Thursday, July 16th 2026 - 15:13 UTC
The Falkland Islands Government (FIG) has voiced its dismay at the banner with which Argentine players celebrated their World Cup semifinal win over England, and called on FIFA to sanction conduct of that kind in line with its own rules. In a statement issued on Thursday, the Islands' executive said it was “disappointed – though regrettably not surprised” that the Argentine team chose to tarnish the result of a match that in any case did not involve the Falklands.
The statement notes it is hardly news to anyone that the Islands' people were victims of an aggressive invasion in 1982, which left many traumatized, making the banner “particularly insensitive” for many in the Falklands. The FIG reiterated that it is its avowed policy not to see politics brought into sport, and that it does not wish the Islands and their people to be used as a “political football” in every conversation about England and Argentina. The text welcomed the supportive statement from the UK Government and expressed hope that FIFA would make good on its promise to keep politics out of sport.
The Islands' statement came a day after several Argentine players — among them Giovani Lo Celso, Lisandro Martínez, and Nicolás Otamendi — posed after the final whistle with a banner reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. According to various accounts, the banner was thrown from the stands and picked up by the players before being briefly laid on the pitch. The defending champions overturned a 1-0 deficit in the closing minutes to win 2-1, with goals from Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez, reaching Sunday's final against Spain.
