🇪🇬 Egypt's World Cup story.

The story · Round of 16

Egypt drew 1-1 with Belgium, with Emam Ashour scoring his first international goal, and then recorded the first World Cup victory in its history by beating New Zealand 3-1. A 1-1 draw with Iran gave Egypt five points and second place in Group G. In the round of 32, it drew 1-1 with Australia after 120 minutes and won the shootout 4-2, reaching the round of 16 for the first time. Against Argentina, Egypt led 2-0 before losing 3-2. A Mostafa Zico goal was disallowed after VAR intervention and a penalty appeal involving Mohamed Salah was rejected. The federation and coach Hossam Hassan disputed the decisions; FIFA refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina later publicly explained why they were considered correct. On returning home, the team received a heroes’ welcome in Alamein, including an open-top bus parade. The federation extended the contracts of Hossam Hassan and assistant Ibrahim Hassan after Egypt’s best-ever World Cup run.

From the tournament notebook

Thousands welcomed the team in Alamein with signs whose message was essentially: “You made us proud.”

Sources ↗

Reporting through 2026-07-15