Argentina is one of only eight nations to have lifted the FIFA World Cup, and one of even fewer to have done it more than twice. Three titles — 1978, 1986, 2022 — stitched together across five decades, each one centred on a genius wearing the number 10 shirt. But the Argentine relationship with the World Cup runs deeper than three trophies. It includes two runner-up finishes (1990 and 2014), a “Hand of God,” a military dictatorship, the greatest individual tournament performance in history, and a final in Qatar that may never be surpassed. No country invests more emotional weight in this single tournament than Argentina, and no country’s football identity is more tightly bound to it.
1978 — The home trophy, under a shadow
The first title came on home soil, and it is impossible to discuss without acknowledging its political context. Argentina in 1978 was ruled by a military junta led by Jorge Rafael Videla, which had seized power in a 1976 coup. The regime was engaged in the “Dirty War” — a campaign of state terrorism in which an estimated 30,000 people were disappeared, tortured, and killed. The World Cup was used explicitly as a propaganda tool: the junta poured money into stadiums, controlled media coverage, and sought to present a sanitized image of Argentina to the world. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo — mothers of the disappeared — protested within blocks of the stadiums while matches were being played.
On the pitch, coach César Luis Menotti — a chain-smoking intellectual who professed left-wing sympathies despite serving the junta’s purposes — built an attacking, expressive team. The star was Mario Kempes, a long-haired striker playing for Valencia in Spain who had been recalled to the squad against considerable opposition. Kempes was electric throughout the tournament: powerful, fast, with a knack for arriving in the box at exactly the right moment. He scored twice in the group stage, twice in the second group phase, and then twice more in the final against the Netherlands at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires.
The final itself was dramatic. The Netherlands, without the retired Johan Cruyff (who refused to travel to Argentina, reportedly due to both political objections and a kidnapping trauma), equalized late through Dick Nanninga and nearly won it in the 90th minute when Rob Rensenbrink hit the post. In extra time, Kempes scored his second, dribbling past the Dutch goalkeeper, and Daniel Bertoni added a third. The final score was 3–1. Ticker tape filled the Buenos Aires night sky. Kempes finished as the tournament’s top scorer with six goals.
The 1978 World Cup remains one of the most morally complicated tournaments in history. The football was genuine; the context was horrifying. Argentina’s relationship with that first star has always been more ambivalent than it appears from the outside.
1986 — Maradona’s tournament
Eight years later came what many still consider the greatest individual performance in the history of team sport. Diego Armando Maradona, 25 years old, captain of Argentina, and at the absolute peak of his extraordinary powers, dragged a limited squad through Mexico ‘86 with a force of will and talent that defied comprehension.
The tournament is remembered above all for the quarter-final against England in Mexico City on June 22, 1986 — a match loaded with political subtext, coming just four years after the Falklands War. In the 51st minute, Maradona challenged goalkeeper Peter Shilton for a high ball and punched it into the net with his left fist. The referee, Ali Bin Nasser of Tunisia, did not see the handball. “A little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God,” Maradona said afterward — a quote that became the goal’s name. The “Hand of God” was cheating, and Maradona never seriously pretended otherwise. It was also, in the context of Argentine-British relations, an act of gleeful defiance.
Four minutes later, Maradona scored again, and this time there was no controversy — only wonder. He received the ball in his own half, on the right side of the pitch, and ran. He beat Peter Beardsley. He beat Peter Reid. He beat Terry Butcher. He beat Terry Fenwick. He beat Shilton. He scored. The run covered approximately 60 meters and lasted ten seconds. It was voted FIFA’s Goal of the Century in 2002 and has never been seriously challenged for that title. Gary Lineker, who scored England’s consolation in the 2–1 defeat, later said simply: “He was the best player I ever saw.”
Maradona scored twice more against Belgium in the semi-final — another display of individual genius — and then set up Jorge Burruchaga for the winning goal in a 3–2 final against West Germany at the Azteca Stadium. Menotti had left; Carlos Bilardo — tactically rigid, defensively organized, Menotti’s philosophical opposite — was now the coach, but the tournament belonged entirely to one player. Maradona finished with five goals and five assists in seven matches, won the Golden Ball, and cemented himself as the most iconic footballer of the 20th century.
1990 and 2014 — The near-misses
Argentina’s World Cup story is not only about triumph. The two runner-up finishes — in 1990 and 2014 — left scars that made the eventual 2022 victory even more cathartic.
In Italy 1990, Maradona was still the captain but no longer the irresistible force of four years earlier. Argentina limped through the group stage, losing to Cameroon in the opener (one of the great World Cup upsets), and then advanced through the knockout rounds largely through grit and penalty shootouts. They beat Yugoslavia on penalties in the quarter-final and Italy (the hosts) on penalties in the semi-final — the latter in Naples, where Maradona played his club football and where the crowd’s loyalties were painfully divided. In the final against West Germany in Rome, Argentina had two players sent off and lost 1–0 to an Andreas Brehme penalty. Maradona wept on the pitch. It was the last great match of his international career.
