Argentina national football team

• 1. Introduction

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  Argentina's national football team took the field for the first time on the 20th of June 1902 in Montevideo, and beat Uruguay 6-0. Neither side had ever played an international match before that day, and Argentina walked away with six goals to nothing. The team, nicknamed la Albiceleste, is administered by the Argentine Football Association. Since that first match, it has climbed the sport's record books, and today it is ranked 3rd in the FIFA Men's World Ranking. This story follows the stripes, the stadiums and the stars stitched above a badge across more than a century of football. What turned a squad that once faced long journeys between countries into a team recognised by its jersey and its rivalries? And why does a single goal scored directly from a corner kick still carry the name of a Uruguayan Olympic medal?

• 2. The Six Finals

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  On the 30th of July 1930, Argentina played in the first ever FIFA World Cup final and lost 4-2 to Uruguay. The team did not reach another final until the 25th of June 1978, when it beat the Netherlands 3-1 under manager César Luis Menotti. Diego Maradona led Argentina past West Germany 3-2 for a second title in 1986, under manager Carlos Bilardo.

  Maradona brought Argentina back to the final in 1990, but the team lost 1-0 to West Germany on a much-disputed penalty. With Lionel Messi as captain, Argentina reached the final again in 2014, and lost 1-0 to Germany in extra time. Argentina finally won a third World Cup in 2022, beating France in a penalty shoot-out after a 3-3 draw, under manager Lionel Scaloni.

  Six trips to the final in all, and three of them ended in a title. Each of those wins would later be marked differently, not on the scoreboard but on the badge the team wears into every match.

• 3. Continental Domination

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  Argentina has belonged to FIFA since 1912 and became a founding member of CONMEBOL in 1916. From 1946 to 1961, it also belonged to PFC, a unified confederation of the Americas. Within CONMEBOL's own competition, Argentina has won the Copa América a record 16 times, most recently in 2024. It is also the only nation to win the tournament three times in a row, with titles in 1945-1946 and 1947.

  Argentina also won the Panamerican Championship in 1960 and the inaugural FIFA Confederations Cup in 1992. It added the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions in 1993 and again in 2022. In total, Argentina holds the record for most official international titles, with 23. In March 2007, the team reached the top of the FIFA Men's World Ranking for the first time.

  A handful of those trophies carry individual names attached to them, names that also appear in the sport's most prestigious individual awards.

• 4. Golden Ball Winners

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  Diego Maradona became the first Argentine to win the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, in 1986. Lionel Messi later won the same award twice, in 2014 and in 2022. Between them, Argentina players have won the Golden Ball three times.

  Lionel Messi has made 198 appearances for Argentina, more than any other player in the team's history. He has also scored 116 goals for the national team, another national record.

  Every one of those caps was earned on grounds that carry their own stories, starting with the stadium Argentina calls home today.

• 5. Home Grounds

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  Estadio Monumental, the stadium of Club Atlético River Plate in Buenos Aires, hosts most of Argentina's home matches today. The team also plays at other venues, including Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades and La Bombonera.

  GEBA Stadium was the first ground Argentina used for home matches. It hosted the Copa Newton match against Uruguay on the 13th of September 1908. GEBA also hosted the Copa Centenario Revolución de Mayo, organised by the Argentine Football Association in 1910. That 1910 tournament was the first competition ever played between South American national teams, and is considered the forerunner of the Copa América.

  Estadio Sportivo Barracas was Argentina's regular ground from 1920 to 1932. Playing there on the 2nd of October 1924, forward Cesáreo Onzari scored directly from a corner kick, the first reported instance of the feat. Because Uruguay had just won gold at the 1924 Olympics, this kind of goal became known as an Olimpico.

  That same stretch of years also saw Argentina step onto the pitch in a jersey whose look had just taken its permanent shape.

• 6. The Albiceleste Stripes

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  Argentina wore a plain light blue shirt in its official debut against Uruguay in 1902. On the 2nd of July 1908, Argentina debuted a new design at the Velódromo Paulistano, in a match against a Campeonato Paulista side. The new jersey was white with light blue vertical stripes. It became official on the 13th of September, in a match against Uruguay, and has remained Argentina's defining kit ever since. Away kits have generally been dark blue, with the shorts and socks changing over time.

