421. The Banner

After defeating England 2-1 in the World Cup semifinal, Argentine players posed for photographs holding a banner that read "Las Malvinas son Argentinas" — The Malvinas Are Argentine — which is a reference to the contested islands in the South Atlantic that the United Kingdom calls the Falklands.

FIFA has opened a disciplinary investigation.

The banner violates FIFA's stadium code of conduct, which prohibits political symbols on the field of play. FIFA's independent disciplinary bodies are reviewing the matter, examining match reports and available evidence. Possible sanctions include official warnings and financial penalties. Argentina was previously fined 30,000 Swiss francs — approximately $37,000 — in 2014 after players displayed the same slogan at a warm-up game before a previous World Cup.

The United Kingdom's Business Minister called the display an "egregious violation" of FIFA rules.

(The Malvinas, which the United Kingdom calls the Falkland Islands, were the subject of an armed conflict in 1982 in which Argentina and the United Kingdom went to war. Approximately 900 people died. Britain and Argentina have disputed sovereignty over the islands since 1833. The 2026 World Cup placed Argentina and England in the same bracket of a tournament. They met in the semifinal. Argentina won. The banner appeared at the conclusion of the match, on the field, in the presence of officials from both countries and representatives of the organizing body that is now conducting an investigation into whether the message was appropriate.)

The investigation will be conducted by FIFA's independent disciplinary committees, who will determine whether a banner referencing a decades-long sovereignty dispute, displayed at the conclusion of a match between the two countries that fought a war over that dispute, violated the organization's rule against political symbols.

Argentina is playing Spain in the final on July 19. The investigation is ongoing. The banner has been photographed from many angles. The Malvinas, or Falkland Islands, remain disputed.