October 20, 2026
On Monday, the Egyptian Football Association received decisions issued by the Disciplinary Committee of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), including disciplinary penalties against the technical staff of the national team and the player Mostafa Abdel Raouf “Zico.”
The decisions stipulated the suspension of the national team’s technical director, Hossam Hassan, and the national team’s director, Ibrahim Hassan, for three matches each, while a five-match suspension was imposed on the player, Mustafa Abdel Raouf “Zico.”
The Egyptian Federation explained, in a statement, that it had submitted an official request to obtain the detailed reasons and reasons on which the Disciplinary Committee relied in issuing these penalties, in order to study them and evaluate the legal position in preparation for submitting an official appeal in accordance with the International Federation’s regulations. The Federation’s statement did not include any details about the nature of the violations attributed to the trio.
These sanctions come in the wake of the Egyptian national team’s participation in the World Cup, which concluded with the Pharaohs’ exit in the round of sixteen after losing to the Argentine national team with a score of (3-2).
Hossam Hassan made sharp statements after the match, in which he announced his boycott of watching the rest of the tournament’s matches, accusing FIFA of complimenting Argentine star Lionel Messi for propaganda purposes. In the same context, player Mustafa Abdel Raouf “Zico” strongly criticized the French match referee, François Leutixier, describing his performance as unfair, and pointing out that there was a bias in favor of the Argentine national team.
Determining the connection between these penalties and these statements remains dependent on the content of the merits that the Egyptian Federation is waiting to study before moving forward with the appeal procedures.
