{"id":530084,"date":"2026-07-17T04:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T04:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/530084\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T04:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T04:06:16","slug":"uk-urges-fifa-to-investigate-argentina-over-falklands-banner-at-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/530084\/","title":{"rendered":"UK urges FIFA to investigate Argentina over Falklands banner at World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

The British Government urged FIFA to investigate Argentina\u2019s team after players celebrating their 2-1 win over England <\/a>in the World Cup semifinals posed with a banner that claimed sovereignty over the contested Falkland Islands.<\/p>\n

During post-match celebrations Thursday in Atlanta, Argentine players held a banner<\/a> handed over by fans, reading \u201cLas Malvinas son Argentinas\u201d \u2014 \u201cThe Malvinas are Argentine\u201d.<\/p>\n

Argentina refers to the Falkland Islands as Islas Malvinas. They were invaded in 1982 under orders from Argentina’s then-military dictatorship, triggering a 10-week war won by Britain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are,” a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said. “Self-determination rests with the islanders and our commitment to the Falklands will never waver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer supported calls for FIFA to investigate, the spokesperson said, after UK Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the players\u2019 behaviour was \u201centirely inappropriate”.<\/p>\n

FIFA can prosecute Argentina’s players and football federation because its disciplinary code prohibits at stadiums any \u201cmessage that is not appropriate for a sports event\u201d, including those of \u201ca political, ideological, religious or offensive nature\u201d.<\/p>\n

The FIFA fines for political messaging range from around US$5,000 to US$20,000. FIFA was approached for comment Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"Argentina<\/p>\n

Argentina players hold up a banner referencing the Falklands war after defeating England in the World Cup semi final. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

Argentine President Javier Milei described the players’ celebration with the banner as \u201cperfectly valid”, saying the message \u201creflects a sentiment shared by all Argentines\u201d. But he said he expected FIFA to sanction the team with a fine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the players do is understandable; they get carried away by their emotions, they act on impulse, and that will likely lead to discussions about a fine,\u201d Milei told a local Buenos Aires radio station.<\/p>\n

Vice President Victoria Villarruel was more vocal in her support, posting a photo on social media of the players raising the banner with the caption: \u201cThe Malvinas are Argentine! They banned us from bringing (signs) into the stadium, forgetting that we carry them in our blood and in our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

A FIFA disciplinary case under previous leadership banned a South Korean player for two 2014 World Cup qualifying games because he held up a similar banner about a territorial claim against Japan at the 2012 London Olympics. Park Jong-woo took a fan banner with the slogan \u201cDokdo is our territory\u201d after South Korea beat Japan in the men’s bronze medal game.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Argentina player Lisandro Mart\u00ednez was asked if the banner could have stirred deep emotions for veterans of the conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t let the Argentine people down,\u201d said Mart\u00ednez, who has played in England for the past four years with Manchester United.<\/p>\n

Argentina-England football rivalry<\/p>\n

\"Argentina<\/p>\n

Argentina players surround referee Ismail Elfath after a foul on Lionel Messi during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Semi Final match between England and Argentina. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

The sporting rivalry between the two countries is heightened by political tensions over the South Atlantic archipelago. It is a British overseas territory with a population of around 3500 people located about 13,000 kilometres from the UK and 480 kilometres from Argentina.<\/p>\n

Argentina argues the islands were illegally taken from it in 1833. Britain, which says its territorial claim dates to 1765, sent a warship to the islands in 1833 to expel Argentine forces who sought to establish sovereignty over the territory.<\/p>\n

The war in 1982 killed 649 Argentine troops, 255 British service personnel and three islanders.<\/p>\n

That conflict ended during the 1982 World Cup in Spain, where Argentina, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland all played. British television networks declined to broadcast Argentina playing in the tournament’s opening game, when the defending champion lost to Belgium.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, it is a sad part of our history,” Argentina player Leandro Paredes said in Atlanta about the banner, \u201cfor everyone involved in that chapter of, I repeat, our history. And it hurts. We knew we were playing for them, too\u201d.<\/p>\n

Politics in football<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump holds up a red card during a meeting with FIFA president Gianni Infantino in the Oval Office of the White House in 2018. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

British government minister Kyle told the BBC, “politics needs to be separate from football\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, the World Cup has one of its central tenets that politics is separate from football,” he said. \u201cThat is now a matter for FIFA.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIFA’s statutory political neutrality has been questioned at this World Cup after its president, Gianni Infantino, and disciplinary process \u2014 which could now judge Argentina \u2014 seemed to cave to pressure from US President Donald Trump<\/a> in allowing United States forward Folarin Balogun<\/a> to play Belgium in the round of 16.<\/p>\n

Balogun was shown a red card in the previous round, and FIFA disciplinary rules mandated that he should be banned from his team’s next game. FIFA deferred that suspension for a one-year probationary period, provoking an all-time controversy in modern World Cup history. Belgium beat the US 4-1 to advance<\/a> to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

Infantino is expected to sit with Trump at the World Cup final Monday. Argentina plays Spain in East Rutherford, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Previous cases<\/p>\n

Argentina players showed the same \u201cLas Malvinas son Argentinas\u201d slogan at a warm-up game in June 2014 in Buenos Aires for the World Cup that started days later in Brazil.<\/p>\n

FIFA’s disciplinary panel ruling in that case was published after the tournament finished and fined the Argentina federation 30,000 Swiss francs.<\/p>\n

In the 2012 London Olympics case, FIFA’s ruling said the conduct of the South Korean player “cannot be tolerated\u201d.<\/p>\n

At the 2022 World Cup, FIFA fined the Serbian federation 20,000 Swiss francs for hanging a political banner about the neighbouring independent state of Kosovo in the locker room before playing Brazil. It showed a map of Serbia that included the territory of Kosovo, which has been an independent state since 2008, and the slogan \u201cNo Surrender\u201d.<\/p>\n

Watch the FIFA World Cup final at 7am on Monday, July 20, live and free on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a strong quake rocks the south, and the rescue of a man stuck in a portaloo. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The British Government urged FIFA to investigate Argentina\u2019s team after players celebrating their 2-1 win over England in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[28708,2966,111,139,69,213,1745],"class_list":["post-530084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-central-south-america","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports","tag-uk-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}