FIFA issued its sanctions on Friday for the disorder that followed the World Cup final, and the heaviest fell on Leandro Paredes. The Argentina midfielder was banned for 10 matches and fined $90,000 after the confrontation that broke out at the end of the match in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in which he grabbed Spain's Eric Garcia by the throat and pushed Gavi to the ground.
Nahuel Molina was banned for seven matches and fined $90,000, Thiago Almada for one match and $30,000, and the Argentina coach Roberto Ayala for three matches and $30,000. Gavi, the only Spain player sanctioned, received a one-match ban that will keep him out of the Nations League fixture against England on September 26.
Spain won the final 1-0, Ferran Torres scoring in extra time after Enzo Fernandez had been sent off.
The federation's penalties
The Argentine Football Association was fined $110,000 over a set of incidents that included discriminatory chanting by supporters and a political banner about the Falkland Islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, displayed by players after the semifinal win over England. The wording of the banner was not specified in the disciplinary reporting.
FIFA also ordered the association to spend $100,000 on anti-racism projects and to play its next home match at 50 percent stadium capacity. That combination is characteristic of how FIFA now handles discriminatory conduct by crowds: a fine, a directed spend, and a partial closure that transfers part of the cost to supporters who did nothing.
Why a banner is a disciplinary matter
FIFA's rules prohibit political messaging at its matches, and the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands is among the most sensitive disputes it could encounter. Argentina claims the islands, which are administered by the United Kingdom and whose residents have voted overwhelmingly to remain British. The two countries fought a war over them in 1982.
Reasonable people disagree about whether a blanket ban on political expression by athletes is right. What is not really in dispute is that FIFA has such a rule, that it applies it to displays of this kind, and that a banner raised after a match against England was always going to be treated as falling within it. The governing body's position is that its competitions are not a venue for territorial claims. The counter-argument, made regularly by players in various contexts, is that the line between political and permissible is drawn inconsistently.
What happens next
The association said its legal department would ask FIFA for the grounds of the rulings in order to appeal to the governing body's appeal committee, retaining the option of taking the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
A 10-match international ban is a long one. Argentina play a mixture of friendlies and qualifying matches over the next cycle, and a suspension of that length would keep Paredes out for the better part of two years of international football unless it is reduced on appeal. That, rather than the fine, is the sanction that matters.
