The behaviour of Argentina players was “entirely inappropriate” when they waved a banner in support of their country’s claims to the Falkland Islands after their World Cup semi-final win against England, a senior minister has said.
Peter Kyle urged governing body Fifa to “thoroughly” investigate what he described as an “egregious violation” of the rules after defending champions Argentina beat the Three Lions 2-1 in Wednesday’s match in Atlanta.
Argentina fans celebrated their victory jubilantly, with some near the pitch holding a banner which read “Las Malvinas son Argentinas”, which translates to “The Falkland Islands are Argentinian”.
The banner referring to the dispute over the British overseas territory made its way to the players, who held it up as they revelled in their win.
They are set to face disciplinary action for violating Article 34.3 of the tournament’s rules prohibiting the display of any political messages or slogans by players before, during or after a match.
Asked about Argentina’s players brandishing the banner, Business Secretary Mr Kyle told BBC Breakfast: “My reaction is that it was entirely inappropriate.
“Politics needs to be separate from football.
“In fact, the World Cup has one of its central tenets that politics is separate from football.
“That is now a matter for Fifa. I expect Fifa to do its investigation thoroughly.”
He continued: “We expect Fifa to undertake an investigation into this.
“I think it was certain to happen because it was such an egregious violation of the rules of not having political activity as part of the football.”
On Times Radio, the minister praised Thomas Tuchel’s side for their “dignity”, which he said stood in “perfect contrast” to the Argentina team’s behaviour.
Meanwhile, Argentina has lodged a diplomatic protest with the UK over what it called the “unlawful” movement of a Royal Navy patrol ship near the Falkland Islands.
Political tensions linger between Argentina and Great Britain over the territory, which boiled over into a short but bloody war in 1982.
Buenos Aires has repeatedly claimed sovereignty over the islands, which are about 8,000 miles from Britain and 300 miles from mainland Argentina.
In an official statement shared on X by Argentine foreign minister Pablo Quirno after the World Cup match on Wednesday night, the country’s foreign affairs ministry expressed its “strongest rejection” of the movements of HMS Medway and accused Britain of a “military incursion” into its waters.
A formal note of protest was submitted to the British embassy earlier this week, the statement said.
https://x.com/pabloquirno/status/2077533336306688316/history
Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni had said before the game he did not want the fixture to become about the conflict over the territory.
But the country’s vice-president Victoria Villarruel tweeted a victory message at full-time saying “it wasn’t just another match” alongside a video of what appeared to be Argentinian soldiers.
In the build-up to the fixture, she had described England as “invaders” and “usurping pirates”.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called for Argentina’s players who celebrated with the Falklands banner to be suspended from the World Cup final.
And Tory leader Kemi Badenoch wrote on X: “The Falkland Islands are British.
“The Conservatives will always defend them.”
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