FIFA is investigating the Argentina national soccer team for the post-match brawl after the World Cup final.
After Argentina lost to Spain 1–0 on July 19, a scuffle broke out between several Argentine players and several Spanish players. A video of the incident has since gone viral. The incident was not Argentina's first provocation in the final match or even in the tourney.
The video, which has amassed more than 44 million views on X, begins with Argentine midfielder Leandro Paredes tripping Spanish defender Eric Garcia. A referee intervenes, but Garcia gets up and walks toward Paredes, who shoves him again while several other players gather in around them. Spanish midfielder Gavi runs into Paredes while several coaches attempt to pull Garcia away. Paredes and forward Thiago Almada throw Gavi to the ground. Paredes takes another swing at him, but Alamada holds him back. At this point, multiple players from both teams enter the fray in an attempt to pull their fellows away while shoving at the other team. One of the coaches even shoves another person.
A FIFA spokesperson said that the federation's “disciplinary committee has appointed a Disciplinary and Ethics Prosecutor to investigate potential breaches of the (FIFA disciplinary code) with regard to the post-match incidents.”
NTD News reached out to FIFA for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication.
Not the First Provocation
The incident was not Argentina's first provocation. After their 2-1 comeback win over England on July 14, some Argentinian players held up a banner that said "Las Malvinas son Argentinas."“The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are,” a spokesperson for Starmer said on Thursday. “Self-determination rests with the islanders and our commitment to the Falklands will never waver.”
Starmer supported calls for FIFA to investigate, the spokesperson said, after UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Peter Kyle said the players’ behavior was “entirely inappropriate.”
Kyle told the BBC that “politics needs to be separate from football.”
“In fact, the World Cup has one of its central tenets that politics is separate from football,” he said. “That is now a matter for FIFA.”
Argentine President Javier Milei described the players’ celebration with the banner as “perfectly valid,” saying the message “reflects a sentiment shared by all Argentines.” But he said he expected FIFA to fine the team.
“What 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,” Milei told a local Buenos Aires radio station.
The Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly also sent a letter to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee on Thursday, asking the federation to investigate the display for violations of FIFA rules.
"We are disappointed, though regrettably not surprised, by this manner of action," Jack Ford, chair of the assembly, wrote.
"Football is, first and foremost, a sport, and it is the policy of the Falkland Islands Government to wish to not see politics brought into sport, and we support the statement by U.K. Minister Peter Kyle to this effect."