Argentina gamers have held up a political banner declaring “Las Malvinas Son Argentinas” (“The Falklands are Argentine”) within the aftermath of their 2-1 victory over England, in an obvious contravention of FIFA guidelines.
Lisandro MartÃnez and Giovani Lo Celso held up the banner and waved to followers within the stands. It was unclear the place the banner had come from.
FIFA’s stadium code of conduct bans “banners, flags, flyers, attire and different paraphernalia which might be of a political, offensive, and/or discriminatory nature” inside stadiums.
Giovani Lo Celso holds the banner after victory over England. (Getty Photos: Shaun Botterill)
World soccer’s ruling physique didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Reuters.
The query of sovereignty over the islands within the South Atlantic recognized to the British because the Falklands and the Argentines because the Malvinas has been a long-running sore in relations between the nations.
They fought a brief battle over the islands in 1982, wherein 649 Argentine troopers and 255 British combatants died. Britain finally received and the overwhelming majority of the islands’ residents have mentioned they wish to be a part of Britain.
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However Argentina has lengthy claimed it inherited the islands from Spain ​after its independence in 1816 and that Britain took management in 1833 by way of an unlawful colonial act.
It isn’t the primary time the query of political banners has come up throughout the World Cup.
Final month in Los Angeles, when Iran performed, Iranian Individuals waved pre-revolutionary flags which might be symbols of protest towards the Tehran authorities. These matches proceeded with out incident.
FIFA has mentioned that it could solely problem fines for bringing the sport into disrepute after the match had concluded.
Reuters
