Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan delivered an emotional and outspoken press conference following his team’s World Cup elimination against Argentina. While expressing immense pride in his players’ performance, he strongly criticized the officiating, the scheduling of the match, and what he described as a lack of fairness throughout the tournament. Hassan insisted that Egypt deserved a better result, praised his squad for competing with world-class opponents using only domestic league players, and reaffirmed his support for humanitarian causes, saying that football should stand for justice, respect, and humanity.
Post Match Press Conference
Captain Hossam Ahmed Abdel Baset, we are proud of you. We are proud of the coaching staff and proud of the players. We haven’t lost anything—we have earned the respect of the whole world, both on and off the field.
What we witnessed today, only God knows what happened with the refereeing. As fans, even before the media or anyone else, we reject what happened. The referee treated us unfairly. We are not upset because we will return to Egypt with our heads held high.
Interviewer: You don’t need to be questioned—you deserve to be thanked. We want to hear your thoughts after the match.
Hossam: Thank you, Ahmed. I am very happy, and I thank my players, the coaching staff, the administrative staff, and the medical team. Today I had the honor of leading a national team made up of 23 or 24 players, all of whom play in the Egyptian domestic league. We faced some of the most expensive and famous players in the world using only local players.
We worked hard, and we were the better team. We were better than the defending champions in every aspect. However, the result was influenced by factors—not just inside the field but also outside it before the match even started.
It was obvious that the pressure placed on the referee before the match by the Argentine side succeeded. They objected to the referee because of France and the French national team. I want to say something: in life, doing the right thing doesn’t always mean everything will go your way. If you choose the right path, you will still face hardship.
We did everything the right way, but we suffered because of outside influences. Those foreign officials don’t feel anything because they simply don’t care.
I believe we deserved to win. I don’t even want to say “hard luck” to us. We left with honor, but the result was affected by factors that had nothing to do with fair play. FIFA talks about respect and fair play, but today there was neither respect nor fair play.
A penalty for us was canceled. Our second goal, which would have made it 2–0, was disallowed in a very strange way. VAR was used to cancel our goal, but when one of our players was clearly pulled inside the penalty area, neither the referee nor VAR even bothered to review it. They didn’t even ask the referee to check the monitor, yet they were quick to use VAR against us.
Life isn’t fair, and today the world wasn’t fair. There is no fairness—not in football, not in sports, and often not in life itself. I believe in my team, but I do not accept what happened in this match. I won’t speak politely or say “hard luck, Argentina.” No. I will say that we were wronged today, deliberately, just as we were in the previous match.
I also firmly believe that whoever schedules these matches has never played football and knows nothing about it. There is no football match that should be played at 12 noon. Noon is a time to take a walk, get some fresh air, or have breakfast—not to play football.
Do those making these decisions even understand when players are supposed to eat before a match? Our players had to eat around 7:30 in the morning just to be ready for a noon kickoff. The whole situation was handled very badly.
I strongly object to what happened both on and off the field. There were only two matches today, and this was the Round of 16. Why play at noon? There were only two games—you could have scheduled one at 6 p.m., another at 8 p.m., or even 10 p.m., as you’ve done before.
I’m not going to bury my head in the sand like an ostrich. I will say openly that there was no credibility in what happened. But I am proud of my team, proud of my country, proud to be Arab, proud to be African, and proud that my country is both Arab and African.
Unfortunately, we are still far from getting justice. In many areas, we simply don’t receive our rights.
Journalist: Captain Hossam, I want to convey the feelings of the Egyptian people. We are proud of you and your players. You made us dream and believe. No one held anything back. After your statements yesterday regarding the Palestinian issue, do you believe Egypt was punished today by the refereeing because of what you said?
Hossam: I don’t want to go too deeply into that. We were talking about a humanitarian issue. Doesn’t anyone see the children who have died, who lost their legs, their arms, or their eyesight? Do you feel anything?
Football, the media, and athletes should stand for humanitarian causes. In that country where children are being killed, those children wear Argentina shirts, Barcelona shirts, Manchester City shirts, and Real Madrid shirts. They love football, and they love those teams and players. Yet they continue to be killed while everyone remains silent.
Journalist (ON Sport): We will keep talking for days about how proud we are because you made us hold our heads high. Even Argentina celebrated this victory almost like they celebrated winning the 2022 World Cup. That shows how strong our team has become. What conversation took place between you and the French referee after you received the yellow card? And what message did you give your players?
Hossam: Thank you. I appreciate your kind words, and I also thank the millions of Egyptian fans watching us now.
I told my players that I am proud of them. This team will continue to improve. They performed exactly as I expected. We can compete against anyone, anywhere, at any time—as long as there is fairness.
I told the referee that what was happening was unfair. I kept saying, “Not fair.” Perhaps he understood exactly what I meant.
In my opinion, Argentina did not deserve this victory.
I promise that once I return home, I will not watch the rest of this World Cup because I don’t believe there is justice in it. My personal protest is that I won’t watch the World Cup anymore after I return to Egypt.
