World Cup 2022: FIFA opens proceedings against Argentina and Croatia

Almost a month after the World Cup final, FIFA decided to open proceedings against Argentina and Croatia. The procedure against the Albiceleste aims in particular “possible breaches of Articles 11 (offensive behavior and breach of the principles of fair play) and 12 (misconduct of players and officials)” during the World Cup final won against France on penalties (3-3 ap).

If the press release does not specify which attitudes are concerned by these procedures, the Argentinian goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez had been photographed after the match making a rude gesture with the trophy of the golden glove rewarding the best goalkeeper of the tournament. He had also been filmed in the locker room mocking French star Kylian Mbappé. Argentina is also the subject of a procedure for a violation of the media and marketing regulations of the World Cup.

Lovren in the viewfinder?

FIFA has also initiated proceedings against the Croatian federation for “potential violations of Articles 13 (discrimination) and 16 (order and security at matches) of the FIFA Disciplinary Code” in the match for third place against Morocco, won (2-1) by Croatia. Again, the FIFA statement does not give details of the incidents covered by this procedure. During the celebrations of the team Croatian, videos relayed on social networks had however shown the Croatian players singing nationalist songs with fascist overtones.

One of the players present in this video, defender Dejan Lovren, newly arrived in Lyon, had defended himself to AFP by evoking “a patriotic song that relates to my country, which means that I love my country“. In its press release, FIFA also indicates that it has taken sanctions against the Mexican, Ecuadorian and Serbian federations for violations of article 13 of its code of conduct (discrimination), due to songs sung by the supporters of the three country.

Mexico is fined 100,000 Swiss francs (about 99,600 euros) and a match behind closed doors suspended, Ecuador is fined 20,000 Swiss francs (about 19,900 euros) and a match behind closed doors partial, and Serbia is sanctioned with a fine of 50,000 Swiss francs (about 49,800 euros) and a match behind closed doors. Seven Serbian players were also individually penalized for misconduct in the group game against Switzerland.