Egypt files complaint with FIFA against referee Francois Letexier after World Cup loss to Argentina
"Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the tournament. Perhaps they wanted to keep Messi in the competition," he said. "In football, sometimes external factors beyond technical aspects also play a role. The world champion team received support at every level."
CAIRO:- Egypt has formally challenged the result of its dramatic ‘Round of 16’ defeat against Argentina.
Following the 3-2 loss in Tuesday’s match, the country’s football association has demanded a FIFA investigation into referee François Letexier and his officiating team.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Egyptian Football Association (EFA) President Hany Abo Rida announced that a formal complaint had been lodged with FIFA. He alleged that serious errors and inconsistent decision-making during the match played a pivotal role in ending Egypt’s World Cup campaign.
The controversy began early in the game when Mostafa Zico appeared to have given Egypt the lead; however, the goal was disallowed after a VAR review determined that a foul had been committed against Lisandro Martinez during the build-up.
Later, Zico scored again to give Egypt a 2-0 lead. This put the ‘Pharaohs’ (the Egyptian team) on the verge of reaching the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history.
However, Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi scored towards the end of the match to bring Argentina back into the game, while Enzo Fernández scored the decisive goal.
Egypt’s main grievance concerned an incident that occurred moments before Fernandes’s goal. The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) claims that Alexis Mac Allister pulled Hamdy Fathy down inside the penalty area and that a penalty kick should have been awarded for the incident. According to the association, the officiating team failed to properly review the incident despite the availability of video evidence.
The EFA has demanded an investigation into the entire officiating team, including the VAR officials, regarding serious errors and inconsistent decision-making throughout the match. Furthermore, the association has urged FIFA to remove the officiating team from the remainder of the tournament should the alleged errors be confirmed by the investigation.
After the match, Egypt’s head coach Hossam Hassan also expressed similar dissatisfaction.
“I do not want to sugarcoat this or call it ‘bad luck’,” Hassan told reporters. “We were treated unfairly today. We have been victims of injustice.”
He added, “We did not experience respect or fair play here.”
Speaking to the media, Hasan hinted that the team considered a title contender might have benefited from circumstances beyond the on-field action.
“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the tournament. Perhaps they wanted to keep Messi in the competition,” he said. “In football, sometimes external factors beyond technical aspects also play a role. The world champion team received support at every level.”
FIFA has not yet publicly responded to Egypt’s complaint.
