Op-ed: Egypt's soccer team recited anti-Christian prayer before World Cup match, raising concerns about discrimination in sports

Egypt's national soccer team recited Quranic verses rejecting the divinity of Christ and the Trinity in the locker room before a World Cup match against Argentina, according to footage circulated on X and an op-ed published by Hungarian Conservative.

The op-ed, published in the days following the match, argues the recitation reflects a broader pattern of discrimination against Coptic Christians in Egyptian soccer, including allegations that Christian athletes have been shut out of the country's soccer clubs because of their faith. 

The central evidence cited in the piece is a video posted to X by researcher Raymond Ibrahim. According to the article, the footage shows Egyptian players reciting a series of Quranic passages before facing Argentina. The author wrote that the recitation was “not a generic appeal for safety, teamwork, or sportsmanship” but instead consisted of verses “condemning the beliefs of Christians and Jews.”

According to the Conservative, the players opened with the Quran's first chapter, verses 1:6–7: “Guide us to the straight path — the path of those upon whom you have bestowed favor, not of those who have incurred your wrath or of those who are gone astray.” 

The author stated that mainstream Islamic interpretation has identified Jews as “those who have incurred Allah's wrath” and Christians as those who are astray.

”The players then repeated two more passages three times each: Quran 112:1, which declares that Allah was not begotten and has no equal, and Quran 5:73, which brands as infidels those who describe Allah as one of a Trinity and warns that they face torment if they persist in that belief.

The author argued both verses directly reject the Christian doctrines of the Trinity and Christ’s divinity, and asked why an international team would choose “these particular passages before competing against other nations.”

The prayer took place against the backdrop of long-standing tension between Egypt's Muslim majority and its Coptic Christian minority. Copts, Christian descendants of Egypt's ancient population, are one of the oldest Christian communities in the world and have historically faced discrimination in Egyptian society.

Coptic Solidarity, a human rights advocacy group, documented a pattern of exclusion in a 2018 report titled “Discrimination Against Copts in Egyptian Sport Clubs,” which the op-ed cited as recording multiple cases of Coptic athletes barred from soccer clubs because of their Christian faith.

Egypt lost the match to Argentina. Afterward, Egyptian coach Hossam Hassan told an interviewer the team had been treated unfairly, according to video of the remarks.

"Life is still — and the world is still — not fair," Hassan said. "It's one thing for there not to be any fairness in everyday life — but no fairness in soccer? No fairness in sports? … I'm not going to sugarcoat it and say 'Ah, it's just hard luck… good team… good result for Argentina.' No, I won't say such things. I say we were deliberately wronged today…. Argentina's victory is totally undeserved."

The author framed Hassan's complaint as ironic, writing that a coach who "oversees an entire industry that denies Christians from playing soccer" was, in the same breath, objecting to unfairness in the sport.