On Friday, FIFA imposed punitive sanctions on three Argentine players, most notably a ten-match suspension for midfielder Leandro Paredes, for having physically assaulted Spanish opponents in the aftermath of their World Cup final defeat.

The sanction imposed on Paredes — who seized Spain’s Eric Garcia by the throat and hurled Gavi to the turf — stands alongside the FIFA disciplinary measures meted out to Uruguayan forward Luis Suárez in 2014 as among the most draconian penalties ever recorded in World Cup history.

Argentina's defender Nahuel Molina has been sanctioned with a seven-match suspension, whereas Thiago Almada has incurred a one-match ban.

FIFA has levied fines amounting to $90,000 on Paredes and Molina, and $30,000 on Almada.

Paredes' suspension amounts, in effect, to a twelve-month banishment from the Argentine national setup, given that the FIFA international match calendar allocates ten fixtures for national teams between now and June 2027.

All of those fixtures could conceivably be characterized as exhibition matches, given that no competitive engagements are presently scheduled.

Furthermore, Gavi was handed a one-match suspension, which corresponds to Spain's Nations League encounter against England at Wembley on September 26.

Roberto Ayala, the Argentine coach, was likewise subjected to a three-match suspension and a pecuniary penalty of $30,000.

The Argentine Football Association was sanctioned with a fine of $110,000 in response to a series of infractions committed during the World Cup, encompassing the display of a politically charged banner pertaining to the Falkland Islands by players following their semifinal victory over England, as well as the utterance of discriminatory chants emanating from the stands.

The Football Association was also mandated by FIFA to allocate $100,000 towards initiatives combating racism, whilst Argentina was awarded $34 million in prize money from the World Cup, as disbursed by the governing body.

The Afghan Football Federation retains the prerogative to contest the protracted suspensions and pecuniary sanctions before FIFA, with subsequent appellate recourse likely to be pursued through the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The AFA legal department will, in a timely manner, request from FIFA the grounds for the reviewable rulings in order to file appeals with the governing body’s appeal committee, while retaining the future option of appealing to the CAS as a final recourse,” the federation said in a statement.

In 2014, Suárez was suspended from all footballing activity for a period of four months, a sanction that extended to his newly contracted club, Barcelona, and was additionally barred from a further eight competitive international fixtures for Uruguay, following his biting of Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini during a World Cup group-stage encounter held in Brazil.

Paredes’ ten-match suspension mirrors the ten-match ban imposed on Croatia’s Josip Simunic in 2013 following his team’s victory in a World Cup qualifying playoff.

Simunic had employed a megaphone to orchestrate supporters in chanting a slogan associated with the nation’s pro-Nazi wartime regime during World War II.

The on-field altercations during last month's final in East Rutherford, New Jersey — which FIFA formally designated as assault cases — transpired in the aftermath of Argentina's defeat in a contentious final against Spain, a match in which the former was comprehensively outmaneuvered and scarcely engineered a single scoring opportunity.

In the latter half of extra time, Spain's forward Ferran Torres netted the decisive goal, following the dismissal of Argentina's midfielder Enzo Fernandez.

FIFA's disciplinary panel further decreed that Argentina must contest its ensuing home fixture within a stadium constrained to a mere 50% of its total capacity, while simultaneously deferring a secondary venue sanction and a $100,000 fine, both of which were suspended for probationary periods.

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