Argentina’s World Cup celebration draws criticism for Lionel Messi’s attire and Emi Martinez’s vulgar gesture

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Argentina provided plenty of reason to celebrate when they won the World Cup on Sunday. The game itself was amazing and featured two of the best players giving it their all. There were last-minute scores that led to header changes and, eventually, a penalty shootout.

In the end, Argentina won their first World Cup in over 30 years. Lionel Messi finally did it. The party would certainly be joyous.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi is presented with a traditional black bisht robe by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

For many, it was. How does an unbiased fan not get carried away the moment after a match like this? But some aspects of Argentina’s celebration sparked controversy, potentially diminishing the team’s victory.

The first concerned the Argentinian goalkeeper Emi Martinez. After winning the World Cup, Martinez received the Golden Glove, an award given to the best goalkeeper at the World Cup.

After receiving the award, which is essentially a trophy with one hand, Martinez took it down and held it in front of his crotch, making a phallic gesture. His actions caused a BBC commentator to say: “No! Don’t do that, Emi.”

Martinez also took a shot at French star Kyle Mbappé after the game, mockingly holding a moment of silence for Mbappé in the Argentina dressing room.

Mbappé scored three goals in the loss. Thanks to him, France was able to force the shootout and almost defeated Argentina.

Lionel Messi wears a bisht during Argentina celebration

The celebration also sparked questions after Messi wore a bisht while holding the World Cup trophy. A bisht is an Arabic robe for men usually worn on special occasions. Before receiving the trophy, Messi received the bisht from Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar.

The gesture can be seen as a way for hosts Qatar to honor Messi and acknowledge his greatness. Some, however, believed the timing had pushed Argentina away and put the focus back on Qatar.

Messi wearing the bisht technically goes against FIFA’s ‘party dress’ policy, which is set out in Article 27 of FIFA’s ‘Equipment Regulations’ guide.

The story continues

Article 27 states:

“In FIFA final competitions, celebratory attire may only be worn on the field of play after the following official FIFA activities have taken place (during which the team must wear the shirts they was wearing during the match in question.)”

The policy then lists “trophy presentation, official FIFA photographs and official media appearances” as instances when players must wear the shirts they wore during the game.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino was on stage when Messi received the bisht and didn’t appear to object to the gesture at the time.

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