The UK government has called on football’s governing body FIFA to investigate whether the Argentinian team breached its rules by waving a banner in support of their country’s claim to the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands after defeating England in the World Cup semi-finals.
After Argentina came from behind to seal victory with two late goals in a fractious match on Wednesday, the team’s players including superstar Lionel Messi celebrated with a fan’s banner which read “Las Malvinas son Argentinas.” The UK has sovereignty over the archipelago off the Argentine coast, and the two nations fought a war over it in 1982.
“It’s entirely inappropriate,” UK Business Secretary Peter Kyle told Sky News on Thursday. “Politics should stay away from football: that is a very clear principle of the World Cup,” he said, adding: “I absolutely think FIFA should be looking into this.”
Outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer agrees FIFA should investigate but believes potential action is a matter for them, his spokesperson said Thursday.
Opposition leaders went further. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said the Argentine players who celebrated with the banner “must be barred from the final.” Meanwhile Reform’s Nigel Farage said he was “disgusted” by the actions of the players but that the most important thing for the UK was to “build up the Royal Navy quickly.”
The banner appears to breach FIFA rules stating that teams are liable and may be subject to disciplinary measures for “the use of gestures, words, objects or any other means to transmit a message that is not appropriate for a sports event, particularly messages that are of a political, ideological, religious or offensive nature.”
Vice-President Victoria Villarruel posted a photo of the scene on X, saying “they banned taking them to the stadium and forgot that we carry them in our blood and hearts.”
The Argentine football team donned dark blue shirts instead of its traditional light-blue-and-white stripes, in homage to the team that beat England in a 1986 World Cup quarter final featuring Diego Maradona’s controversial “hand of God” goal.
In the run-up to the match, Argentine politicians and footballers sought to use the first game with England in a world cup in more than 20 years, to renew focus on their dispute over the islands. The 1982 war over its sovereignty claimed 900 lives.
“The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are,” outgoing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said Thursday. He “wishes both teams well for the final, especially Spain.”
Adding to the tensions, Argentina’s Foreign Ministry said late Wednesday in a statement that it had made a formal complaint on July 13 to the British Embassy about what it called the “illegal” movement of the vessel HMS Medway through Argentinian waters. The transit was carried out without appropriate consultation and notification, it said.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence said the ship in question carried out “a routine logistics visit” to Punta Arenas in Chile July 5-8 in support of polar research by the British Antarctic Survey.
“The transit from the Falkland Islands to Chile and back was carried out via the most direct practicable route, considering operational safety and weather factors to ensure timely delivery,” the ministry said.
An official said the UK had notified the Argentie government before the planned logistics activity, and that the route through the South American nation’s territorial waters was conducted as so-called innocent passage under United Nations laws governing maritime activities.
by Ellen Milligan, Bloomberg
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