FIFA have confirmed that they are investigating a gesture made by Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in the aftermath of their World Cup win last month.
It feels like a lifetime ago, but the FIFA World Cup in Qatar only finished a few weeks back.
The Final between France and Argentina was a hell of a match, wasn’t it?
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Argentina triumphed on penalties in the end, after the game finished 3-3 after extra time.
It stuck a pretty significant cherry on the top of the already stellar career of Lionel Messi – widely regarded as the best ever to do it – and gave the Albiceleste their first global triumph since the days of Diego Armando Maradona in 1986.
Anyway, when the individual awards were handed out after the final, Lionel Messi was voted player of the tournament – obviously – whereas France’s Kylian Mbappé, who scored a hat-trick in the final despite finishing on the losing side, picked up the Golden Boot for top goalscorer.
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Aston Villa star Emi Martinez was awarded the Golden Glove for his performances between the sticks in guiding Argentina to the trophy, and sparked quite a large bit of controversy with his celebration immediately after that.
He grabbed the award and – whilst he was still on the stage – put it down at his crotch, appearing to make a sexually suggestive gesture with it.
Some people thought it was funny, others thought it was just stupid - or offensive. This has seemingly led FIFA to announce that they are looking into the incident.
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A statement from football’s governing body read: "The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has opened proceedings against the Argentinian Football Association due to potential breaches of articles 11 (Offensive behaviour and violations of the principles of fair play) and 12 (Misconduct of players and officials) of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, as well as of article 44 of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Regulations in conjunction with the Media and Marketing Regulations for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, during the Argentina v. France FIFA World Cup™ final.”
It's not just that incident that is being looked into.
There was also a bit of animosity between the sides too, with Argentine players taunting their opponents on a number of occasions, including significantly against the Netherlands.
Martinez is known as a bit of a penalty specialist and a world-class s***houser, but FIFA may well decide he has gone too far.
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Exactly what punishment they might mete out is anyone’s guess, but Martinez is now safely back in the Premier League with Aston Villa, helping his side to a win against Leeds United last night.
Argentina aren’t the only governing body in trouble, with investigations also ongoing into the Croatian football association after their game against Morocco, whereas Ecuador, Mexico, and Serbia have been fined and handed partial or complete stadium bans for other incidents.
Still, whether he receives a fine or not, you'd have to believe that Emi Martinez won't mind too much, given he now gets to call himself a world champion for the rest of his life.
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You can bet that the Argentina fans won't be too bothered about anything that their players did either.
Topics: Football, Lionel Messi, World Cup
Tom Wood