Josip simunic

The Argentine Football Association: FIFA has handed Argentina midfielder Leandro Paredes a 10-match suspension for his role in the post-match clashes with Spain following their defeat in the World Cup final, with the sanction effectively ruling him out of the national team for the next year.

Paredes was given a ten-game ban for grabbing Spain's defender Eric García by the throat and pushing Gavi to the ground following Argentina's loss, a penalty which is one of the harshest ever imposed in World Cup history and is equal in severity to the suspension given to Croatia's Josip Simunic in 2013. Nahuel Molina, who is a defender for Argentina, was given a suspension for seven matches and Thiago Almada, a midfielder, received a one-match ban.

Paredes and Molina were each fined $90,000 and Almada was fined $30,000. Given that the FIFA international calendar includes 10 matches for Argentina up to June 2027, Paredes' suspension is in effect equivalent to a one-year ban from the national team. All of these 10 games could be friendly matches, since Argentina has no competitive fixtures arranged for that period. Gavi, who is a midfielder for Spain, has also received a one-match suspension which he will have to serve in Spain's match against England in the Nations League at Wembley on September 26.