Argentina players have held up a political banner declaring “Las Malvinas Son Argentinas” (“The Falklands are Argentine”) in the aftermath of their 2-1 victory over England, in an apparent contravention of FIFA rules.
Lisandro Martínez and Giovani Lo Celso held up the banner and waved to fans in the stands. It was unclear where the banner had come from.
FIFA’s stadium code of conduct bans “banners, flags, flyers, apparel and other paraphernalia that are of a political, offensive, and/or discriminatory nature” inside stadiums.
Giovani Lo Celso holds the banner after victory over England. (Getty Images: Shaun Botterill)
World soccer’s ruling body did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Reuters.
The question of sovereignty over the islands in the South Atlantic known to the British as the Falklands and the Argentines as the Malvinas has been a long-running sore in relations between the countries.
They fought a short conflict over the islands in 1982, in which 649 Argentine soldiers and 255 British combatants died. Britain ultimately won and the vast majority of the islands’ residents have said they want to be part of Britain.
But Argentina has long claimed it inherited the islands from Spain after its independence in 1816 and that Britain took control in 1833 through an illegal colonial act.
It is not the first time the question of political banners has come up during the World Cup.
Last month in Los Angeles, when Iran played, Iranian Americans waved pre-revolutionary flags that are symbols of protest against the Tehran government. Those matches proceeded without incident.
FIFA has said that it would only issue fines for bringing the game into disrepute after the tournament had concluded.
Reuters
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