AFA claims Egyptian hackers breached its systems after World Cup refereeing row

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has issued an urgent statement warning accredited media to disregard emails sent from its institutional accounts after claiming its systems were breached by Egyptian hackers, following a heated refereeing controversy surrounding Argentina’s 3-2 World Cup victory over Egypt.

According to Argentine outlet La Calle, emails sent from AFA addresses accused French referee François Letexier of delivering “corrupt refereeing decisions” and declared that “Argentina did not win.” The messages also praised Egypt’s performance and threatened further cyber-attacks if what the senders described as justice was not served. The outlet reported that the hackers obtained email addresses, passwords, IP addresses, and specialised form data from part of the federation’s database.

In its statement, the AFA said: “We have detected the possible sending of emails from one of our institutional accounts that were neither generated nor authorised by our team. 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.”

The controversy stems from Argentina’s dramatic second-half comeback in the match. Egypt led 2-0 and appeared on course to eliminate the defending champions before Lionel Messi scored and assisted to complete a 3-2 turnaround for Lionel Scaloni’s side.

Egyptian frustration centred on two specific incidents: a disallowed goal for Mostafa Ziko, ruled out for a foul in the build-up, and a penalty appeal from Mohamed Salah in the passage of play that led to Enzo Fernández’s winner. Both decisions were disputed by Egypt’s camp.

Coach Hossam Hassan and Ziko had already voiced their grievances publicly before the hacking claims emerged. Their criticisms drew a firm response from FIFA’s Chief Refereeing Officer, Pierluigi Collina, who defended his officials. “Constructive discussion about decisions will always be part of football,” Collina said, “but unfounded allegations have no place in our game.”