Egypt demands the exclusion of World Cup referees from match against Argentina for "crime of discrimination"

Egypt thinks the referee François Letexier made "serious refereeing mistakes" and "double standards".
Text: Javier Escribano
Published 2026-07-08

The Egyptian Football Association has lodged a formal complaint with FIFA about the World Cup round of 16 match with Argentina on Tuesday, in which they claim two suspicious referee decisions caused them to lose the match 3-2: a foul by Egyptian player Marwan Attia that caused a goal to be ruled out by VAR, and a potential foul against Mohamed Salah that, had it been called, would have meant Argentina's final goal should have been disallowed (Egypt coach said that they "had been cheated" and Zico, creator of the disallowed goal, that the "tournament is clearly fixed").

The EFA sent a statement on Wednesday, claiming that their president Hany Abou Rida has filed the complaint demanding an investigation into French referee François Letexier for "serious refereeing mistakes" and "double standards".

Egypt also demands "the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes" for what they allege was "the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian national team".

"A number of football experts and specialist analysts, both locally and internationally, have highlighted controversial and influential refereeing incidents during the match. This underlines the importance of maintaining the highest standards of integrity, fairness, and transparency in match officiating", the EFA said.

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