Argentina Football Authorities Investigate Cyber Attack Claims

Argentina’s football authorities say they may have fallen victim to a cyber attack after explosive emails, apparently sent from an official account, claimed the world champions’ dramatic World Cup win over Egypt was the product of “corrupt refereeing decisions”.

The messages surfaced in the hours after Argentina’s wild 3-2 comeback in the last 16, a match in which they trailed 2-0 and flirted with a stunning early exit before turning the tie on its head to reach the quarter-finals.

Storm after a thriller

Egypt, beaten but emboldened by their performance, reacted furiously. The Egyptian Football Association formally requested that Fifa remove French referee Francois Letexier and his entire team from the tournament, alleging bias in favour of Argentina.

Into that heated backdrop dropped a series of emails, reported by Argentine outlet La Calle, apparently sent from an Argentine Football Association (AFA) institutional account to journalists. The messages, La Calle said, declared that “Argentina did not win” and that the result hinged on “corrupt refereeing decisions”, while also praising Egypt’s display.

The wording cut directly against the AFA’s public stance and against the celebratory mood of a nation that had just watched its side escape the brink.

AFA points to possible hack

Inside the AFA, alarm bells rang. According to La Calle, sources within the organisation suggested a group of hackers of Egyptian origin may have been behind the emails.

The AFA then moved to distance itself from the messages with a formal statement.

“We want to inform you that we have detected the possible sending of emails from one of our institutional accounts that were not generated or authorised by our team,” the statement read.

The federation urged recipients to treat any unusual recent communication with suspicion.

It asked the public to “dismiss any message that you have recently received from our account and that is unusual, especially if it contains links, attachments or requests personal information”.

The AFA added: “There is a possibility that our account has been subject to unauthorised access, so we are working to clarify what happened and adopt the necessary security measures.”

In a World Cup already pulsing with tension on the pitch, Argentina now finds itself fighting a very different battle off it — one that will unfold not under stadium floodlights, but in server logs and security audits.