Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Argentina’s Leandro Paredes was seen kicking Spain’s players, causing chaos as Spain’s Lamine Yamal calmly prayed.
FIFA has said it is investigating an altercation between Argentina and Spain in the World Cup final in New Jersey in the US, where the European champions downed their South American counterparts in a 1-0 victory.
World football’s governing body confirmed the investigation on Monday, saying that its regulatory committee had reviewed reports of incidents involving more than one player that led to dangerous games decided in extra time being called off.
“FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee has appointed a Legal and Ethics Ombudsman to investigate potential FDC violations in the post-match incident,” FIFA told Al Jazeera in a statement.
A report on the findings and results of the investigation will be shared once it is completed, the statement added.
Spain’s celebrations after winning their second international title were marred by a melee, which seemed inevitable due to anger and resentment between both teams and their staff.
When the referee blew the whistle at the end of extra time, a few players from both teams fell to the ground in joy and sorrow, but several others were involved in the ugly brawl.
In the videos that have now gone viral, Spanish star Lamine Yamal is seen kneeling and raising his hands in prayer of thanks as a series of brawls break out in the background, with Argentine players attacking their Spanish opponents.
Argentina defender Leandro Paredes kicked Spain’s Eric Garcia in the neck, and Spain substitute Gavi jumped in to intervene, Paredes pushed him to the ground.
The coach of the 2022 champions, Lionel Scaloni, rushed to the spot and separated Paredes from the two players, so that the number five pushed many of the Spanish players before being pushed back by his teammate.
While several players from both sides greeted each other after the match – most notably, there was a warm hug between Yamal and Argentina captain Lionel Messi – the overall situation was tense between the two finalists.
As the stage for the post-game ceremony was being set, the Spanish players formed a guard of honor for the finalists and applauded the Argentine players as they went up to receive the silver medals.
However, Argentina did not return the favor and instead rejected the newly crowned professionals as they were presented with gold medals and a prestigious trophy.
It is unclear when FIFA’s investigation into the matter will be completed and whether the players will take action.
Last week, FIFA said it was investigating The show of Argentine players a political flag after them World Cup final victory in England, a move that violated stadium rules and drew attention to the United Kingdom’s political control of the Falkland Islands, Britain’s self-governing territory off the coast of Argentina.
Defender Lisandro Martinez and unused substitute Giovani Lo Celso held up a sign reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas”, meaning “The Falklands are Argentinian”, as they celebrated the victory on the pitch, cheering and cheering fans in the stands after securing an impressive win on Wednesday.
The move sparked controversy in the UK, where officials urged FIFA to investigate the matter and the world governing body confirmed it had launched an investigation as a “standard procedure”.
“FIFA’s independent commission is reviewing the reports of the match and assessing the situation before deciding on other measures based on FIFA regulations,” a FIFA spokesperson told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
FIFA did not provide an update on the investigation.
