White House defends freedom of expression, London is livid, and Milei teases reclaiming the territory.
The World Cup semifinal match between Argentina and England is still reverberating, and not only for the UK’s frustration for wasting the chance to ‘bring the cup home’, as their only 1966 title is now just a distant memory.
All around the British islands, they are seething about Argentina players displaying a banner, during their victory celebrations, that read: ‘The Malvinas (Falklands) are Argentine’.
NEW: Keir Starmer hits back at Argentina after their players held a “Falklands are Argentine” banner
“The World Cup might not have been ours but the Falklands Islands are” pic.twitter.com/4M5lOAdGJ0
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) July 16, 2026
The UK is demanding a FIFA inquiry into the banner incident.
“A top U.K. minister is calling on FIFA to investigate the ‘entirely inappropriate’ banner unfurled by some of Argentina’s players after their World Cup victory against England.
Peter Kyle, the business secretary, told Times Radio on Thursday that he hopes world football’s governing body will ‘do a proper inquiry’ into the incident involving the sign, which read ‘Las Malvinas son Argentinas’ — which translates to ‘The Falkland Islands are Argentine’.
The call for an inquiry was reiterated by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson Thursday morning. She told reporters: ‘The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are’.”
NEW: The White House has backed Argentina after their players held up a banner saying the “Falklands are Argentine”
“We believe in our First Amendment rights here in the US” pic.twitter.com/z4u9G8JKF7
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) July 17, 2026
This comes in the wake of the White House defending the Argentine players’ banner.
The Telegraph reported:
“The White House has defended the right of Argentina’s footballers to lay claim to the Falkland Islands following their 2-1 semi-final victory against England.
Andrew Giuliani, the head of the White House Fifa task force, said the players were well within their rights to unfurl a banner that translated as “The Malvinas are Argentine” as they celebrated the win on Wednesday.
‘We believe in our First Amendment rights here in the United States of America’, Mr. Giuliani said during a briefing on Friday, referring to the American right to free speech. ‘And in terms of the ability, the opportunity to be able to make statements, [Argentina] has the ability to do that in the United States of America’.
Argentine politicians stoked tensions around the decades-long row over the territory in the build-up to the match and have since seized on the victory to renew their claim to the British overseas territory.”
A video has been circulating of the Argentina national team chanting about the Falkland War in the dressing room directed at England following their 3–2 victory over Egypt.
FIFA prohibits the display of slogans or chanting of political messages during its tournaments, but…
— The Touchmine | (@TouchmineX) July 12, 2026
Adding more fuel to the fire, Argentine President Javier Milei declared that his government is ‘getting closer every day’ to recovering sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
Politico reported:
“Writing on X, Milei mocked Britain’s reaction to the albicelestes’ post-match celebrations. ‘While some are busy throwing tantrums befitting a terminally mononeuronal teenager, we, through the diplomatic route, are getting closer every day to the recovery of the Malvinas Islands, Georgias, and South Sandwich Islands, and the surrounding maritime space’, he wrote. […] Ahead of the match, Argentine Vice President Victoria Villarruel had described Britain as ‘usurping pirates’.
FIFA said Thursday that its independent disciplinary committee was reviewing the match reports and the circumstances surrounding the incident before deciding whether to open disciplinary proceedings. Argentina’s football association was fined in 2014 after displaying the same slogan before a friendly match against Slovenia.
The Falklands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas, have remained at the center of a sovereignty dispute for decades. Britain and Argentina fought a brief war over the South Atlantic archipelago in 1982, after which London remained in control of the islands.
Milei also defended Argentina’s players, calling their banner a legitimate expression of national feeling. ‘The Malvinas are Argentine, we are going to recover them and we are going to do it at the diplomatic level’, the president told Radio El Observador.”
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