The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) said on Wednesday it had asked FIFA to remove the officiating team that oversaw the Pharaohs' 3-2 defeat to Argentina in the World Cup round of 16.
"Hany Abo Rida, president of the Egyptian Football Association, filed a complaint with FIFA demanding an investigation into French referee Francois Letexier after the serious refereeing mistakes committed by the officiating team and double standards that caused Egypt to lose the match and exit the World Cup," the federation said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Letexier disallowed a goal by Mostafa Ziko that would have put Egypt 1-0 ahead after VAR (video assistant referee) intervened to identify a foul on Lisandro Martinez earlier in the move.
Minutes later, Ziko scored again to give Egypt a 2-0 lead and put the team on the brink of a first-ever World Cup quarterfinal appearance. But further controversy followed in stoppage time after Cristian Romero and Lionel Messi drew Argentina level.
Egypt argued they should have been awarded a penalty in the build-up to Enzo Fernandez's winning goal, claiming Alexis Mac Allister had fouled Hamdy Fathy by pulling him inside the penalty area.
"Abo Rida demanded an investigation into the entire officiating team, including the video assistant referees, because of the blatant errors and their refusal to review footage that we believe showed Egypt was denied a legitimate goal and a penalty," the statement said.
It added that the EFA president had also called for the referee and the entire officiating team to be removed from the tournament if the investigation confirmed what it described as discriminatory mistakes against the Egyptian national team.
The statement echoed comments made by Egypt coach Hossam Hassan after the match.
"I do not want to put it nicely and talk about hard luck. We have been cheated unfairly today. We have suffered injustice," Hassan told reporters.
"We haven't seen respect or fair play."
Speaking to beIN Sports, Hassan added: "Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running.
"In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champions received support at every level."
