World Cup organisers Fifa has acknowledged receipt of a complaint by the Egyptian Football Association asking for the removal of the officials who took charge of their last-16 match against Argentina on Tuesday.
Egypt were furious at what they perceived as bias by the match officials and Fifa towards Argentina, who overturned a 2-0 deficit to stage a stunning comeback to win the game 3-2 in the final minutes and advance to the quarter-finals.
The Egyptian FA said Wednesday it had lodged a complaint with football's world governing body and wanted an investigation into what it described as the "double standards" of match referee Francois Letexier and other officials during the game.
"The Egyptian Football Association has submitted a formal complaint to Fifa regarding the refereeing of the Egypt-Argentina match, questioning the fairness and consistency of some decisions and the use of VAR during key moments of the game," its statement said.
"The association affirms its commitment to defending the rights of the national team and ensuring the principles of fair play and equal treatment for all teams."
Fifa routinely reviews referee performances after every World Cup match, but rarely criticises its match officials in public.
'Fair play'
Egypt's main bones of contention are that VAR was used to deny them a second goal through Mostafa Zico and that VAR did not step in to advise Letexier to review two late Egyptian penalty appeals.
Zico had his 58th-minute goal chalked off after Letexier was sent to the pitchside monitor to review a potential foul on Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez in the build-up.
TV replays showed Marwan Attia pulled the Argentine's shirt as Attia passed him and accidentally stamped on the Argentine's foot.
Zico did score soon after to put Egypt 2-0 ahead, and with the clock ticking down, Argentina were staring at a World Cup exit and Egypt at the biggest win in their history.
Argentina drew level through goals from Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi. Substitute Hamdy Fathy went down in the area after his shirt was pulled by Alexis Mac Allister, and Mohamed Salah tumbled after coming together with Julian Alvarez.
Neither incident was penalised on the pitch, and after reviewing the footage, the VAR official saw no reason to question Letexier's original calls.
Argentina immediately broke up the pitch for Enzo Fernandez to power home the winner from Lautaro Martinez's cross in the 93rd minute.
“We had the right to win and I don’t want to say ‘hard luck’ to us – no, we leave with honour, but the final result is a far cry from the ‘fair play’ that Fifa talks about," said Egypt coach Hossam Hassan.
"And far from the respect. So, no respect, and no fair play today.”
An emotional Zico went a step further, suggesting Fifa and Letexier had "rigged" the game to keep Argentina in the tournament.
"He’s throwing away the hard work of an entire nation. From the start of the match, he was coming at us, like it’s unacceptable for us to be beating Argentina 2-0. The tournament is rigged,” he said.
Will Fifa act?
Whether Fifa acts on Egypt's complaint and removes the match officials will be known in the coming days.
If Fifa sides with the EFA, Letexier and the other match officials are unlikely to be handed assignments for the quarter-finals, semi-finals, third-place play-off and final.
Typically, the governing body announces the officials 24 to 48 hours before kick-off.
In any event, Fifa is unlikely to comment on its processes or reasons for keeping the officials on the roster or for removing them.
France play down controversy
France players have played down concerns that all the officials for their World Cup quarter-final clash with Morocco will be from Argentina.
For the first time in this tournament, all five officials appointed to a game are from the same country. The fact that the country is Argentina – against whom France have built up an increasingly intense rivalry in recent years, having gone head-to-head with them in the previous two finals – has sparked debate on social media.
Experienced referee Facundo Tello will take charge of the match – the first time the 44-year-old has officiated a game involving France – supported by assistants Juan Pablo Belatti and Gabriel Chade, with Dario Herrera as the fourth official. Even the reserve assistant referee, Cristian Navarro, is from Argentina.
There was huge controversy in 2024 after Argentina's Copa America final win over Colombia, when footage emerged of their players singing a racist chant targeting French players of African descent, which led to the French Football Federation filing a complaint with Fifa.
Ahead of the Morocco game, though, the French camp remains focused on their opposition rather than the nationality of the officials.
“I’m not going to focus on who the referee will be,” said Bayern Munich defender Dayot Upamecano. “We’ve never done that before; we’re going to focus on Morocco.”
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