Egypt wants him gone. FIFA says nothing’s wrong. The referee just waits
5 min readUpdated: Jul 9, 2026 10:21 PM IST On the days he is not refereeing, Francois Letexier sometimes shows up at a stranger’s door with paperwork that makes him unwelcome before he has said a word. This week he is the most talked-about referee at the World Cup, the man Egypt wants removed from the tournament, and the parallel between his two jobs has never been harder to ignore. He is a huissier de justice, a bailiff, the person the French legal system sends to serve notices and enforce judgments nobody asked to receive. He specialises in rental disputes and illegal occupation: evictions, mostly, which does not make for easy company at the door. He found the job in law school and liked that it was hands-on. He did not expect it to become the best available description of his other career. Asked what the two jobs share, he told the French outlet Brut simply: “Football generates some pretty crazy behaviours in terms of emotions, and in my work as a bailiff, often, when …
