Argentina’s football association has suggested it may have been targeted by hackers after emails were sent from its official accounts criticising the officiating in their World Cup win over Egypt.
The reigning world champions produced a stunning comeback in Atlanta, overturning a 2-0 deficit to defeat Egypt 3-2 and advance to the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup.
Argentine news outlet La Calle reported that emails sent from the Argentine Football Association’s official account to journalists after the match stated “Argentina did not win.”
The same emails reportedly attributed the result to “corrupt refereeing decisions,” while also praising the performance of the Egyptian side throughout the contest.
La Calle added that AFA sources believe a group of Egyptian-origin hackers were responsible for sending the unauthorised messages from the association’s institutional account.
In an official statement, the AFA confirmed: “We want 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.”
The association urged the public to “dismiss any message that you have recently received from our account and that is unusual, especially if it contains links, attachments or requests personal information.”
The AFA further stated: “There is a possibility that our account has been subject to unauthorised access, so we are working to clarify what happened and adopt the necessary security measures.”
The controversy surrounding the match has been significant, with the Egyptian Football Association formally requesting that Fifa banish French referee Francois Letexier and his officiating team from the tournament, alleging bias in favour of Argentina.
Egypt had looked on course for a famous victory after Yasser Ibrahim and Mostafa Zico gave them a commanding two-goal lead during the last-16 encounter in Atlanta.
Cristian Romero pulled one back for Argentina with 11 minutes remaining before Lionel Messi equalised five minutes later to set up a tense finale.
Enzo Fernandez then completed the extraordinary comeback two minutes into injury time, sending Argentina through to a quarter-final clash against Switzerland on Sunday.
Egypt manager Hossam Hassan was furious after the final whistle, claiming his side had been “treated unfairly” and “suffered injustice” during the defeat.
Hassan went further, suggesting: “Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champion in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running.”
The Egyptian manager also stated: “The world champion received support at every level. There seem to be pressures from the Argentina side on this outcome.”
