Argentina Faces FIFA Scrutiny After Controversial World Cup Referee Decisions
During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, several high‑profile refereeing incidents sparked outrage. In the France‑Senegal group match, VAR flagged a clear foul on Kylian Mbappé and recommended a penalty, but the referee dismissed the advice, denying a penalty kick that many described as "obvious nonsense."
In the round‑of‑16 clash between Argentina and Switzerland, a disputed VAR intervention led to Swiss midfielder Breel Embolo receiving a second yellow card and being sent off, while Argentine midfielder Leandro Paredes retained his yellow. The International Football Association Board later declared the VAR involvement in that decision illegal.
Following the tournament, FIFA opened a disciplinary procedure against the Argentina national team after an online petition attracted more than 23 million signatures alleging misconduct in the final. A separate fan‑driven petition with over 87 000 signatures is demanding a replay of the final, citing the disputed goal by Ferran Torres. FIFA’s regulations, however, state that a match can only be replayed in rare cases of a technical error, not merely because of a contested on‑field decision.
Entities: Argentina national football team · Breel Embolo · FIFA · International Football Association Board (IFAB) · Kylian Mbappé · Sadio Mané · Slobodan Vinčić
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [○ 1 SOURCE] FIFA opened a disciplinary procedure against the Argentina national team after a petition with more than 23 million signatures. (Article 1dab9d03-338c-4784-a8c3-c49f029e8975)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] FIFA competition rules generally do not allow a match replay unless a technical error significantly affected the result. (Article 8fbc3d0a-6c16-4a7a-b3f2-3f117f24ffac)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] An online petition with over 87 000 signatures requests FIFA to order a replay of the World Cup final due to a disputed Ferran Torres goal. (Article 8fbc3d0a-6c16-4a7a-b3f2-3f117f24ffac)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] In the Argentina‑Switzerland World Cup match, Breel Embolo received a second yellow card and was sent off after a VAR review. (Article 6eafe9c8-bdc5-4648-ada5-8fed8b859652)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] VAR advised that a penalty kick should be awarded in the France‑Senegal World Cup match, but the referee did not award it. (Article fde26912-7c15-414c-8a73-aba72410a052)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Kylian Mbappé was the tournament’s top scorer. (Article fde26912-7c15-414c-8a73-aba72410a052)
- [○ 1 SOURCE] The International Football Association Board (IFAB) stated that the VAR intervention in the Argentina‑Switzerland match was illegal. (Article 6eafe9c8-bdc5-4648-ada5-8fed8b859652)