The British government has urged FIFA to investigate Argentina’s team after players posed with a banner claiming sovereignty over the contested Falkland Islands.

The incident happened after Argentina beat England 2-1 in a World Cup semi-final on Wednesday in Atlanta.

During post-match celebrations, Argentine players held a banner handed over by fans in the stands, reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” — “The Malvinas are Argentine.”

Argentina fans hold up the controversial banner during semi-final celebrations. Photo: AAP

Argentina refers to the Falkland Islands as Islas Malvinas. They were invaded in 1982 under orders from Argentina’s then-military dictatorship, triggering a 10-week war won by Britain.

“The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are,” a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday.

“Self-determination rests with the islanders and our commitment to the Falklands will never waver.”

Starmer supported calls for FIFA to investigate, the spokesperson added, after UK Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the players’ behaviour was “entirely inappropriate”.

FIFA can prosecute Argentina’s players and soccer federation because their disciplinary code prohibits at stadiums any “message that is not appropriate for a sports event” including those of “a political, ideological, religious or offensive nature”.

FIFA fines for political messaging can range between $7,100-$29,000 (US$5,000-$20,000).

Argentina’s Leandro Paredes has said the dispute is a ‘sad part’ of his country’s history.

Soccer’s world governing body have not yet commented on the incident.

A FIFA disciplinary case under previous leadership banned a South Korea player for two 2014 World Cup qualifying games because he held up a similar banner about a territorial claim against Japan at the 2012 London Olympics.

Park Jong-woo took a fan banner with the slogan “Dokdo is our territory” after South Korea beat Japan in the men’s bronze-medal game.

On Wednesday, Argentina player Lisandro Martínez was asked if the banner could have stirred deep emotions and tears for a veteran of the Malvinas conflict.

“We couldn’t let the Argentine people down” said Martínez, who has played in England for the past four years with Manchester United.

“It is a sad part of our history,” Argentina player Leandro Paredes said in Atlanta about the banner, “for everyone involved in that chapter of, I repeat, our history. And it hurts. We knew we were playing for them, too.”

Kyle, an influential British minister, said: “The World Cup has one of its central tenets that politics is separate from football. That is now a matter for FIFA.”

Argentinian Vice President Victoria Villarruel wrote on X before the game: “We play against the usurping pirates.

“I’m not going to be politically correct or cold-hearted; against the English, it’s always something more.”

And she tweeted a victory message at fulltime saying, “it wasn’t just another match” alongside a video of what appeared to be Argentinian soldiers.

Villarruel’s father fought in the Falklands War for Argentina’s military dictatorship.

King sipps amber ale after loss

King Charles says it might be “a good day to drown a few sorrows”. Photo: AAP

King Charles “drowned a few sorrows” after England’s dramatic World Cup exit with a pint he pulled with Queen Camilla as they toured a brewery.

Charles sipped an amber ale made by Hall & Woodhouse Badger Brewery the day after England captain Harry Kane and his teammates lost their semi-final match 2-1 to Argentina.

Aided by Camilla, the King poured a pint of Fursty Ferret, a best seller with the family-owned brewery based in the town of Blandford near Poole in Dorset.

Before tasting the 3.4 per cent popular ale the King said with a wry smile: “Maybe it’s a good day to drown a few sorrows.”

The country is reeling the day after the last-gasp defeat for England manager Thomas Tuchel’s players with many fans likely to be nursing post-match hangovers despite the loss.

Charles and Camilla were taken on their tour of the brewery, which celebrates its 250th anniversary next year, meeting brewing and chef apprentices, and watched as the trainee cooks competed in a Master Chef-style competition.

Founded in 1777 by Charles Hall, a Dorset farmer who began brewing beer from his excess grain, the company produces more than nine million pints of beer every year, employs more than 1500 people, and runs about 140 pubs across the south of England.

At one point the King chatted to Paul Barnett, the brewery’s finance director about the effect of the World Cup on the business which has predominately food-led pubs which do not have screens or show the football.

Barnett told the King: “I’m quite relieved we’re out of the football because we don’t make so much money.”

—AAP