The government of the United Kingdom (UK) has formally called for action against Argentina over the way the players of the country’s national men’s team celebrated their World Cup semifinal victory.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that the incident occurred immediately following Argentina’s dramatic 2-1 victory over England in Atlanta on Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
Celebrating in front of their supporters, several Argentine players held up a white sheet which read ‘Las Malvinas son Argentinas’ and, translated into English, reads ‘The Malvinas are Argentine.’
Pan-Atlantic Kompass also reports that Argentina refers to the Falkland Islands as Islas Malvinas.
Argentina argues that 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.
The war in 1982 killed 649 Argentine troops, 255 British service personnel and three islanders.
Speaking after displaying the banner, Argentine player Leandro Paredes said: “Sadly, it is a sad part of our history, for everyone involved in that chapter of, I repeat, our history. And it hurts. We knew we were playing for them, too.”
However, the UK has called on FIFA to investigate the development, demanding action against Argentina.
This was made known by the UK’s Business Secretary Peter Kyle.
He said: “Politics needs to be separate from football. In fact, the World Cup has one of its central tenets that politics is separate from football. That is now a matter for FIFA. I expect FIFA to do its investigation thoroughly.”
The request to FIFA is not far-fetched either, as there are clear rules that prohibit political messaging on the field. The code of conduct from FIFA prohibits “banners, flags, flyers, apparel and other paraphernalia that are of a political, offensive, and/or discriminatory nature”.
FIFA can prosecute Argentina’s players and soccer federation because its disciplinary code prohibits at stadiums any “message that is not appropriate for a sports event,” including those of “a political, ideological, religious or offensive nature.”
The FIFA fines for political messaging are $5,000 to $20,000.
A FIFA disciplinary case under previous leadership banned a South Korea 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 “Dokdo is our territory” after South Korea beat Japan in the men’s bronze medal game.
