Belgium and Egypt’s Group G fixture at the 2026 World Cup was listed for June 15 in Seattle. Ahead of the match, reports said Egypt had been asked to change its shirt numbers and remove the stars from its crest. The request was attributed to Brazilian referee Ramon Abatti, but no official confirmation of the alleged order has been identified.
Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne were among the leading names drawing attention to the matchup. Salah’s role was basic to Egypt’s hopes of progressing, while Belgium looked to De Bruyne to lead its attack. Team lists circulated ahead of the match named Thibaut Courtois, Jérémy Doku and Charles De Ketelaere for Belgium, and Mostafa Shobeir, Omar Marmoush and Zizo for Egypt. Those lists have not been independently confirmed by official lineup sheets.
The tournament’s expanded format gives each group a route to the knockout stage: 48 teams are divided into 12 groups, with the top two in each group and the eight best third-placed teams advancing to a 32-team knockout round. Belgium and Egypt were drawn in Group G, where each result could shape the route to the knockout rounds.
A later Sports Beat archive headline described the Belgium-Egypt opener as a match in which an own goal denied Egypt its first-ever World Cup win. The archive item does not confirm the alleged kit dispute or identify the match officials. The pre-match request and the reported result so remain separate claims: one concerns Egypt’s shirt design and numbering, while the other describes the match’s impact on the team’s tournament campaign.
