FIFA has suspended this Tuesday Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan for three matches over his conduct during and after the team’s round-of-16 elimination against Argentina at the 2026 World Cup.

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The ruling came from FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee more than three months after the match. The sanction is based on his conduct on the field and at the post-match press conference.

After a goal for his side was disallowed, Hassan crossed his arms in protest in front of the broadcast cameras.

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The case also reached Hassan’s inner circle. His twin brother and sporting director, Ibrahim Hassan, received an identical three-match suspension for backing the complaints. Forward Mostafa Zico was suspended for five matches after alleging match-fixing and saying of the referee that he “pursued them from the start.” Those are the allegations as reported, and the source offers no evidence for them. The reports do not name the referee or detail the disallowed goal.

As a result, the Pharaohs will face their next official matches without their main coaching staff.

🚨 𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧: FIFA has suspended Egypt coach Hossam Hassan and team director Ibrahim Hassan for three matches each and forward Mostafa Zico for five.

↳ 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗫𝗧
The bans follow criticism of refereeing after Egypt’s 3-2 World Cup round-of-16 loss to Argentina on 7 July… pic.twitter.com/sCkkKiodN5

— BetBugs Football (@betbugsnews) October 20, 2026

Egypt Weighs Appeal

Following the official notification, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) issued a statement confirming the ruling against its national coach. The federation requested the detailed grounds of the decision in order to study the legal arguments and assess a formal appeal on behalf of its coaching staff.

An appeal would test whether FIFA will reconsider penalties handed down so long after the incident. The coach’s comments about the referee’s nationality (“Argentina pressured the referee beforehand because he was French“) were the sharpest part of his protest, and they remain central to the disciplinary file.

Round of 16 matches at the World Cup are officiated by referees appointed by FIFA, and public criticism of officials is commonly punished under its disciplinary code. Accusing a referee of bias or of match-fixing without evidence is generally treated as a serious offense, which may explain the longer ban handed to Zico.

The disallowed goal became the flashpoint. Hassan’s gesture in front of the cameras and his remarks in the press room turned a match dispute into a disciplinary case that will now shape Egypt’s next stretch of competitive football.

For a national side building toward future campaigns, losing both the coach and his closest staff member for three games carries weight. The federation’s next move, whether to accept the punishment or pursue an appeal, will determine how much longer the controversy lingers. The case also shows how long FIFA’s disciplinary process can take, since the sanctions arrived months after the tournament ended.

Gianni Infantino apologized to FIFA's ruling council on Thursday for "mistakes" in his secretive investment plan for the World Cup but didn't give details sought by his toughest critics who want to oust him as the president of soccer's governing body.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino apologized to the governing body’s Council in Zurich over the mishandling of the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) project and confirmed the proposal to sell competition stakes to outside investors has been withdrawn permanently.

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FIFA President Gianni Infantino offered the apology this Thursday during the first Council meeting held in Zurich after the World Cup. He acknowledged errors in both the management and the communication of the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) initiative, a plan that would have handed private investors a share of FIFA competitions.

Addressing the council members directly, the Swiss-Italian executive sought to close the episode with a call for unity. The investment scheme, he confirmed, would not be revived.

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The administration then presented an alternative designed to soften the blow: a proposal named the Surplus Solidarity Program channels 6.35 billion dollars for the period between 2027 and 2030, drawing on commercial revenue generated by the World Cup. According to Infantino, the funds would raise the amounts distributed among all 211 member associations and the confederations.

That financial package will be evaluated at the December meeting in Doha and put to a vote at the Congress scheduled for March 18, 2027.

FIFA plans to allocate $6.35 billion to its member associations for football development from 2027 to 2030, including an increased funding package of $25 million for each national association. #3Sports pic.twitter.com/ogP4oEb3g8

— #3Sports (@3SportsGh) October 14, 2026

Europe Presses for Exit

Despite the financial announcement, the most critical European federations, including England and Germany, maintained their opposition to Infantino remaining in office. The English federation said it has not received clear answers about the legal background of the FFE project, while the German side called for a change in the organization’s leadership.

Support for the president came from Africa. Ahmed Yahya, president of Mauritania’s football federation, defended the current leadership, saying it promotes equality and an equal weight for each vote in the Congress. He said a majority backs Infantino staying at the head of the institution.

The competing messages reflect a familiar divide in world football’s governance. Larger, wealthier federations tend to push for tighter scrutiny of FIFA’s leadership, while many smaller associations benefit directly from FIFA’s development funds. Because each of the 211 members has a vote at the Congress, a spending increase aimed at all of them is likely to be closely watched.

🗣️ Gianni Infantino has apologised "for the mistakes… in relation to the communication and consultation" for FIFA Forward Enterprise.

He adds that the FIFA Peace Prize will be "analysed" along with a change to the FIFA Disciplinary Code to stop automatic one-game bans being… pic.twitter.com/lBrraQNjkk

— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) October 15, 2026

Governance Review Ordered

The Council also agreed to create a working group to review FIFA’s governance framework. It tasked an evaluation of the FIFA Peace Prize and asked the Legal Commission for a report on disciplinary procedures, to be presented at the December session.

The apology and the withdrawal mark a significant concession from a president who has dominated world football’s finances for a decade. By scrapping the FFE plan outright, Infantino acknowledged that the backlash within the game had grown too costly to ignore.

Supporters of the solidarity plan may argue that it directs World Cup profits toward the wider football community. Critics may counter that a funding increase does not answer questions about how the FFE project was handled, which is the point the European federations are pressing. Yet the European federations made clear that closing the project alone would not settle the matter. For them, the questions about how the initiative was conceived and who approved it remain open, and the December gathering in Doha now looms as the next test of whether the unity Infantino called for can actually be rebuilt.

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