Argentina turns to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to challenge FIFA sanctions after World Cup final incidents

The Argentine Football Association has announced its intention to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the sanctions imposed by FIFA on several Argentine players and coaching staff, following the events that occurred after the FIFA World Cup 2026 final against Spain, which ended in a defeat for Argentina by a goal to nil after extra time.

The decision came after nearly four months of clashes that erupted following the match, after several players from the Argentina national team and coaching staff got into altercations with players from Spain. The most notable incident involved Leandro Paredes attacking Erik Garcia, after he brought him down to the ground and grabbed him by the neck, before confronting Gavi. The disciplinary measures also included Nahuel Molina and Thiago Almada, along with assistant coach Roberto Ayala, while Gavi also faced disciplinary actions.

The Argentine Football Association clarified that it received decisions from FIFA's appeals committee, which upheld the sanctions imposed on Paredes, consisting of a 10-match suspension, along with a fine of $321,000 for discriminatory chants from the national team's supporters.

The federation stated in its announcement that the next steps will involve requesting the reasoning behind the decisions, before proceeding with an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, affirming that it possesses sufficient factual and legal arguments to defend the rights of the player and the federation and to call for a review of the sanctions.

In contrast, the appeals committee has decided to reduce the penalty imposed on Nahuel Molina, lowering his suspension from 7 matches to 4 matches. They also reduced the financial fine imposed on him from $90,000 to $60,000, which is approximately €53,800.