ATLANTA, July 8, 2026 (v7n) – The Egyptian Football Federation has formally requested that the officiating team from their dramatic 3-2 World Cup last-16 defeat to Argentina be removed from the tournament, citing "serious refereeing mistakes" and "double standards."

"Hany Aburida, president of the Egyptian Football Federation, filed a complaint with FIFA, demanding an investigation into the French referee Francois Letexier... after the serious refereeing mistakes committed by the team of referees and double standards," the federation said in a statement.

During Tuesday's match, Letexier disallowed a Mostafa Ziko goal when Egypt were leading 1-0, after VAR intervened to spot a foul on Lisandro Martinez earlier in the move. Ziko later scored a legitimate second to put Egypt 2-0 up, but controversy erupted again in added time—after Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi had brought Argentina level—when Egypt believed they should have been awarded a penalty for a pull by Alexis Mac Allister on Hamdy Fathy in the build-up to Enzo Fernandez's winner.

"Aburida demanded the investigation of the entire team of referees, including the video technology referees, because of the blatant errors and insisting on not reviewing some of the footage that we believe are in favour of the Egyptian national team, and we see in it the Pharaohs' right to a correct goal and a penalty," the statement added, noting that the president had also "demanded the exclusion of the referee and the entire crew from the World Cup after investigating these mistakes and proving the crime of discrimination against the Egyptian national team."

The complaint echoed post-match remarks from Egypt coach Hossam Hassan, who said: "I do not want to put it nicely and talk about hard luck. We have been cheated unfairly today, we have suffered injustice. We haven't seen respect or fair play." He also told BeIN Sports: "Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running. In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champions received support at every level."

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