Edited by Paul Elegbeleye | Photo: Hossein Zohrevand / Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0
Egypt filed a formal complaint with FIFA on 8 July 2026, accusing match officials of “double standards” and demanding referee François Letexier and his entire team be removed from the tournament following Argentina’s dramatic 3-2 comeback win in the Round of 16.
Egyptian coach Hossam Hassan said his side had been “cheated”. Conspiracy theories spread rapidly across social media, with millions alleging the 2026 World Cup is being rigged in Argentina’s favour. After everything seen across five Argentina matches so far, the question deserves a serious, honest answer.
The honest answer is no. Argentina are not being handed this tournament. But a fair examination of events reveals that referencing decisions specifically against them is not straightforward either, because several have genuinely been questionable.
Controversial refereeing decisions at World Cups are not unique to Argentina. They are a feature of high-stakes football, amplified by social media’s tendency to treat confirmation bias as evidence. What makes Argentina’s case feel different is not the pattern. It is who is at the centre of it.
The rigging narrative is not really about Argentina at all. It is about Lionel Messi. More specifically, it is rooted in the Messi versus Ronaldo debate that has consumed football fandom for fifteen years, reaching a fever pitch since Messi won his first World Cup in Qatar 2022.
Ronaldo’s most vocal supporters need his rival to be disqualified or delegitimised because the scoreboard no longer offers room for doubt. Argentina winning again is not just a football result. For millions of fans, it rewrites the hierarchy. That is what drives the intensity of this particular conspiracy far more than any referee’s decision.
Table of Contents
The Cases That Fuelled the Claims
It would be dishonest to dismiss every criticism. Several decisions in Argentina’s favour have been genuinely controversial:
- Against Algeria, Messi caught a player in the Achilles with his studs and was not reviewed for a red card
- Gianni Infantino was filmed telling Argentine players he had “suffered with them” during their match against Cape Verde, before clarifying he remained neutral
- FIFA appointed an all-Argentine officiating team for France versus Morocco in the quarter-finals, drawing immediate criticism
- In 2022, Argentina received five penalties across the tournament, the most ever for a single team at one World Cup
Additionally, VAR cancelled an Egyptian goal in the 3-2 comeback win for a foul ruling that Egypt’s federation described as unjust. Each of these incidents, taken individually, is debatable. Taken together, they form a pattern that understandably frustrates opponents.
Other Teams Get the Same Treatment
Here is where the conspiracy argument falls apart: almost every team with a star player benefits from some degree of officiating inconsistency at a World Cup, and fans of eliminated nations rarely focus on the decisions that went in their own favour.
During the same tournament, Tim Ream of the United States received a yellow card for a foul before VAR showed the opponent had dived, and the card was rescinded. The protocol used to dismiss Switzerland’s Breel Embolo against Argentina was the same “mistaken identity” rule applied in the USA versus Paraguay group match.
When Folarin Balogun received a red card that was subsequently overturned, the eventual outcome benefited the United States just as much as any VAR decision benefited Argentina. Norwegian players argued in their quarter-final against England that a goal kick hit a skycam cable to deflect a crucial moment, a claim FIFA’s own sensors denied.
According to “The Cooligans” podcast reporting live from Miami, England’s dramatic winner owed something to that disputed moment.
Questionable decisions happen everywhere in every match. Argentina simply have more eyes on them.
Also Read: Argentina vs England Semi-Final Battle
The Real Root: Messi vs Ronaldo
One analysis of the controversy noted that Messi’s main detractors are largely driven by the Ronaldo rivalry rather than specific refereeing evidence. Ronaldo left this World Cup in Dallas after managing just 19 touches in 90 minutes against Spain and scoring three goals across the tournament. Portugal are gone. Meanwhile, Messi, at 39, is in the semi-finals with 21 World Cup goals and a genuine chance at back-to-back world titles.
For Ronaldo’s supporters, accepting that outcome requires either acknowledging Messi’s superiority or finding another explanation. The rigging narrative provides the explanation.
It is considerably more comforting to believe FIFA tilted the pitch than to accept that football’s most decorated player of the past two decades is watching another man write history in real time. That psychological dynamic, not any particular refereeing decision, is what sustains this conversation.
The Verdict
Argentina have benefited from a handful of marginal decisions across this tournament. So have France, England, and the United States. That is football. FIFA has legitimate integrity questions to answer generally, as a governing body with a well-documented history of corruption and self-interest. But those governance failures are not the same as rigging matches for one team.
Argentina are in the semi-finals because Messi creates goals, Alvarez scores stunning ones, and Scaloni’s squad refuses to lose. The conspiracy says otherwise. The football disagrees.
Also Read: Neymar’s World Cup Legacy After His Final Tournament for Brazil
