{"id":543711,"date":"2026-07-16T03:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T03:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/543711\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T03:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T03:14:10","slug":"argentina-players-brandish-political-falklands-flag-after-england-match-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/543711\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentina players brandish political Falklands flag after England match | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"post-label__link\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/fifa-world-cup-2026\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"post-label__image\" height=\"22.5\" width=\"222.75\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784171649_586_Post-Label-Image-Option-1-1780213226.png\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"World Cup 2026 post label\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__subhead\">The banner, held up by Lisandro Martinez and Giovani Lo Celso, goes against FIFA\u2019s Stadium Code of Conduct.<\/p>\n<p>Published On 15 Jul 202615 Jul 2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"tr-story-p1\">Argentina players held up a political banner declaring \u201cLas Malvinas Son Argentinas\u201d (\u201cThe Falklands are Argentinian\u201d) after their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/7\/15\/argentina-stun-england-in-2-1-comeback-win-to-reach-2026-world-cup-final\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2-1 World Cup semifinal victory<\/a> over England, in apparent contravention of FIFA rules.<\/p>\n<p>FIFA\u2019s Stadium Code of Conduct bans \u201cbanners, flags, flyers, apparel and other paraphernalia that are of a political, offensive, and\/or discriminatory nature\u201d inside stadiums.<\/p>\n<p>Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n<p>World football\u2019s ruling body did not immediately reply to Al Jazeera\u2019s request for comment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The question of sovereignty over the islands in the South Atlantic \u2013 known to the British as the Falklands and the Argentinians as the Malvinas \u2013 has been a long-running <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/7\/12\/fifa-world-cup-england-vs-argentina-historic-rivalry-greatest-moments-semifinal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sore in relations<\/a> between the countries.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-arc-image-770 wp-image-4775327\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ap_6a5809b0ce35c-1784154544.jpg\" alt=\"Argentina fans hold a banner with the words &quot;The Malvinas are Argentinian&quot;, referring to the Falkland Islands, at the end of the World Cup semifinal soccer match between England and Argentina in Atlanta, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Rebecca Blackwell)\" fetchpriority=\"low\"\/>Argentina fans hold a banner with the words \u2018The Malvinas are Argentinian\u2019, referring to the Falkland Islands, at the end of the World Cup semifinal [Rebecca Blackwell\/AP]<\/p>\n<p>They fought a short conflict over the islands in 1982, in which 649 Argentinian soldiers and 255 British soldiers died. Britain ultimately won, and the vast majority of the islands\u2019 residents have said they wish to remain part of Britain.<\/p>\n<p>But Argentina has long claimed it inherited the islands from Spain after its independence in 1816 and that Britain took control in 1833 through an illegal colonial act.<\/p>\n<p>Lisandro Martinez and Giovani Lo Celso held up the banner, grinning, and waved to fans in the stands. It was unclear where the banner had come from.<\/p>\n<p>It is not the first time the question of political banners has come up during the World Cup. Last month in Los Angeles, Iranian Americans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/16\/football-upstages-politics-as-iranians-rally-behind-their-team-at-world-cup\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">waved pre-revolutionary flags<\/a> that are symbols of protest against the Tehran government when Iran played. Those matches proceeded without incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The banner, held up by Lisandro Martinez and Giovani Lo Celso, goes against FIFA\u2019s Stadium Code of Conduct.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9877,63,4118,85,46,16632,2224,105,1299,1032,1156,101640],"class_list":["post-543711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-argentina","tag-europe","tag-football","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-latin-america","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}