Hossam Hassan again used his platform as Egypt men’s head coach at the 2026 World Cup to support the Palestinian cause.Hassan, who is Egypt’s all-time top scorer with 60 goals, draped a Palestinian flag around himself when celebrating his nation’s round-of-32 win over Australia last week.Egypt returns to World Cup action on Tuesday when it faces Argentina in the last 16. In his pre-match news conference, Hassan was asked to describe his emotions when he displayed the Palestinian flag and whether he would repeat the act if Egypt pulled off a World Cup shock and beats the defending champions.“If a person anywhere in the world does not feel for the Palestinian people, then they have lost part of their humanity,” he replied, via Reuters.“What came out of me was simply a human reaction. Before being Arab, Muslim, Christian or anything else, I am a human being. Through football — the world’s soft power — I want to send a message: please let the Palestinian people live. I ask athletes and journalists everywhere to help deliver that message.“When people speak about human rights, animal rights, and justice, we should also speak about Palestinian civilians.”
Hassan dedicated Egypt’s victory over Australia, its first-ever World Cup knockout win, to the Palestinian people, with Al Jazeera posting videos of what it said were people in Gaza celebrating the African side’s result, waving Egyptian flags.During his lengthy answer to the question on Monday, Hassan was applauded by journalists at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, to which he briefly paused to say, “thank you, thank you”, before continuing.Hassan displayed a Palestinian flag after Egypt’s win over Australia. (Reuters / Hannah McKay)“I would like to say this is a shame on us,” Hassan added, via AFP. “A shame on the entire world, not just the Arab world, a shame on everyone and a shame on first of all, decision makers who leave human beings behind.”Israel was attacked by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, 2023, with 1,200 people killed and roughly 250 taken hostage, per the New York Times. The subsequent Israel-Hamas war has seen more than 73,000 killed in Gaza since then, reports the Gaza health ministry via Al Jazeera. The UN has accused Israel of committing genocidal acts in Palestinian territory, which Israel has denied.The Palestinian flag has been seen at several World Cup games in the United States, Mexico and Canada this year — just as it was during the 2022 edition in Qatar — particularly at games involving countries with a majority Muslim population, such as Egypt.There had been some suggestion that Hassan may face sanctions from FIFA, with the Palestinian flag potentially counting as a display of a political symbol, which is prohibited by Article 28 of the World Cup organizer’s regulations for the tournament.However, The Athletic reported ahead of the World Cup that FIFA’s position appears to be that official member association flags are permitted but rival politically-coded flags would be banned. The difference between the pre-revolutionary Iranian flag, which FIFA has banned, and the Palestinian flag from a FIFA perspective, is that the latter is the officially approved flag of a member association of FIFA, and therefore it should only be removed from fans in the event it is deemed to represent a very serious security risk.
