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Rabat – Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan has strongly criticized FIFA’s officiating and VAR following his team’s heartbreaking exit from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, emphasizing that Arab and African nations are not treated fairly on football’s biggest stage.
Egypt suffered a dramatic 3-2 defeat to defending champions Argentina in the Round of 16 after surrendering a two-goal lead in the final minutes.
Speaking after the match, Hassan said the result was overshadowed by controversial refereeing decisions that he believes cost Egypt a place in the quarter-finals.
“I won’t say better luck next time because we left with honor. We deserved to win, but the result was far from fair play,” Hassan told reporters.
The Egypt coach pointed to a disallowed goal and what he described as a clear penalty that was never reviewed by VAR.
“Today there was no fair play and no respect. One of our goals was canceled in a strange way, and then we had a clear penalty. VAR did not even try to review it.”
Hassan went even further by questioning the integrity of the tournament, stressing, “The world is not fair. We were wronged.”
Match schedulingÂ
The former Egypt striker also attacked FIFA over the kickoff time of the match, which took place at noon local time.
According to Hassan, the schedule placed his players at a disadvantage.
“I’m certain the person who sets these match times has nothing to do with football. There are no matches that should be played at 12 p.m.”
He questioned why Egypt’s game was scheduled so early despite only two matches taking place that day.
“Did they want us to have breakfast at 7:30 in the morning? There were only two games today. Why was ours played at noon?”
Injustice to Arabs and AfricansÂ
Hassan ended his press conference with his strongest remarks, arguing that what happened damaged the credibility of the World Cup.
“There is no credibility in what happened today,” lamented the Egyptian coach.
He then delivered a message that has quickly spread across social media: “I am proud to be Arab and African, but I can say that we, as Arabs and Africans, do not get our rights.”
