The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has commemorated the country’s 2026 World Cup semi-final win over England with a special day of the year that will be celebrated annually.

The AFA announced that 15 July, the day of Argentina’s 2-1 triumph in Atlanta, will be “National Football Teams Day”.

The latest chapter of their deep-rooted rivalry, England had their hearts broken by Argentina after initially taking a second-half lead through Anthony Gordon, denied a first World Cup final since 1966 following a late comeback from the tournament holders.

With Thomas Tuchel’s side sitting deep, Argentina piled on the pressure and equalised in the 85th minute through Enzo Fernandez, before Lautaro Martinez’s stoppage-time winner set up a finale showdown with Spain.

Argentina went on to lose that final in extra-time, which became the subject of infamy as Lionel Scaloni’s players sparked a brawl at full-time in disgraceful scenes.

But the AFA has nevertheless chosen to draw focus back to their win over England, a match which had an overriding political element attached to it due to tensions over the Falkland Islands.

Argentina’s players unfurled a banner at full-time which read “Los Malvinas son Argentinas”, translated to “The Falklands are Argentine” - an act which is currently under investigation by Fifa.

The cause of Falklands, known as the Malvinas in Spanish, is ever-present in Argentinian culture - let alone football - with the country staunchly believing the British Overseas Territory, 300 miles off the coast of Argentina, should be under its sovereignty.

This resulted in the Argentina’s then military dictatorship invading the South Atlantic archipelago in 1982, resulting in a 74-day conflict which took the lives of 907 people: 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 from Britain and three Falkland Islanders.

The people that live on the Falklands, which has a population of around 3,700, overwhelmingly identify themselves as British, despite living on an outpost 8,000 miles away from mainland UK.

They speak English and the culture is basically identical to that of rural or coastal Britain, with 99.8 percent of Falkland Islanders voting to remain a UK territory in a 2013 referendum.

But Argentina’s continued dispute over sovereignty of the islands is a point of great national patriotism, something which has bled into football and adds greater significance to any meeting with England.

Argentina fans loudly jeered “God Save The King” before England supporters followed suit for the Argentine national anthem, both of which were completely drowned out on the television broadcast.

The semi-final win came 40 years after another famous Argentina World Cup victory, when Diego Maradona scored the “Hand of God” in a controversial quarter-final triumph at Mexico ‘86.