The 2-3 defeat to Argentina in the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup left the Egyptian team’s camp deeply outraged and led to shocking allegations of match-fixing.
The match between Argentina and Egypt concluded with a highly controversial script. The African representative caused an early surprise by taking a 2-0 lead thanks to strikes from Yasser Ibrahim and Mostafa Ziko. However, decisions from referee Francois Letexier, including VAR overturning a goal by Ziko and denying a penalty for Mohamed Salah, helped the South American representative stage a comeback to win 3-2 in stoppage time.
Right after the match, coach Hossam Hassan publicly took aim directly at FIFA and the refereeing team: “I will say what is on my mind regardless of the consequences, this is clearly a fixed match and the whole world witnessed it. If they wanted Argentina to win so badly, why invite us all to participate?”.
Sharing the same view as his mentor, forward Zico cried as he shared: “The referee was unfair and made things difficult for us right from the start of the match. The injustice was very clear, it seems like this match was predetermined. Congratulations to Argentina on winning another World Cup championship”.
The wave of outrage from the Egyptian side resulted in goalkeeper coach Saafan El-Sagheer receiving a straight red card, while Mr. Hassan also had to receive a yellow card for overreacting to the “men in black”.
Currently, FIFA has not issued an official response to the heavy allegations from the African representative. As for Argentina, Lionel Scaloni and his players will face the winner of the match between Colombia and Switzerland in the quarterfinals.
