Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan has announced that he will personally boycott the remainder of the FIFA World Cup 2026 after his side’s dramatic 3-2 Round of 16 defeat to defending champions Argentina, claiming there was “no justice” or “fair play” in the tournament.
Egypt looked set for one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history after Yasser Ibrahim gave the Pharaohs an early lead before goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir saved a first-half penalty from Lionel Messi. Egypt doubled their advantage in the 67th minute through Mostafa Ziko following a swift counterattack involving Mohamed Salah and Haissem Hassan.
However, Argentina produced a stunning late comeback as Cristian Romero pulled one back in the 79th minute, Messi equalised four minutes later, and Enzo Fernández struck a stoppage-time winner to send the reigning champions into the quarter-finals.
Speaking after the match, Hassan questioned the fairness of the result and said he would no longer follow the tournament.
“Argentina’s victory is entirely undeserved. Once I return home, I will not watch football in this World Cup at all because there is no justice in it. My personal protest is that I will not watch this World Cup again,” Hassan said.
The Egypt coach insisted his team deserved to progress and claimed the outcome was influenced by factors beyond football.
“We had the right to win. We left with honour, but the final result is far from the ‘fair play’ that FIFA talks about. There was neither respect nor fair play today,” he said.
Hassan went further by suggesting Argentina benefited from outside influence.
“We looked better than the reigning champions, but the result was influenced by internal factors on the pitch and external factors off it. Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running. The world champion received support at every level,” he alleged.
Despite the controversy, Argentina advanced to the FIFA World Cup 2026 quarter-finals after completing one of the tournament’s most dramatic comebacks.
