A private letter from FIFA president Gianni Infantino to the Argentine Football Association has leaked into the Argentine press and been verified by the Daily Mail, congratulating the World Cup runners-up on their "professionalism" at the very moment his own organisation is investigating their conduct in the final.
Argentina lost the 2026 World Cup final 1-0 to Spain after extra time at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19, Ferran Torres settling the tie with a 106th-minute winner. The match will be remembered as much for what happened after the final whistle as for the football itself.
According to the leaked correspondence, Infantino wrote that "Argentina won the silver medal of FIFA World Cup 2026, after an intense final against Spain," adding that "these victories are always the fruit of constant work, professionalism and attention to detail." He extended his congratulations to the squad, coach Lionel Scaloni and the federation's staff.
The timing has drawn heavy criticism. Within days of the final, FIFA confirmed it had appointed a disciplinary and ethics prosecutor to examine "offensive behaviour" and a string of physical confrontations between players from both squads once the match ended.
Television footage showed Leandro Paredes grabbing Eric Garcia by the throat and shoving Gavi to the ground, while Nahuel Molina appeared to throw a punch in the direction of Spain captain Rodri. Argentina assistant coach Roberto Ayala later apologised for a separate confrontation with Dani Olmo, describing it as a shove rather than a punch.
Enzo Fernández was sent off in the chaos, and Spain coach Luis de la Fuente did not mince words afterward, telling Spanish broadcaster TVE the scenes were "intolerable and unacceptable" and that "it cannot be allowed."
Against that backdrop, Infantino's use of the word "professionalism" to describe the beaten finalists has struck many observers as tone-deaf, coming from the head of the body actively investigating the same players for misconduct.
The defeat has also triggered an extraordinary wave of fan activism. A Change.org petition demanding the final be replayed, and accusing Slovenian referee Slavko Vinčić of a "controversial and corrupt" performance, has passed 82,000 signatures.
Separately, a petition calling for Argentina to be excluded from future World Cups altogether gathered more than 29 million signatures before it was closed, while another campaign targeting Paredes specifically reached roughly 23 million names.
Sport5's original report, citing Argentine coverage of the leak, said federation president Claudio Tapia had urged supporters to accept Spain's victory rather than dwell on the refereeing controversy — a notably more measured tone than the mass petitions suggest exists among parts of the fan base.
FIFA has not commented publicly on the leaked letter itself, and it remains unclear who passed the document to media outlets or why, given the sensitivity of an ongoing disciplinary process involving the same federation the letter praises.
The disciplinary prosecutor's findings, whenever they arrive, will determine whether Argentina's players and staff face bans or fines over the post-final scenes — a process now complicated, at least in the court of public opinion, by the FIFA president's own warm words to the team under investigation.
