Nahuel Molina will serve a shorter ban than first handed down for his part in the brawl that followed Spain’s 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina in the 2026 World Cup final. FIFA’s Appeals Committee partially upheld the Argentine Football Association’s appeal on 6 November, cutting the Roma full-back’s suspension from seven international matches to four and lowering his fine from $90,000 to $60,000.

The same committee rejected Leandro Paredes’ appeal, keeping the midfielder’s 10-match ban and $90,000 fine in place.

Molina had already sat out three of the original seven games during Argentina’s October friendlies against Bolivia, Burkina Faso and Benin. With the ban cut to four, he effectively has one game left to serve.

The brawl at MetLife

The sanctions stem from the scenes that followed the final whistle at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on 19 July. Molina was seen swinging a punch toward Spain captain Rodri as the newly crowned champions ran out to celebrate, setting off a wider scrum involving players and staff. Paredes went further, grabbing defender Eric García by the throat and wrestling Gavi to the ground before being shown a straight red card.

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Argentina’s players left the field without joining Spain’s trophy celebrations.

AFA plans CAS challenge

Argentina’s federation welcomed the Molina reduction but made clear its frustration with the Paredes ruling. In its statement, the AFA said it would ask FIFA for the full grounds of both decisions before heading to Lausanne.

“The next steps in defending the rights of the player and the AFA will be to request the grounds for the decisions and, with them, appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for a new review.”

The federation added that it had “sufficient factual and legal grounds” to pursue the case.

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Paredes has called his 10-match suspension “exaggerated” in comments to EssentiallySports, pointing to the one-match ban handed to Gavi over the same incident. Beyond the individual player bans, Argentina were hit with a federation fine of around $321,000 and ordered to play two home matches at 50% stadium capacity in connection with crowd-related offences during the tournament.

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