Despite the efforts of the Argentine coach, Lionel Scaloni, to separate the football match from politics, some of the Albiceleste players celebrated the victory over England by displaying a banner that read: The Malvinas are Argentine, a sovereignty claim and a symbolic charge that marked the qualifier.
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“And they will always be Argentine” asserted Leandro Paredes when asked by the press about the display of the flag with the silhouette of the Malvinas, an archipelago under British control whose sovereignty Argentina claims.
The Argentine vice president demands the display of the flag in support of the national team players
Considered a high-risk match due to the strong rivalry between the two fan bases, the security authorities of the United States and FIFA prohibited fans from entering the stadium with “political” flags or insignias, including those with claims related to the islands. After the match ended and still on the field, it was Argentine midfielder Giovanni Lo Celso who displayed the Malvinas flag.
Another protagonist inside and outside the match, Lautaro Martínez, said that although the Malvinas war “is something that happened many years ago,” this was not “just another match.” “Beyond everything, we tried to leave aside the anxiety and everything that was generated off the field. But for us, it was not a match like the others. It was a special match,” he admitted.
For his part, defender Nicolás Tagliafico attributed the moment to the “emotion of victory, which leads you to do those things.” “It’s not good to show it publicly, but before the match we had that feeling that it was going to be a special match,” he said.
The players also sang the one who doesn’t jump is an Englishman, a chant that Argentine fans always sing in matches, even against other teams different from England.
The British press reacted this Thursday by criticizing the Albiceleste’s attitude, reminding that the action violates FIFA’s code of conduct, which prohibits inside stadiums “banners, flags, flyers, clothing, and other objects of a political, offensive, or discriminatory nature.”
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According to the British television network BBC, Argentina now faces the possibility of a disciplinary sanction for violating this code of conduct.
The Argentine vice president, Victoria Villarruel, also endorsed the display of the flag by the players. “The Malvinas are Argentine! They banned bringing them to the field and forgot that we carry them in our blood and heart,” the vice president expressed on social media.
What sanction does the Argentine national team face?
Due to the violation of FIFA’s code of conduct by introducing politically charged banners onto the playing field previously banned by the organization, it is expected that the body will open a file to evaluate the context before defining a future sanction.
In this case, according to the Argentine media Clarín, the consequences can range from a warning to financial fines for the Argentine Football Association or the players involved. A sports suspension is less likely and is generally reserved for repeated or extraordinary cases due to their severity.
FIFA has not announced disciplinary sanctions against the Egyptian coach, who showed the Palestinian flag
The most immediate precedent in World Cup history, reports the same media, was Switzerland’s 2-1 victory over Serbia during the 2018 World Cup, organized by Russia. During the match, players of Albanian-Kosovar descent Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, both Swiss internationals, celebrated their goals by making the double-headed eagle of the Albanian flag with their hands, a gesture considered political due to its connotations with the conflict between Kosovo and Serbia.
On this occasion, the regulatory body ruled in favor of Serbia by applying financial sanctions ranging from 10,000 to 5,000 euros to the players involved, but without any sports suspension. In parallel, the Argentine team’s claim is not the only one with political connotations in this World Cup. The Egyptian coach, Hossam Hassan, attended the match against Australia with a Palestinian flag, an action with great impact for which FIFA has not yet announced disciplinary sanctions.
