After the playoff, Cairo’s anger reached Algeria’s embassy

Egypt’s second goal came five minutes into injury time in Cairo on November 14, 2009. Emad Moteab’s looping header made it 2–0 against Algeria, and the Egyptian bench stormed the pitch. Outside the stadium, car horns sounded through gridlocked streets. Egypt had not yet qualified for the 2010 World Cup: the victory left the teams level on points and goal difference, forcing a playoff at a neutral venue in Sudan.

The confrontation had already moved beyond football. On November 12, Egyptian fans had stoned the Algerian team’s bus on its journey from Cairo’s airport to the hotel, smashing windows and injuring three players. Defender Antar Yahia accused Egyptian security guards of allowing the attack. “It’s shameful. In our home game we welcomed them with flowers,” he told Algerian state radio. Egyptian media, including the government-controlled daily Al Ahram, accused the Algerians of fabricating the attack to seek a cancellation. Several Algerian players took the field wearing bandages.

After Egypt’s victory, the Egyptian government confirmed that 20 Algerians had been hurt in riots outside the stadium, having initially denied that anything untoward had happened. Egyptian-run businesses were reportedly attacked in Algiers. The teams still had another match to play, with a place in South Africa at stake.

On November 18, Algeria won that playoff 1–0 in Omdurman, near Khartoum. Yahia scored the winning goal, sending Algeria to the World Cup and eliminating Egypt. About 15,000 police officers had been deployed, and supporters were kept apart before kickoff. Afterward, Egyptian fans said stones had been thrown at their bus as they travelled back to Khartoum airport.

The extent of the violence was disputed. Egypt’s health minister, Hatem al-Gabali, told state television that 21 Egyptians had suffered minor injuries in attacks. Khartoum police chief Abdel Majid al-Tayeb reported “minor incidents” and four people lightly wounded. Al-Gabali also said that, according to the latest information he had received, there had been no deaths or serious injuries among Egyptian fans and everyone had returned safely. Those assurances did not settle the accounts of supporters who said they had been harassed or attacked.

In Cairo, reports of attacks on Egyptian supporters brought protesters to the streets near Algeria’s embassy on the night of November 19. Around 1,000 people burned Algerian flags, and the demonstration continued into the early hours of November 20. Protesters reportedly threw firebombs at police guarding the embassy and overturned a police van. Egypt’s Interior Ministry reported injuries, including among police officers; cars and shops were damaged.

The dispute also reached diplomatic offices. Egypt summoned Algeria’s ambassador over reported attacks on fans in Sudan and on Egyptian businesses in Algeria, then recalled its own ambassador from Algiers “for consultations.” Algeria refused permission for an Egyptian aircraft dispatched to evacuate citizens to land. Sudan, angered by Egyptian media coverage of the playoff’s aftermath, summoned the Egyptian envoy in Khartoum.

On November 19, FIFA announced disciplinary proceedings against the Egyptian Football Association over the November 12 incidents affecting Algeria’s team in Cairo. Egypt’s federation, meanwhile, threatened to stop playing international football for two years over its complaints about the Sudan match. In Algeria, supporters continued singing, chanting and honking car horns: their team had secured the World Cup place that Egypt’s late header had kept within reach four days earlier.