Fifa is reviewing reports after Argentina’s players displayed a banner asserting their country’s claim to the Falkland Islands following their 2-1 World Cup semi-final victory over England. The incident matters because Fifa rules restrict political messaging, and it has renewed a longstanding sovereignty dispute between the UK and Argentina ahead of Argentina’s final against Spain.

The banner read “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” (“The Falklands are Argentine”), and Argentina’s football association was fined £20,000 for the same message in 2014. Downing Street supported an investigation, while President Javier Milei defended the players’ action but said the issue should be pursued diplomatically; Fifa has said there is no prospect of Argentina being removed from the final. Argentina invaded the islands in 1982, leading to a 74-day war in which 649 Argentine and 255 British servicemen, plus three islanders, died; in 2013, 1,513 of 1,517 referendum voters backed remaining a UK overseas territory.