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“Life is unfair.”
This was nan first point that Hossam Hassan, Egypt’s fiery coach, told nan media aft his country’s devastating 3-2 nonaccomplishment to Argentina successful nan past 16. The legendary striker turned head had been minutes distant from orchestrating 1 of nan top upsets successful World Cup history. The Pharaohs were up 2-0 against nan defending world champions. Then, precocious successful nan 2nd half, Argentina staged an bonzer comeback, scoring 3 goals successful 13 minutes, bringing Egypt’s storybook run to a abrupt end.
For Egyptians, nan lucifer was an affectional rollercoaster, soaring pinch nan committedness of triumph earlier plummeting into heartbreak and yet crashing into outrage complete what galore regarded arsenic refereeing decisions that favored Argentina. During nan match, Hassan raised his arms successful a crossed ‘X’ gesture, Fifa’s charismatic anti-discrimination symbol, and aft nan loss, accused nan governing assemblage of wanting Argentina to win. Hassan claimed his squad was wrongly denied a 2nd extremity astatine 1-0, pursuing a video adjunct referee (VAR) cheque for a foul that had occurred much than 100 yards away, and that Egypt ought to person been awarded a punishment earlier Enzo Fernández scored Argentina’s 3rd and last goal.
“Perhaps they wanted to support nan world champions successful nan competition?” Hassan told Qatari broadcaster beIN Sports aft nan game. “Perhaps they wanted Messi to enactment successful nan running?”
Fueled by Hassan’s remarks, Egypt’s conclusion sparked a firestorm of conspiracy theories and allegations of corruption. French referee François Letexier became nan attraction of aggravated world scrutiny. Restaurants and cafes posted astir barring him because of his domiciled successful nan lucifer outcome. His Wikipedia page was vandalized to falsely place him arsenic Jewish, sparking outrage among fans who believed Egypt’s nonaccomplishment was portion of a Zionist conspiracy tied to Hassan’s outspoken support for Palestine during nan tournament.
As Argentina progressed, nan conspiracy theories followed. There was nan news that nan Argentinian federation and its president were being investigated by nan FBI for alleged money laundering. Then location was the arguable VAR decision that led to Switzerland’s apical striker being sent disconnected successful nan quarter-final. With each win, accusations of corruption and match-fixing continued to plague Argentina.
“The World Cup was promised to Messi 3000 years ago,” publication nan caption of an Instagram post that included a montage of Argentina’s prima during visits to Israel pinch Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. The station was liked astir 15,000 times. “It’s rigged for Messi,” read different post pinch much than 275,000 likes. More than 12 cardinal group have signed a fan-led petition demanding that Fifa disqualify Argentina.
VAR exertion has been astatine nan centre of astir each awesome contention astatine this World Cup. Critics reason that VAR is applied inconsistently and is being utilized successful cases extracurricular its original intent. This has led to scenarios specified arsenic Egypt’s disallowed extremity against Argentina and Croatia’s disallowed goal astatine nan extremity of regularisation clip against Portugal, called offside because nan sensor successful nan shot detected a touch that was absent to nan quality eye.
Perhaps nan tournament’s astir arguable section came erstwhile United States striker Folarin Balogun received a reddish card aft a VAR reappraisal for a foul nan referee had missed successful existent time. The contention deepened erstwhile Fifa overturned Balogun’s one-match suspension pursuing an involution from Donald Trump. The US president later boasted astir his domiciled successful securing Balogun’s return. Given Fifa had antecedently stated that a reddish paper suspension could not beryllium appealed, nan abrupt alteration of bosom shattered nan illusion of integrity and adjacent play successful its showpiece event.
Fifa – a wildly corrupt organization – has seemingly been compromised by governmental unit from nan leader of 1 of nan tournament’s big nations. Uefa called nan Balogun decision “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable”, while nan International Olympic Committee is being asked to investigate whether Gianni Infantino – nan Fifa president and a personnel of nan IOC – breached nan committee’s rules connected governmental neutrality.
The Balogun matter is not without precedent. In November 2025, Fifa suspended portion of Cristiano Ronaldo’s prohibition for a reddish paper he received during Portugal’s World Cup qualifier against nan Republic of Ireland, clearing him to play successful their opening group-stage matches. This uncommon enactment of clemency underscored Fifa’s willingness to indulge 1 of nan World Cup’s biggest attractions, particularly 1 pinch a near-unrivalled expertise to thrust summons demand. And fixed that Fifa introduced dynamic pricing schemes for this World Cup, efficaciously adjusting prices based connected real-time demand, is it really a astonishment that group are questioning nan tournament’s integrity?
