Official announcement: FIFA amends sanctions on Argentina players

The international federation imposed heavy sanctions on the tango dancers

The Argentine Football Association (AFA) confirmed on Thursday that FIFA had approved its request to change how a number of national team players will serve the sanctions handed down for events at the 2026 World Cup final against Spain.

In an official statement, the AFA explained that it had asked FIFA to let the punishments imposed on its players, and on the Association itself, be served during Category "A" friendlies and/or official matches under the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), whichever comes first. FIFA said yes.

FIFA had suspended Leandro Paredes for 10 matches, Nahuel Molina for 7 and Thiago Almada for one, while technical staff member Roberto Ayala picked up a 3-match ban, all for the scenes that followed the final Spain won 1-0 last July.

Argentina intend to fight on. The sanctions also included financial fines and restrictions on crowd attendance at the national team's home matches, and the AFA will appeal the lot.

The Association said in its statement: "The Argentine Football Association, in defence of its rights and the rights of its players, is awaiting the grounds of the decisions in order to submit the appropriate appeals before FIFA's Appeal Committee, while considering the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) a possible last resort."

Speaking to "DSports" radio last Friday, the AFA's legal counsel Andrés Patón Uriz had already set out the plan: "We consider the sanctions to be excessive, and we will seek to reduce them," as reported by Spanish radio station "COPE".

FIFA also fined the Argentine Football Association 321,000 dollars under various articles of the disciplinary code, punishing incidents during the national team's matches against Cape Verde, Egypt, Switzerland, England and Spain at the World Cup.

As things stand, Argentina will play their next two home matches with crowd attendance cut by 50% as part of the sanctions.