Many people don’t know this, but the crossed-arms “X” signal is FIFA’s universal gesture for reporting racist abuse.
When a player, coach, or team official makes that signal, they’re informing the referee that racist abuse has occurred. It is meant to trigger FIFA’s three-step anti-racism protocol: first stop the match, then suspend it if the abuse continues, and ultimately abandon the match if it doesn’t stop.
Today, Egypt manager Hossam Hassan made the “X” gesture from the touchline. Instead of initiating the protocol, the referee booked Hassan with a yellow card and allowed play to continue.
Feel sorry for Egypt, they were not just playing against 11 men they were playing against a whole corrupt institution which goes beyond this football game.