To make matters worse, location has been a deluge of AI-generated images and videos spreading crossed societal media that person led to nan dispersed of disinformation astir nan tournament. One manipulated image showed a man resembling Adolf Hitler holding a German emblem and celebrating a extremity against Curaçao; different showed outgoing British premier curate Keir Starmer wearing a Croatia jersey. There was besides an image of an Iranian footballer holding up a pinkish backpack during a World Cup game, paying tribute to nan 168 schoolhouse girls killed by a US airstrike connected Iran. Another manipulated video showed nan Netherlands head Ronald Koeman launching into a racist rant aft Morocco knocked his squad retired connected penalties.
These augmented images and videos prey connected people’s emotions, blurring nan statement betwixt reality and fabrication while trapping viewers successful a perpetual rhythm of outrage done a deluge of racism, xenophobia and disinformation. In immoderate cases, nan clone posts whitethorn utilization genuine concerns by feeding into our politically polarized ambiance and nan consciousness of injustice galore group acquisition successful their mundane lives.
Ahead of nan World Cup, Infantino fawned complete Trump contempt nan US president’s handling of nan Iran war, strained geopolitical ties pinch chap World Cup co-hosts and supercharged migration crackdown. Infantino moreover invented his ain bid prize to appease Trump aft he was passed complete for nan Nobel bid prize. For Infantino, nan US is nan crown jewel of his caller era of football, a marketplace that tin present unprecedented revenues and spectacle. The truth that he was ignoring Fifa’s ain codification of morals did not matter.
Because of US visa restrictions, Iran’s squad had to shuttle betwixt their training guidelines successful Mexico and nan US, wherever their World Cup matches were played. Players described their tourney acquisition arsenic a “disaster”. So erstwhile Iran grounded to scope nan knockout shape astatine nan aforesaid clip 1 of nan tournament’s big nations was bombing nan country, galore saw it arsenic a profound injustice. These sentiments were further compounded by nan Balogun fiasco. It is unsurprising that specified a move of events bred conspiracy theories.
Take nan Egypt-Argentina game: it is intolerable to see that lucifer without considering nan discourse of what Egypt stood for astatine nan event. The nationalist squad became a root of corporate joy, not conscionable for Egyptians but for millions of others crossed nan Arab world and nan African continent. Hassan raised a Palestinian emblem aft their last-32 triumph and later said that anyone lacking empathy for nan Palestinian group had mislaid their humanity. The Egyptian Committee for nan Reconstruction of Gaza organized nationalist watch parties for displaced Palestinian families to watch Egypt’s games. The committee’s director, Mohammed Fawaz al-Wahidi, was then killed successful an Israeli strike hours earlier Egypt played Argentina.
For a fewer short weeks, Egypt’s tally was astir much than shot – it carried nan hopes and dreams of immoderate of nan world’s astir oppressed people. So erstwhile Egypt squandered their lead against Argentina successful a lucifer marred by arguable decisions, nan symptom and anger galore felt ran acold deeper than nan consequence itself. For those agelong accustomed to surviving pinch injustice, it felt for illustration yet different reminder that moreover connected football’s biggest stage, nan rules were not nan aforesaid for everyone.
After nan match, nan Egyptian Football Association released a statement that it “cannot stay silent” pursuing a bid of refereeing decisions that “left profound questions astir nan consistency and fairness of decisions that straight influenced nan people of nan game”. Meanwhile, nan accusations of corruption reached a crescendo. The Argentinian federation was targeted by a cyber-attack that saw hackers nonstop emails from charismatic accounts admitting to “corrupt refereeing decisions”. Conspiracy theories dispersed crossed societal media asserting that nan hole was in. And Argentina emerged arsenic a villain.
The World Cup does not beryllium successful a vacuum. The truth is that shot is simply a reflection of society, for amended aliases worse. The conspiracy theories surrounding nan World Cup are not unsocial to nan tournament. They are symptoms of broader forces, including societal media, economical insecurity and governmental division. Look nary further than nan QAnon movement, anti-vaccine conspiracies, and rising antisemitism and Islamophobia.
The World Cup amplifies these tensions, showcasing them connected nan world’s biggest stages. In doing so, shot becomes a reflector of nan world that watches it.
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Karim Zidan writes a regular newsletter connected nan intersection of sports and politics.
