{"id":790563,"date":"2026-07-09T13:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/790563\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T13:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:09:12","slug":"fifa-world-cup-refereeing-chief-denies-bias-claims-in-argentina-egypt-game-world-cup-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/790563\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA World Cup: Refereeing chief denies bias claims in Argentina-Egypt game | World Cup 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"World<\/a><\/p>\n

Pierluigi Collina said that such allegations of bias could provoke threats against referees and their families.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Published On 9 Jul 20269 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

FIFA refereeing chief \u200cPierluigi Collina has defended the officiating in Argentina\u2019s dramatic 3-2 victory over Egypt<\/a> in the World \u2060Cup<\/a> round of \u206016, dismissing allegations of bias and saying match officials operated with complete independence.<\/p>\n

In an interview<\/a> published on FIFA\u2019s website on Thursday, Collina said criticism of referees was part \u2060of football, but he condemned the questioning of the officials\u2019 integrity<\/a> after Egypt complained about the officiating<\/a> following the defeat.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWith such a high number of matches played in a relatively short period of time, it is normal that some things do not go as expected,\u201d Collina said. \u201cWhen that happens, they [referees] are ready to work even harder to ensure they are fully prepared for the next match.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, constructive discussion about decisions will always be part of football, but unfounded allegations have no place in our sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collina said that such allegations could provoke threats against referees and their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody can question the integrity of the FIFA World Cup match officials \u2026 Equally, nobody can claim that FIFA refereeing can be influenced by anyone, not even by the FIFA president [Gianni Infantino],\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatch officials make honest decisions and, just like players and coaches, they always try to do their best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FrenchFrench referee Francois Letexier speaks with Egypt forward Mohamed Salah during the 2026 World Cup round of 16 football match between Argentina and Egypt at Atlanta Stadium [Roberto Schmidt\/AFP]<\/p>\n

Egypt exited \u200cthe tournament but claimed they had been treated unfairly, after Argentina overturned a 2-0 deficit with 11 minutes remaining to snatch victory with a stoppage-time winner from Enzo Fernandez.<\/p>\n

Coach Hossam Hassan alleged after the match that there may have been pressure on the referee<\/a> to keep Argentina in the tournament, and that Egypt were\u00a0\u201ccheated\u201d out of a place in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

The Egyptian Football Association also criticised the refereeing decisions, saying it would not remain silent over what it described as the improper use of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system.<\/p>\n

Egypt \u2060argued that Mostafa Zico\u2019s second-half strike was incorrectly ruled out for what \u2060it described as a non-existent foul in the build-up. Egypt were also incensed that a challenge on Mohamed Salah was not penalised moments before Argentina launched the move that produced the winning goal.<\/p>\n

\"Egypt'sEgypt\u2019s head coach Hossam Hassan speaks with French referee Francois Letexier during the 2026 World Cup round of 16 football match between Argentina and Egypt [Roberto Schmidt\/AFP]<\/p>\n

FIFA\u2019s Collina said VAR had correctly \u2060recommended overturning Zico\u2019s goal, after identifying a foul by Marwan Attia on Argentina defender Lisandro Martinez during the attacking possession phase.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that a \u2060foul is a foul,\u201d Collina said. \u201cRegardless of whether the foul \u2060appears \u2018obvious\u2019, if the referee did not see it on the field of play, the VAR can intervene.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collina also defended the decision not to award Egypt a penalty before Argentina\u2019s winner, saying both the referee and VAR judged the contact between \u200cSalah and Julian Alvarez to be \u201cnormal football contact\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cStepping on an opponent\u2019s foot is a foul, whereas a defender who touches the ball first and then makes normal football contact has not \u200ccommitted \u200ca foul,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While acknowledging that some decisions would always involve an element of subjectivity<\/a>, Collina said FIFA was satisfied with how VAR principles had been applied throughout the tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pierluigi Collina said that such allegations of bias could provoke threats against referees and their families. Published On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[12624,49,48,17706,799,1259,44,561,457,82,13010],"class_list":["post-790563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-argentina","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-egypt","tag-latin-america","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-soccer","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}