{"id":803483,"date":"2026-07-16T07:44:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T07:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/803483\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T07:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T07:44:20","slug":"argentina-players-risk-sanctions-after-celebrating-world-cup-win-over-england-with-falkland-islands-banner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/803483\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentina players risk sanctions after celebrating World Cup win over England with Falkland Islands banner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Argentina could find themselves in hot water with FIFA ahead of the World Cup<\/a> final after celebrating their win over England with a banner about the Falkland Islands.<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi\u2019s 2022 champions struck two late goals to overcome England in a semi-final clash charged by both football and political history.<\/p>\n

And it was the latter that returned to the spotlight when Argentina players waved a homemade sign seemingly plucked out of the stands in Atlanta on Wednesday night (Thursday AEST).<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

The black-on-white spray-painted banner read \u2018Las Malvinas son Argentinas\u2019 \u2014 or \u2018The Falklands are Argentine\u2019.<\/p>\n

Giovani Lo Celso and Nicolas Otamendi, who previously played in England with Tottenham and Manchester City respectively, waved the sign then placed it on the turf as the players celebrated with their fans inside the stadium.<\/p>\n

Political tensions linger between Argentina and Great Britain over the Falkland Islands, which boiled over into conflict in 1982. <\/p>\n

Argentina has repeatedly claimed sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, which are about 8000 miles (12,875km) from Britain and 300 miles (483km) from mainland Argentina.<\/p>\n

Argentinian Vice President Victoria Villarruel wrote before the game: \u201cWe play against the usurping pirates. I\u2019m not going to be politically correct or cold-hearted; against the English, it\u2019s always something more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Villarruel, whose father fought in the Falklands war for Argentina\u2019s military dictatorship, tweeted a victory message at full-time saying \u201cit wasn\u2019t just another match\u201d alongside a video of what appeared to be Argentine soldiers.<\/p>\n

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni had said before the game he did not want the fixture to become about the conflict over the British overseas territory.<\/p>\n

Political messages are explicitly banned by FIFA.<\/p>\n

\u201cEquipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images,\u201d the international rules state.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayers must not reveal undergarments that show political, religious, personal slogans, statements or images, or advertising other than the manufacturer\u2019s logo.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor any offence the player and\/or the team will be sanctioned by the competition organiser, national football association or by FIFA.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA already enforced the rule ahead of the 2026 World Cup when Haiti attempted to add an image from the 1803 Haitian War of Independence to the team\u2019s jersey.<\/p>\n

Apparel company Saeta claimed it was \u201cnot a political statement\u201d and instead \u201ca tribute to the men and women who contribute every day to Haiti\u2019s future\u201d.<\/p>\n

Haiti seemingly avoided a sanction because the image was spotted and rejected during the jersey approval process.<\/p>\n

FIFA also banned pre-revolutionary Iran flags at the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u2014 with AAP<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Superstar accused of \u2018horrible\u2019 act in ugly end to World Cup semi<\/p>\n

1 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

England legends savage coach after Argentina collapse: \u2018Real panic\u2019<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Argentina could find themselves in hot water with FIFA ahead of the World Cup final after celebrating their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[596,43,1625,44,3863,588,41,39,42,40,124617],"class_list":["post-803483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-football","tag-headlines","tag-lifestyle","tag-news","tag-sponsored-content","tag-sport","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}