Egypt holds Belgium to a draw in their opening match of the 2026 World Cup campaign

Seattle —
The Egyptian national team started its journey in the 2026 World Cup with a valuable draw against its Belgian counterpart with a score of 1-1, in the match that took place at «Lumen Field» as part of the first round of Group Seven competitions.

The Egyptian team delivered an organized and cohesive performance against one of the most prominent European teams, managing to impose its presence during long periods of the match, earning an important point at the start of its World Cup journey.

Imam Ashour opened the scoring for the Egyptian team in the 20th minute after launching a powerful shot from outside the penalty area that settled in the net of Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, giving the «Pharaohs» a deserved advantage after a strong start.

The Egyptian team maintained its lead until the second half, before the Belgian team equalized in the 67th minute with an own goal that came by mistake from defender Mohamed Hany while trying to clear the ball.

Despite the Belgian pressure in the final minutes, the Egyptian team succeeded in maintaining the result and securing a draw that boosts its hopes of competing for one of the qualifying spots to the next round.

This is the third draw in the history of the Egyptian national team's participations in the World Cup finals, after two previous draws in the 1990 edition against the Netherlands and Ireland.

With this result, both teams earned one point each, temporarily sharing the top of Group Seven, which also includes the teams of Iran and New Zealand.

The Egyptian team will play its next match with hopes of achieving its first win in the tournament, benefiting from the positive performance it showed against the Belgian team, one of the top contenders in the group.