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The White House’s World Cup task force head defended Argentina’s national soccer team after they displayed a banner asserting the country’s territorial claim to the Falkland Islands, long a source of tension with the United Kingdom, after their semi-final win over England.
Executive director of the White House’s World Cup task force Andrew Giuliani said Argentina’s players had the right to wave the banner, which read: “Las Malvinas son Argentinas,” meaning, “The Falklands are Argentine.”
“We believe in our First Amendment rights here in the United States of America,” Giuliani told Sky News during a press conference when asked about his thoughts on the banner. “In terms of the ability and opportunity to be able to make those statements, they have the ability to do that in the United States.”
The banner was initially held by fans before being carried out onto the field by players during the team’s celebrations. It represented Argentina’s longstanding claim over the self-governing British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean, which is known as the Falklands in the U.K. And as Las Malvinas in Argentina.
Following the match, British politicians criticized FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino for inaction. FIFA’s stadium code of conduct bars political banners and other materials containing political messages inside tournament venues.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said this year’s World Cup has “laid bare how utterly broken it is.”
“The rot at FIFA has gone too far,” Davey wrote on the social platform X. “Under Infantino, political greed has completely broken the game we love.”
In a video posted to social media, Davey called the banner “highly provocative” and slammed FIFA for its “sluggish inaction” over Argentina’s “stunt.”
A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters that the “The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are.”
“Our position is unchanged. Self-determination rests with the islanders, and our commitment to the Falklands will never waver,” the spokesperson said. “More broadly, potential action is a matter for FIFA, but it’s been a fantastic World Cup, and we’ve said throughout that politics should stay out of football.”
Victoria Villarruel, Argentina’s vice president, publicly backed the national team’s display, posting a photo of the players with the banner on social media.
“The Falklands are Argentine!” she wrote in the post, which was translated from Spanish to English. “They banned bringing them to the stadium and forgot that we carry them in our blood and our hearts.”
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