Egypt's fury over the officiating in their 3-2 Round of 16 loss to Argentina has drawn a first response from world football's governing body. According to the French newspaper L'Equipe, FIFA's referees committee is set to review French official Francois Letexier's performance in full, even as FIFA itself has made no public comment on the storm.
What FIFA is doing
L'Equipe reports that the committee will go back over the entire game, weighing Letexier's technical performance, the match officials' reports and the flashpoint decisions that turned the tie. The same report stresses two limits on any outcome: national federations cannot veto a referee, and a mid-tournament removal is considered unlikely. Whether Letexier keeps his place for the rest of the tournament now rests on that evaluation. FIFA has not commented on the Egyptian complaint, ESPN and NBC News reported.
The match that lit the fuse
Argentina, the defending champions, came from behind to beat Egypt 3-2 in Atlanta on 7 July. Two moments sit at the centre of Egypt's grievance.
The first was a disallowed Egyptian goal. Egypt had edged in front through Mostafa Ziko when a late VAR intervention wiped out a second strike, officials flagging a build-up foul by Marwan Attia said to involve a shirt pull and a step on Lisandro Martinez. Commentators questioned at the time whether the call fell within VAR's remit, though under the IFAB Laws of the Game it can be read either way.
The second was a penalty that never came. Egypt say an apparent foul on Mohamed Salah in the move before Argentina's third goal was "not even checked" by VAR. Egypt also point to the build-up to Enzo Fernandez's winner, where they allege a foul by Alexis Mac Allister went unreviewed.
Egypt's case
The Egyptian Football Association said it "cannot remain silent regarding the refereeing decisions witnessed during the match against Argentina," citing a "failure to make appropriate use of the Video Assistant Referee system." Its president, Hany Abo Rida, lodged a formal complaint against Letexier and his assistants and asked for the referee to be taken off the tournament.
Head coach Hossam Hassan went further after the final whistle. "Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running," he said, adding: "We have been treated unfairly and it has been an injustice." Hassan, who had used his pre-match press conference to speak in support of Palestine, argued the champions "received support at every level."
The other side of the argument
Letexier is no journeyman. He refereed the Euro 2024 final and was named the world's best referee for 2024, and defenders of the calls note that VAR did identify a genuine infringement in the build-up to the ruled-out goal. The point that federations cannot simply demand a referee's head is also central: complaints are logged and reviewed, but they are not a veto.
Analysts were split. "There was something distinctly unusual about the goal and VAR decision," said Simon Chadwick, who questioned why the referee had not flagged the foul in real time. Football analyst Ali El Garni framed it as a run of marginal calls, saying the decisions "could have gone either way, and Argentina benefitted from all the 50/50 incidents."
A wider unease
The row landed amid broader questions about consistency at this World Cup, with Al Jazeera among those linking it to FIFA's earlier reversal of USA striker Folarin Balogun's suspension. For Egypt, though, the immediate question is narrower: what, if anything, the referees committee concludes once it has watched the Argentina game again.
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