Argentina Football Association (AFA) president Julio Grondona said on Tuesday he did not know whether FIFA could sanction the country for naming its top-tier tournament after ARA General Belgrano – the naval ship torpedoed by a British submarine in 1982.
Tensions between Argentina and Britain have increased in recent weeks with the approaching 30-year anniversary in April of the start of the 10-week conflict over the Falkland Islands – called Las Malvinas in Argentina.
Soccer’s world governing body has reportedly asked the AFA for clarification of reports that the Argentina league season, which begins on Friday, will be the known as the Crucero General Belgrano Primera Division – or in English, Cruiser General Belgrano First Division.
Argentina lost 649 servicemen in the war, 323 on the Belgrano.
“I don’t know about that situation,” said Grondona, who is also a FIFA vice-president, dryly when asked about the reports that the AFA could be sanctioned for breaching Article 3 of the FIFA Statues.
An unnamed AFA spokesman told the private DyN news agency: “Federations, when they name tournaments, they are already commercial, like in Spain, or commemorative, as in this case. Generally, you do what is necessary – that is to inform FIFA. The AFA isn’t going to do anything that goes against the rules”.
According to media reports, FIFA have asked AFA to “provide additional information” on the name given to the tournament and added that “a potential name change of the First Division would clearly be an infringement of norms”.
This season’s Argentina Cup would also be known as the “Gaucho Rivero” Cup, to honour a resistant to the occupation of the Falklands by the United Kingdom in 1833.
The Argentine government have been angered by the recent arrival in the Falklands of Prince William, second in line to the British throne. The prince has been deployed to the islands for six weeks as a search-and-rescue pilot.