Name similarity between Egypt-Argentina match referee turns French family's life into nightmare

Ibrahim bin Mohammed from Riyadh

Saturday July 11, 2026 13:5 | 2 minutes read

A French family living in the quiet countryside of the Haute-Savoie region is facing an unprecedented wave of threats and cyber intimidation, following cases of mistaken identity and incorrect sharing of their son's name with that of international French referee François Letexier, who officiated the controversial Round of 16 match of the 2026 World Cup between Egypt and Argentina.

The family's digital ordeal began immediately after the football match ended, which was decided by the Argentine team in the final moments of stoppage time and featured refereeing decisions that sparked widespread anger among Egyptian fans.

Thousands of fans vented their fury on the young Frenchman François Letexier and his family, due to the phonetic match of his name with that of the referee, despite completely different professional backgrounds and interests; the young man works as an assistant administrative officer at a luxury hotel, and his family shows no interest in football.

Sophie, the mother of the targeted young man, told French media: "At first, we found it amusing to see the referee on TV bearing the same name, but the situation has now gone beyond a joke entirely and has become terrifying."

She added that her personal account on Facebook was targeted by a torrent of insults that questioned her upbringing of her son and accused him of financial corruption and bribery.

The campaign quickly escalated from verbal insults to sending explicit threats and physical pursuit, accompanied by wishes for them to go to hell.

The mother confirmed that the pace of the attack intensified frighteningly after her personal photo and mobile phone number were leaked on social media platforms and WhatsApp groups, where she received more than 445 notifications and threat messages within a few hours in multiple languages including French, English, and Arabic.

The mother explained: "We live in constant terror and a knot in our stomach that robs us of the ability to sleep or eat. We were not prepared for such digital violence in our quiet village."

Despite the family's repeated attempts to explain to the attackers that they are victims of name similarity, the fans insisted on continuing the attack, and some considered the targeted young man to be the "twin brother" of the international referee.

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