The British Government said this Thursday, July 16, that it expects Fifa to open an investigation after players from the Argentine national team displayed a banner claiming sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, located in the South Atlantic, after defeating England in the World Cup semifinal.
During an interview with the BBC, the British Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle, stated that the players’ gesture “was totally inappropriate” and emphasized that “politics must be kept out of football.”
“I hope that Fifa conducts a thorough investigation,” Kyle said, recalling that “one of the fundamental principles of the World Cup is that politics be kept separate from football.”
The Argentine players defended the display this Wednesday, after the 2-1 victory over England, a flag with the legend ‘The Falklands are Argentine’, in reference to the South Atlantic archipelago over which Argentina and the United Kingdom fought a war in 1982.
Asked about the significance of the victory against the English team, the President of Argentina, Javier Milei, asked not to link the sporting result with the issue of the Falkland Islands, which have been under British sovereignty since 1833 and whose return is claimed by the South American country.
Considered a high-risk match due to the strong rivalry between the two fan bases, the security authorities of the United States and Fifa banned fans from entering the Atlanta stadium with “political” flags or insignias, including those with claims related to the Falklands.
The 2026 World Cup Regulations expressly prohibit the display of political messages
The 2026 Fifa World Cup Regulations expressly prohibit the display of political messages or slogans by players and other team members during matches and also after their conclusion.
“Both players and other delegation members will be prohibited from displaying political, religious, or personal messages or slogans in any language or form before the match, during the national anthems, during the match, and after the match,” states article 34 (point 4.3) of the Match Protocol.
It also adds that, “likewise, they will be prohibited from displaying commercial messages or slogans in any language or form during their participation in official activities organized by Fifa (including official matches and training sessions, as well as official press conferences and activities in the mixed zone).”
It also indicates that each participating federation will be responsible for the conduct of its delegation members and that at the World Cup the Fifa Disciplinary Committee retains its authority to prosecute disciplinary infractions ex officio, as established by the Fifa Disciplinary Code.
This code includes among the infractions of the rules of the game offensive conduct and within this identifies “using a sporting event to make statements of a nature other than sporting.”
The article on order and security at matches (art.17) of the Disciplinary Code contemplates that disciplinary measures may be imposed if one or more supporters of a member federation adopt inappropriate conduct and among them refers to the “use of gestures, words, objects or any other means to convey improper messages at a sporting event, in particular, messages of a political, ideological, religious or offensive nature.”
GERALDINE BAJONERO VÁSQUEZ
Journalist Últimas Noticias de EL TIEMPO
*With information from EFE