Hossam Hassan’s crossed-arm signal during Egypt’s World Cup defeat to Argentina has now been clarified.
Egypt’s 3-2 loss to Lionel Messi’s side in the round of 16 sparked plenty of debate, but much of the discussion afterward centered on a moment involving the Egypt boss rather than the final score.
During the match at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Hassan was seen raising both arms to form an X shape while looking toward the referee. The gesture came late in a tense, chaotic spell, with several Egyptian players booked, a member of the backroom staff sent off, and VAR becoming involved in a series of flashpoints.
At the time, many viewers were left wondering what Hassan was trying to signal from the touchline.
It has since emerged that the crossed-arms sign was almost certainly a reference to FIFA’s global anti-racism protocol, known as the “No Racism” gesture. Introduced in 2024, the signal is designed to allow players, coaches and officials to alert referees to alleged racist abuse and trigger FIFA’s three-step procedure.
According to FIFA,
‘following its unanimous approval at the 74th FIFA Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, on 17 May 2024, a global crossed arms gesture to signal racist abuse is now part of football protocol at FIFA tournaments.’
Under that protocol, once the signal is acknowledged by the referee, a three-stage process can be triggered to deal with alleged racism.
FIFA explains:
‘we will pause, suspend and abandon games in cases of racism, introducing a global standard gesture for players to communicate racist incidents and referees to signal the implementation of the three-step procedure.’
The gesture has since been rolled out at FIFA competitions as part of a wider campaign against discrimination, with the arms-crossed X intended as a clear, universal on-field message. In Hassan’s case, however, the referee did not appear to stop the match, and Hassan was booked instead before play continued.
No official explanation was given for the yellow card at the time, but the match was already steeped in controversy. One major flashpoint involved a VAR review that led to an Egyptian goal being disallowed after a foul was ruled to have been committed by an Egyptian player on Lisandro Martinez in the build-up.
After the match, Hassan argued that key decisions had gone against his side and claimed Egypt had not been treated fairly.
According to The Athletic, Hassan said:
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play. A penalty was ruled out and a second (incident) that should have been checked for a penalty for us was not even checked by the VAR. A second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed.
“There seems to have been pressure on the Argentinian side on the referee that has brought about this outcome.
“Life is unfair. The world is unfair. OK, but why isn’t there any fairness in sports? I’m not convinced by this outcome and by the way things unfolded in this match.”