FIFA probes Argentina over World Cup final ill-discipline, Falklands banner
Soccer Football - FIFA World Cup 2026 - Semi Final - England v Argentina - Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. - July 15, 2026 Argentina's Lisandro Martinez and Giovani Lo Celso celebrate with a Falkland Islands related banner after the match as Argentina qualify for the final of the World Cup REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli
PARIS: FIFA announced Wednesday (Jul 29) that it had opened proceedings into some Argentina players for their behaviour after losing the World Cup to Spain.
A handful of Argentina players and staff confronted their Spanish rivals after the final whistle of the final in New York which Spain won 1–0 after extra time.
Argentina players including Nahuel Molina, Thiago Almada and Leandro Paredes, as well as Argentinian official Roberto Ayala, were involved in the incidents, as was Spain's Pablo Martin Paez Gavira.
Disciplinary proceedings were opened with the quintet facing charges from assault to unsporting behaviour.
FIFA will also investigate an incident following Argentina's 2-1 semi-final victory over England in which players held up a banner that read: "Las Malvinas son Argentinas" (The Falklands are Argentine).
FIFA said the proceedings would target potential breaches of the world governing body's articles on using a sports event for demonstrations of a non-sporting nature, team misconduct, discrimination and racist abuse, and order and security at matches.
The latter comes "in light of discriminatory chants and gestures, late kick-offs, failure to comply with match and security protocols, the display of inappropriate messages by the team and spectators and the throwing of objects by spectators in relation to several matches of the representative team of Argentina at the FIFA World Cup 2026"
