the referee’s decisions seen during the match against Argentina, as well as the failure to use the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system properly. Several key incidents have raised serious concerns and left deep questions about the consistency and fairness of the decisions that directly affected the course of the game,” said a statement posted on social media.
“Many football experts and specialist analysts, both locally and internationally, have highlighted incidents of controversial and influential refereeing during matches. This underlines, in particular, the importance of maintaining the highest standards of integrity, fairness and transparency in a tournament of such prestige and importance as the FIFA 26 World Cup.”
The EFA has also lodged a complaint with FIFA, demanding an investigation into match officials’ duplicity, the BBC reported. The EFA has also ‘called for the referee and the entire crew to be excluded from the World Cup following an investigation into the wrongdoing,’ according to the BBC.
“The president of the Egyptian Football Federation, Hany Abou Rida, has lodged a complaint with FIFA and called for an investigation into French referee Francois Latexier following serious mistakes and double standards by the refereeing team, which led to Egypt losing the match and exiting the World Cup,” the statement read.
Much of the controversy centered on Egypt’s Mustafa Zico’s 62nd-minute goal that doubled his side’s lead. The goal was disallowed after a VAR review identified a foul by the Egyptian in the build-up.
Egypt’s frustration was compounded towards the end of the match when their appeal for a penalty was dismissed after Hamdy Fathi went down under a challenge, with Argentina scoring the winning goal in the 92nd minute.
After the match, Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan said his team had been “injusted” in Atlanta and accused the referee and FIFA of bias in favor of defending champions Argentina.
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“We deserved this win, but we are leaving with pride because there was no fair play, no respect,” he told reporters after the match. “We looked better than the reigning champions — better in everything — but the internal factors on the pitch and the external factors on it affected the effect,” remarked Hasan. “Maybe they wanted to keep the world champions in the tournament. Maybe they wanted Messi to stay in the tournament.”