After more than 24 hours of campaigns questioning the integrity of referee Francois Le Tixier and his French assistant team who officiated the Egypt-Argentina match in the round of 16 of the World Cup, the body responsible for referees within the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) took it upon itself to respond and defend the referee, who was accused of many bias and discrimination between the colors of the two teams’ jerseys.
In full view of hundreds of millions, the referee reviewed the contact that preceded Mustafa Zico’s second goal and, based on that, cancelled the goal. But when the situation changed after Argentina’s third goal, he not only ignored reviewing what happened before Enzo Fernandez’s goal, such as Mohamed Salah’s fall inside the penalty area and the push that Hamdi Fathi suffered on his back from Mac Allister on the edge of the penalty area, but he also challenged himself to flood Hossam Hassan and his men with yellow cards, which caused a global wave of anger, bringing back memories of the refereeing scandals of the Italy and Spain matches against South Korea in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers.
In response to global outrage and the widespread accusation of favoring Argentina over Egypt for the sake of Lionel Messi, FIFA Referees Committee Chairman Pierluigi Collina said in a statement on FIFA's official website: "Let's start by saying that we have played 50% more matches so far than the Qatar 2022 World Cup, and there are still 8 big matches left."
The renowned Italian referee added, as quoted by the sports website “Kooora”: “In general, we are satisfied with the level of refereeing, but with this large number of matches in a short period of time, it is natural that some things do not always go as expected. And when that happens, the referees are more prepared to work harder so that they are in the best possible condition for the next match.”
He took on the role of a lawyer for the French referee, saying: “Constructive debate about refereeing decisions will always be a part of football, but accusations that are not based on any evidence have no place in our sport, and no one has the right to question the integrity of World Cup referees. When this happens, it can lead to reactions that go as far as threatening the referees and their family members, and this is unacceptable.”
He concluded by saying: “No one can claim that the FIFA Referees Committee is under any influence, not even from FIFA President Gianni Infantino himself. He has always given us his full support, with his confidence that we operate with complete independence,” stressing that referees make their decisions with complete honesty, out of their desire to do their best, just like players and coaches.
