​The Argentine Football Federation (AFA) has claimed that its computer systems were breached by hackers with ties to Egypt, who sent mass emails alleging that Egypt’s victory was secured through “corrupt refereeing decisions.” The defending champions were said to have fallen victim to a cyber-attack that targeted accredited Argentinian media staff, with threats of further digital assaults if “justice” was not delivered.
A report in the Argentinian outlet La Calle details how emails were sent from AFA addresses and challenged the performance of French referee Francois Letexier. The messages asserted that “Argentina did not win” and attributed the outcome to “corrupt refereeing decisions,” while praising the Egyptians’ performance.
La Calle also notes that a group of hackers of Egyptian origin breached part of the federation’s database, obtaining email addresses, passwords, IP addresses, and specific form information. After the mass emails were circulated to journalists, Argentina released a statement stressing that any activity from its channels that appears unusual should be disregarded. The statement, quoted by The Mirror, read: “Dear colleagues, we would like to inform you that we have detected the possible sending of emails from one of our institutional accounts that were neither generated nor authorized by our team. Given this situation, and while we conduct the corresponding verifications with the IT department, we would like to inform you that… We ask that you disregard any messages you have recently received from our account that seem unusual. There is a possibility that our account has been the subject of unauthorised access, so we are working to clarify what happened and take the necessary security measures. Our systems have the corresponding security and safeguards in place. Thank you very much for your attention and cooperation.”
On the field, the drama continued as the Pharaohs endured a historic World Cup comeback, with Lionel Messi sparking a second-half surge to help Argentina preserve their title defense aspirations. Mohamed Salah and his teammates initially built a two-goal cushion, suggesting a shock victory over the defending champions, only for Messi to orchestrate a late turnaround with a goal and an assist in a 3-2 win for Lionel Scaloni’s side. The match was nevertheless clouded by protests from the Egyptian delegation, who felt aggrieved by several officiating decisions.
Specific moments fueled the dissatisfaction: a potential second goal for Ziko was disallowed due to a buildup infringement, and Salah was denied a penalty during the sequence that culminated in Enzo Fernandez’s decisive goal. Within the broader narrative, the messages carried statements of grievance and objections from coach Hossam Hassan and Mostafa Ziko. The online communications also carried an emphasis on improving search engine optimization to broaden reach.