  On the 3rd of June 1919 in Rio de Janeiro, Argentina wore a light blue kit similar to Uruguay's, out of respect for Roberto Chery. Chery, a substitute goalkeeper for Uruguay, had collapsed and died during a match against Chile at the 1919 South American Championship. The Brazilian Football Confederation organised that match against Brazil for the benefit of Chery's relatives.

  At the 1958 World Cup, Argentina wore the yellow jersey of Swedish club IFK Malmö against West Germany. The team had arrived in Sweden without an away kit of its own.

  At the 1986 World Cup, manager Carlos Bilardo asked kit supplier Le Coq Sportif for lighter blue shirts before the quarter-final against England. The supplier had only three days and could not provide them in time. A member of the coaching staff then searched shops across Mexico City for 38 plain shirts. Staff embroidered an improvised version of the AFA emblem onto the shirts and ironed silvery American football numbers onto the backs. Wearing those makeshift jerseys, Argentina beat England on the 22nd of June. The shirt became a lasting symbol of that match, later prized as a collector's item.

  At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Argentina debuted a black away kit. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the team wore a purple away kit in a competitive match for the first time. Manufacturers have changed many times over the decades. St. Margaret supplied the kit in the early 1900s, followed over the years by Gath & Chaves, Industria Lanús, Le Coq Sportif and Reebok. Adidas has held the contract since 2002.

  One symbol has stayed fixed on that jersey through every change of supplier and colour. Its own design has changed far more quietly than the shirt around it.

• 7. The Crest

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  Argentina first wore the Argentine Football Association's own logo at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, though only on team jackets, not on shirts. The emblem did not appear on the jersey itself until the 16th of November 1976, when Argentina played the Soviet Union at Estadio Monumental. At first, the crest carried no laurel wreath; that detail was added for the 1982 World Cup.

  In 2004, two stars were added above the crest, one for each of Argentina's first two World Cup titles. A third star followed in 2022, once Argentina had been crowned world champions for a third time.

  That badge, with its wreath and three stars, sits on a team defined as much by its rivals as by its trophies.

• 8. Fierce Rivalries

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  FIFA has called it "the essence of football rivalry," one of the oldest contests in South America: the Argentina-Brazil fixture. Argentines call it the Superclassic of the Americas, and even friendly matches between the two sides often turn controversial. The rivalry is often framed through Pelé and Diego Maradona, and through the pair before them, Garrincha of Brazil and Alfredo Di Stéfano of Argentina. Today the most prominent names are Neymar of Brazil and Lionel Messi of Argentina, both of whom Pelé and Maradona have called their own successors.

  The rivalry with England traces back to the 1966 World Cup and sharpened after the 1982 Falklands War. In the 1986 quarter-final, Diego Maradona scored twice against England. The first goal was a handball the referee ruled legal. The second came after Maradona dribbled past five England outfield players, often called one of the greatest goals in football history. Argentina beat England on penalties in the round of 16 at the 1998 World Cup. At the 2002 World Cup, England won the rematch 1-0 on a penalty from David Beckham, who had been sent off in the 1998 meeting.

  Argentina and Germany have met in seven World Cup matches, three of them finals. The other four meetings went Germany's way more often than not. In 1958, Argentina lost 1-3 to defending champions West Germany in the group stage. In 1966, the same stage produced a scoreless draw. In 2006, Argentina lost on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the quarter-final, a match followed by a brawl on the pitch. In 2010, at the same stage, Germany won 4-0.

  Argentina's rivalry with Mexico is considered one-sided, since Argentine fans rarely rank Mexico alongside Brazil, Germany, Uruguay or England. The first official match between the two nations came at the 1930 World Cup, where Argentina won 6-3 in the group stage. The rivalry sharpened after the 1993 Copa América final, the first ever played between the two sides, which Argentina won 2-1. It also grew at club level after Mexican clubs began joining the Copa Libertadores in the late 1990s, producing memorable matches against Boca Juniors. At the 2022 World Cup, fans from both countries fought in Doha before the match, and again inside Lusail Stadium after Argentina won 2-0.

  That win eliminated Mexico alongside Saudi Arabia, while Argentina advanced together with Poland. Even a one-sided rivalry can decide who keeps playing for the trophy.