Argentina to take FIFA disciplinary rulings to CAS after 2026 World Cup final
The Argentina Football Association says it will apply to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after FIFA rejected its appeals against punishments handed down following Argentina's 1-0 defeat by Spain in the 2026 World Cup final.
FIFA imposed a 10-match ban on midfielder Leandro Paredes and initially handed Nahuel Molina a seven-game suspension, with both players fined $90,000 (£66,000). The AFA said Molina's suspension had been reduced to four games by FIFA, but the sanctions on Paredes remained in place. FIFA also fined the Argentina FA $321,000 (£235,000) for breaches of the disciplinary code relating to using a sports event for demonstrations of a non-sporting nature, team misconduct and discriminatory chants and gestures by its supporters.
Following the World Cup final in July, Paredes, Molina and Thiago Almada, plus assistant coach Roberto Ayala, all appeared to be involved in a confrontation on the pitch as Spain celebrated their victory. Video and reports from the incident show Paredes appearing to push Spain's Eric Garcia by the throat and Almada forcing unused substitute Gavi to the ground while he tried to intervene. FIFA subsequently appointed a disciplinary and ethics prosecutor to assess the events before issuing the sanctions.
Separately, after Argentina's 2-1 win over England in the World Cup semi-final, several Argentina players held up a banner asserting Argentine sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory. That action was cited among the breaches for which the AFA was fined and accused of using a sports event for a demonstration of a non-sporting nature. The fine and the cited demonstrations formed part of the disciplinary measures FIFA upheld.
The AFA said that, with FIFA having maintained the punishments on appeal, its next step will be to request the reasons for FIFA's decisions and then take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The federation has framed the retrieval of those formal explanations as a precursor to lodging its CAS application.