Ed Davey Urges FIFA to Ban 6 Argentina Players Over Falklands Banner
Updated
Updated · GIVEMESPORT · Jul 16
Ed Davey Urges FIFA to Ban 6 Argentina Players Over Falklands Banner
3 articles · Updated · GIVEMESPORT · Jul 16
Summary
Six Argentina players should be barred from Sunday’s World Cup final against Spain, Ed Davey said in a letter to FIFA president Gianni Infantino and in comments to Sky News.
The demand follows Argentina’s post-semi-final celebrations after beating England, when players were filmed singing about the Falkland Islands and several held a banner reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas.”
Davey argued the display breached FIFA’s ban on political messages at matches and cited UEFA’s 2024 one-game bans for Rodri and Alvaro Morata over chants of “Gibraltar is Spain.”
Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martinez and Giovanni Lo Celso were pictured with the banner, while Leandro Paredes said in a post-match interview that the Falklands “will always be Argentine.”
The dispute adds political pressure on FIFA before the 19 July final, turning Argentina’s comeback win over England into a disciplinary issue off the pitch.