In 2014, Lionel Messi — Maradona’s heir as Argentina’s generational genius — carried the team to the final in Brazil. He won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player, but the final against Germany at the Maracanã was a match of agonizing frustration. Gonzalo Higuaín missed a clear chance in the first half, Rodrigo Palacio fluffed another, and Messi himself was uncharacteristically quiet. Mario Götze scored the winner for Germany in extra time. Messi collected the Golden Ball trophy at the podium and looked as though he wanted to be anywhere else on Earth. The image of him walking past the World Cup trophy without touching it became a symbol of his complicated relationship with the national team.
2022 — Messi completes the story
Argentina waited 36 years for a third star, and when it finally came, it arrived in the most dramatic fashion imaginable. Lionel Messi, now 35, had already won seven Ballons d’Or, four Champions League titles, and virtually every individual and club honor the game offers. But the World Cup — the one trophy that separates good from immortal in Argentine football culture — had eluded him. The 2014 final, the 2015 and 2016 Copa América final defeats (after which he briefly retired from international football) — each one had added to the narrative that Messi, for all his genius, could not deliver for Argentina when it mattered most.
Coach Lionel Scaloni — a former journeyman defender with no top-level coaching experience when he was appointed in 2018 — built a squad specifically designed to maximize Messi’s late-career gifts. The midfield of Rodrigo De Paul and Enzo Fernández provided energy, pressing, and ball-carrying ability so that Messi could conserve his legs and operate as a pure number 10, free to drift, create, and finish. Julián Álvarez, a 22-year-old Manchester City striker, ran the channels with ferocious intensity. Ángel Di María, 34, was saved for big moments on the left wing. The defense, marshalled by Nicolás Otamendi and Cristian Romero, was organized and aggressive. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez was a personality as much as a player — theatrical, confrontational, brilliant in shootouts.
Argentina lost their opening match 2–1 to Saudi Arabia in one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history. From that point on, they did not lose again. They beat Mexico and Poland to escape the group, then Australia (round of 16), the Netherlands (quarter-final, on penalties after a furious 2–2 draw), and Croatia (semi-final, 3–0, with Messi producing a vintage performance).
The final against France on December 18, 2022, at Lusail Iconic Stadium is widely considered the greatest World Cup final ever played. Messi opened the scoring with a penalty in the 23rd minute after Ousmane Dembélé fouled Di María. In the 36th minute, a sweeping team move — 32 passes from one end of the pitch to the other — ended with Di María finishing at the back post. Argentina led 2–0 and were utterly dominant. France, for 80 minutes, were invisible.
Then Kylian Mbappé happened. In the 80th minute, he scored from the penalty spot. Ninety-seven seconds later — 97 seconds — he volleyed a Marcus Thuram cross past Martínez to make it 2–2. It was the most devastating 97-second spell in World Cup final history. The match went to extra time. Messi scored again in the 108th minute, poking the ball home after his shot was saved. Argentina led 3–2. But Mbappé completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 118th minute. The final score after 120 minutes: 3–3.
The penalty shootout was decided by Martínez, who saved Kingsley Coman’s effort and watched Aurélien Tchouaméni miss the target entirely. Gonzalo Montiel scored Argentina’s winning penalty. Messi fell to his knees. The squad mobbed him. Maradona’s ghost — he had died two years earlier, almost to the day — hung over everything. The image of Messi lifting the trophy in a bisht (a traditional Qatari robe) placed on his shoulders by the Emir of Qatar became the most-liked photograph in Instagram history.
Copa América 2024 — Confirming the dynasty
Nine months after Qatar, Argentina confirmed their status as the dominant force in South American football by winning Copa América 2024 in the United States. They beat Colombia 1–0 in the final in Miami, with Lautaro Martínez scoring the winner in extra time. It was Argentina’s third consecutive major trophy (Copa América 2021, World Cup 2022, Copa América 2024) — a sequence of dominance not seen from a South American nation since Brazil’s peak in the early 2000s. Messi was injured during the final but remained on the bench, his presence alone a gravitational force.
2026 — Defending the crown
Messi, now 38 and playing for Inter Miami in MLS, has indicated that the 2026 World Cup — hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico — will almost certainly be his last tournament. The question for Scaloni is not whether Messi will be selected but how much he can contribute physically in a 48-team tournament that demands more matches than any World Cup in history.
The core of the 2022 squad is intact and largely in its prime. Enzo Fernández (Chelsea), now 25, has matured into one of the most complete midfielders in world football. Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool) provides creativity and composure. Julián Álvarez (Atlético Madrid) is the starting centre-forward and one of the most prolific young strikers in Europe. Cristian Romero (Tottenham) anchors the defense. Martínez remains in goal, as theatrical and effective as ever.
If Argentina successfully defend their title, they will become the first South American side since Brazil in 1962 to win back-to-back World Cups, and only the third nation in history to do so. The weight of that ambition — and the shirt, and the number 10 — will be carried by the same man who carried it in Lusail. Whether Messi can summon one final act of magic, or whether the squad Scaloni has built can win without his peak contributions, is the defining question of the 2026 tournament.
