The AFA condemned the attack suffered while advancing in the strengthening of its security systems and in the investigation to identify those responsible
The Argentine Football Association(AFA) officially acknowledged having been the victim of a large-scale cyberattack carried out by a group of hackers of Egyptian origin. This act of digital warfare occurred immediately after the Albiceleste secured their place in the quarter-finals following an epic comeback of 3-2 in Atlanta.
The hacking involved the breach of the AFA Medios database, from where email addresses, passwords, and IP addresses of accredited journalists were leaked.
Egyptians hacked AFA MEDIA and sent emails denouncing "theft"
Through this illegal access, the attackers spread messages filled with hate and conspiracy theories to the Argentine press. In the emails, they attempted to delegitimize the sports result with violent slogans: “Argentina did not win. The victory was stolen by corrupt refereeing decisions”.
Far from limiting themselves to a sports protest, the hackers' statement escalated to a direct threat, warning that: “If there is no justice on the field, do not expect peace on your networks” and concluding with a proclamation of a fundamentalist tone: “The pharaohs always rise. We do not forget. We do not forgive”.
This digital harassment is the correlate of the shameful behavior of the Islamic pro-Hamas coach, Hossam Hassan, who during the match launched a fit of rage against the French referee François Letexier.
Upon being deservedly cautioned, the defeated coach attempted a gesture laden with ulterior motives, crossing his arms in an “X” to simulate a report of a non-existent “racist insult”, a typical maneuver from the Arab victimization manual to evade professional self-criticism.
From FIFA, the head of refereeing, Pierluigi Collina, came out to dismantle the Egyptian fallacies and defended the transparency of the process. Collina was emphatic in explaining that the VAR intervened correctly to annul a goal by Egypt due to a “stomp on Lisandro Martínez” at the start of the play, stating that “a foul is a foul” regardless of the context. He also validated the last-minute goal by Enzo Fernández after dismissing an alleged foul by Julián Álvarez on Mohamed Salah, deeming the contact a “normal action within football”.
DT of the Egyptian National Team
Despite the technical evidence and the support of FIFA, the Egyptian environment has preferred to link their failure to international politics, claiming they suffered injustices due to their support for Palestine.
In a press conference, Hassan even took shots at Lionel Messi and the marketing of the World Cup, cynically stating that “maybe they want the world champion and Messi to stay in the World Cup for marketing purposes”.
In the face of this scenario of anti-football and resentment, the reality of the numbers is undeniable: the Argentina of Lionel Scaloni turned around a losing score and demonstrated their quality on the field. While the country celebrates a legitimate victory, the AFA is already working to clarify the extent of the unauthorized access and adopt the necessary security measures against what represents a clear aggression to national sports sovereignty.
