Egypt Demands FIFA Remove Refereeing Team After Controversial World Cup Defeat to Argentina

The Egyptian Football Federation (EFA) has formally asked FIFA to investigate and remove the refereeing team that officiated Egypt’s dramatic 3-2 defeat to Argentina in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the federation accused French referee Francois Letexier and his officiating team of making “serious refereeing mistakes” and applying double standards that ultimately led to the Pharaohs’ elimination from the tournament.

Egypt Files Official Complaint

According to the Egyptian Football Federation, President Hany Aburida submitted an official complaint to FIFA demanding an investigation into the entire match officiating crew, including the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) officials.

The federation argued that the officials made several decisive errors that denied Egypt a place in the quarter-finals.

“We demand an investigation into the entire team of referees, including the video technology referees, because of the blatant errors and the refusal to review incidents that were clearly in favour of the Egyptian national team,” the federation said.

It also called for the refereeing team to be removed from the remainder of the World Cup if FIFA determines that serious officiating mistakes were committed.

Controversial VAR Decisions

The biggest controversy came when Mostafa Ziko had a goal disallowed after VAR intervened, ruling that a foul had been committed on Lisandro Martinez much earlier in the attacking move.

Moments later, Ziko scored again to give Egypt a 2-0 lead, putting the North African side within touching distance of a historic first-ever World Cup quarter-final appearance.

However, Argentina fought back through Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi to level the match before Enzo Fernandez scored the winner.

Egypt also believes it should have been awarded a late penalty after Alexis Mac Allister allegedly pulled Hamdy Fathy inside the penalty area during the build-up to Argentina’s winning goal.

The Egyptian federation insists the incident deserved a VAR review but claims officials ignored it.

Hossam Hassan Alleges Egypt Was “Cheated”

Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan launched a furious attack on the officiating after the final whistle, claiming his team had been unfairly treated.

“I do not want to talk about hard luck. We have been cheated unfairly today. We have suffered injustice,” Hassan said.

He further questioned whether there was an effort to keep the defending champions in the competition.

“Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the tournament. Perhaps they wanted Messi to remain in the competition.”

“In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond technical matters. The world champions received support at every level.”

FIFA Yet to Respond

FIFA has not yet publicly responded to Egypt’s complaint.

If accepted, the complaint could trigger a review of the match officials’ performance, although FIFA rarely overturns match results based on refereeing decisions.

Despite the heartbreaking exit, Egypt earned widespread praise for pushing defending champions Argentina to the limit in one of the tournament’s most dramatic knockout matches.