Argentina

Argentina at the World Cup 2026

Argentina arrive at the 2026 World Cup as the defending champions for the first time since 1990, when Diego Maradona's team lost the final to West Germany in Rome. Lionel Scaloni's side won the Qatar 2022 trophy on penalties against France in one of the great World Cup finals, and has subsequently won the 2024 Copa América in the United States — beating Colombia in the final — to become the only team in modern football history to hold both major intercontinental titles simultaneously for a sustained period.

This is widely understood to be Lionel Messi's final tournament. The captain turns 39 during the group stage. He plays his club football at Inter Miami in MLS, where he has remained since his summer 2023 move from PSG. He has scored 109 international goals — a CONMEBOL record — and has played at five previous World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022). The 2026 tournament makes him the only outfield player in football history to have played six men's World Cups.

Argentina are based at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City throughout the tournament — the Group J fixtures, a likely Round of 32 match, and any potential Round of 16 fixture will all be played there. Arrowhead's 76,416 capacity makes it the largest American football stadium hosting matches at this World Cup, and Argentina's qualifying campaign (8W-3D-3L-1L equivalent) places them as second favourites for the trophy behind France at most books.

Scaloni — who, in a strange coincidence, played at Lazio under current Algeria coach Vladimir Petković in 2013 — has built this squad around a controlled-possession spine (De Paul, Mac Allister, Enzo Fernández) with veteran defenders (Otamendi at 38, Romero at 28) and a youthful attacking edge. Eight of the 26-man squad are aged 21 or under, including 17-year-old Franco Mastantuono, who joined Real Madrid in summer 2025 for €45 million and starts in attack alongside Messi.

Group J fixtures

All three group-stage matches for Argentina at World Cup 2026 with current odds from our partner books.

Squad & predicted XI

Emiliano Martínez · Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Tagliafico · De Paul, Mac Allister, Enzo Fernández · Mastantuono, Messi (c), Julián Álvarez

Formation: 4-4-2 / 4-3-3 · Coach: Lionel Scaloni

How Argentina qualified for World Cup 2026

Argentina won the 2026 CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying tournament with 38 points from 18 matches (12 wins, 2 draws, 4 losses), finishing 13 points clear of second-place Ecuador and qualifying for the World Cup with months to spare. Their qualifying campaign included a 1-0 home win against Brazil in the iconic Maracanã in November 2023 — the only time Brazil has lost a competitive home match at the Maracanã against South American opposition in the 21st century.

Notable qualifying performances included a 4-1 win over Uruguay in Buenos Aires (Messi hat-trick), a 3-0 win over Bolivia at altitude in La Paz (a notoriously difficult venue for visiting CONMEBOL sides), and a 1-1 draw away to Chile that featured a 35th-minute Messi free kick that broke the South American all-time goal-scoring record. The Albiceleste also lost a 2-1 surprise at home to Uruguay during the tail end of the cycle, but had already mathematically qualified by then.

Argentina were dominant in the 2024 Copa América (also held in the United States as a pre-World Cup test event), winning the tournament with a 1-0 extra-time win over Colombia in the final at Hard Rock Stadium, Miami. Lautaro Martínez scored the winning goal. The Copa América win confirmed Argentina as the second-favourite for the World Cup outright market at every European-licensed bookmaker.

World Cup history

Argentina have won the World Cup three times — 1978 (at home, beating the Netherlands 3-1 in the final), 1986 (in Mexico, beating West Germany 3-2 in the final, with Maradona's 'Hand of God' and 'Goal of the Century' in the quarter-final against England), and 2022 (in Qatar, beating France on penalties). They have also lost three World Cup finals — 1930, 1990, and 2014 (to Germany in the Maracanã).

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