AFA hit by hackers who sent emails blasting 'corrupt refereeing' after Argentina's win over Egypt

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has confirmed it was the victim of a cyber attack after emails sent from its official accounts accused referees of ‘corrupt’ decision-making in Argentina’s contentious last-16 World Cup win over Egypt.

Argentine news outlet La Calle reported that the messages, distributed to journalists in the aftermath of the match, stated that ‘Argentina did not win’ and that ‘corrupt refereeing decisions’ influenced the result. The emails also praised Egypt’s performance and contained threatening statements related to the conflict in the Middle East. Sources within the AFA cited by the outlet indicated the hackers were of Egyptian origin and had breached the federation’s database, obtaining email addresses, passwords and IP addresses.

In a formal statement, the AFA said: ‘We would like to inform you that we have detected the possible sending of emails from one of our institutional accounts that were not generated or authorised by our team. There is a possibility that our account has been subject to unauthorised access, so we are working to clarify what happened and take the necessary security measures.’

The federation urged recipients to disregard any unusual messages recently received from its accounts, particularly those containing links, attachments or requests for personal information.

The incident follows a deeply contentious match in which Egypt were leading 2-0 before having a goal controversially ruled out. Further controversy surrounded the build-up to Enzo Fernandez’s winning strike, which Egypt felt involved a foul. The Egyptian FA subsequently lodged an official complaint with FIFA demanding the removal of referee François Letexier and his officiating team from the tournament.

FIFA’s Chief Refereeing Officer Pierluigi Collina responded by asserting that ‘nobody can question the integrity’ of the officiating at the World Cup.

Egyptian forward Mostafa Ziko, who had his goal disallowed before scoring his side’s second, said ‘this tournament has been fixed’ and that Letexier ‘was really not fair.’ Egypt manager Hossam Hassan added that ‘there seems to have been pressure on the Argentinian side on the referee.’

Tensions around refereeing decisions involving the defending champions have continued to simmer, with a fully Argentine officiating crew subsequently appointed for France’s quarter-final against Morocco, drawing further criticism from fans and pundits.