New Delhi, July 31 -- ZURICH - When Argentina's players celebrated their 2-1 semifinal victory over England in Atlanta, someone produced a handwritten sign. "Las Malvinas son argentinas." The Falklands are Argentine. The banner triggered a UK diplomatic protest and a formal demand for FIFA to act. On Wednesday, FIFA did.

The Disciplinary Committee announced it had opened formal proceedings against the Argentine Football Association on multiple counts, the most politically charged of which concerns that banner, a statement asserting Argentine sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, the disputed South Atlantic archipelago over which the two countries fought a war in 1982. FIFA described the banner as "using a sports event for demonstrations...