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SHAH ALAM - Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan has intensified his criticism of the officiating following his side’s controversial World Cup Round of 16 defeat to Argentina.
He posted a photograph of French referee François Letexier on his official Instagram account with the caption, “The world is watching”, as scrutiny over refereeing decisions and International Federation of Association Football's (FIFA) handling of the tournament continues to grow.
The post, posted yesterday, also featured two emojis showing a person making an "X" sign with their arms, a gesture recognised by FIFA as the official signal for reporting racial abuse during a match.
The latest post comes hours after Hassan strongly criticised the officiating during Egypt's dramatic 3-2 defeat to defending champions Argentina, a result that ended the Pharaohs' hopes of reaching the World Cup quarter-finals.
During the match, Hassan was seen making the same "X" gesture directly in front of Letexier after a series of contentious decisions went against Egypt. Rather than responding to the gesture, Letexier showed the Egyptian coach a yellow card.
Under FIFA's anti-discrimination protocol, players and team officials may cross their forearms to form an "X" to report alleged racist abuse during a match, triggering the governing body's three-step procedure.
The protocol allows referees to stop play, suspend the match and if necessary, abandon the fixture should racist abuse continue.
The incident has since attracted widespread attention because Letexier appeared not to initiate the protocol before cautioning Hassan instead.
The social media post further escalated an already heated dispute surrounding Egypt's elimination. Following the defeat, Hassan accused the match officials of denying Egypt a place in the quarter-finals.
"Why is there not any fairness in sport? I do not want to try to put it nicely here with beautiful wording. We have been treated unfairly today. We have suffered injustice. It is my own way of speaking up and standing up.
"I am not going to watch another match in this tournament," he said.
The Egyptian coach went further by accusing FIFA of favouring Argentina and captain Lionel Messi.
"It is all about money. They want Messi to stay in the tournament.
"In football, many things happen off the pitch because of interests. What happened was unfair. Egypt deserved to qualify. We were the better team," he said.
Egypt had appeared on course for one of the biggest upsets of the World Cup after establishing a 2-0 lead against the defending champions.
However, Mostafa "Ziko" Mohamed Zaki Abdelraouf had an earlier goal ruled out following a VAR review before later scoring again to restore Egypt's two-goal advantage.
Argentina eventually completed a dramatic comeback through Cristian Romero, Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernandez to secure a 3-2 victory.
Hassan also questioned Letexier's handling of the closing stages after Egypt believed they should have been awarded a foul in the build-up to Argentina's winning goal. The sense of frustration was echoed by Egyptian winger Ziko.
"After we made it 2-0, everything went against us. I do not know why this second goal was disallowed," he said.
The controversy surrounding Egypt's elimination has continued beyond the final whistle.
Shortly after Argentina's victory, FIFA announced that an all-Argentine officiating crew, led by referee Facundo Tello, would oversee the World Cup quarter-final between France and Morocco.
The appointment immediately sparked debate, with critics questioning the optics of assigning officials from a country still competing in the tournament to officiate a potential future opponent.
Although there has been no evidence of wrongdoing by any match officials, recent refereeing appointments and VAR decisions have become among the most discussed issues of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
