Hi everyone!
In this post you will learn everything there is to know about the Argentine passion for football, as well as aspects of our culture related to the sport.
But first, let’s start with some history that will answer the question: why are we so great? (I’m kidding!! But let’s do learn some history first)
Football, fútbol in Spanish, or soccer in American English, is the most popular sport in our country. In Argentine slang, it’s also called fulbo, chuti in Northern Argentina, or simply “jugar a la pelota” - “play ball” all over the country.
Football has a long history in our country, brought here around the 1870’s by British immigrants. At first it was played solely by them, or in British schools or clubs that didn’t give it much attention, but it was slowly played more and more by all kinds of citizens.
Argentines got used to playing football in what’s called the southamerican way: In open spaces, unregulated, and with no supervision nor preparation.
Kids used to play on the street with balls made out of socks, deflated balls, nothing could stop them!
This way of playing made the players have certain characteristics in their game, improving their improvisation skills, as well as each player’s individual skill at handling the ball. They also got used to shorter distance passes, and a more physical and violent way of defending.
What they most learned and got used to is dribbling, which is the basis of Argentine football.
Messi’s dribbling skills are superb, if you haven’t yet, you have to watch him dribble
In the 1970’s, television helped discover other styles played in European football, and football in Argentina evolved by merging the primary characteristics Southamerican football had with the European one, thus making a much more effective style.
This style is, along with natural Argentine competitiveness and of course passion, the main reasons that helped us win 2 World Cups and 14 American Cups.
We are really proud of our team, win or lose most of us support them, with some exceptions.
Our enormous pride unfortunately leads to some discussions when playing with other national teams, especially other Latin American ones. In fact, I’m sure that when some Latinos read the “why are we the best?” at the start of this post they thought “Of course she would say that!!!”
It has made some people ask people of other nationalities "Ché, cuántas copas tenés?” - “Hey, how many cups do you have?” although it may have started a bit serious at first, it has become a way for Argentines to troll others, as well as others to mock us regarding football.
But it’s always good once we meet with them personally!.. Unless a match is happening or has just ended, both sides need some time to cool off.
Although in the 90’s the football schools for kids started appearing, which is thought to have changed the style into a more organized one, it hasn’t changed that much. Argentines still have the same passion: kids still play football with anything they can get their hands on. If it’s allowed, it’s not a rare sight to see them in recess playing informal matches with a bottle cap or a paper ball wrapped up in adhesive tape and don’t have any doubts they ask to play it in every class of P.E.!
It isn’t unusual either for teens or adults to play the same informal matches played in the past in parks or rented fields with friends after school or work. These rented fields are usually indoors, which is called fútsal, and are usually made for 5 vs 5 matches.
What are now the most known football clubs were founded only about two decades after the introduction or football in Argentina.
The football teams called the “big five” are:
- Boca Juniors. Called the Xeneizes or the “half plus one”.
- Independiente. Also known as the Red Devils or the King of Cups.
- Racing. Which nickname is The Academy.
- River Plate. Also called the The Millionaires or The Hens.
- San Lorenzo de Almagro, the Saint or Cyclone.
A little fun fact about Boca, brought by a comment @Sorbe made is that it was funded by immigrants of the Italian city of Genoa, where he’s originally from. The Xeneizes come from the spanish translation of people from Genoa and they chose the colors of the shirt, blue and yellow, based on the first ship spotted on the harbor, which was Swedish. Boca Juniors is also the team Maradona played for at two different times.
And as it usually happens, each team has their own special rival they most want to beat. When the rivals play a match together it is called a classic and you know that people will take the win or lose to heart more than usual, which is saying a lot considering how passionate we are about it normally.
There’s a superclassic, a classic that everyone cares about, no matter what team they support: Boca - River.
Not so long ago they played against each other in a cup final that involved two matches!
And football knows no boundaries: One of the matches fell on a Saturday, the day religious Jews practice Shabbat and can’t watch TV among other things, so naturally a group of 35 Jewish ortodox friends went to Europe for two days to be able to watch it!
Our passion for football begins from the time we are born powered by our families, and later on by friends and even strangers.
The most passionate parents buy football themed clothes and accessories for their babies or pets, either from our national team, or the team they go for.
Do you know how the question “What’s your favorite color?” is asked so much?. The question “¿De qué cuadro sos?” - meaning “What team do you go for?” is nearly as common as that one here, and can be even more common as you get older.
A study said that 90% of Argentines are fans of a football team, so most of us have an answer to the question.
Our obsession passion for football can be seen in our streets.There are lots of businesses only dedicated to selling fan gear. Flags of the different teams can be seen hanging from balconies, as well as our flag when we’re near a cup the national team is playing in.
Near every stadium, and sometimes all around their neighbourhood, you can see walls and sometimes the sidewalks painted in the team’s colors.
There are also streets in TWO towns named after players of our national team: Messi, Agüero, and Mascherano. One town is in Tucumán, and the other is in Misiones.
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**You can also see our passion in our hobbies, from football pitches in every beach resort, football video games being the most popular, football-tennis on the beach, to robot’s football matches (which we won a competition of) and gamble-like websites for people to make their dream team according to what player they think will perform best.
What teams do the members of #TeamArgentina support?
Caro ( @CaroGuiniazu 
I used to be a fan of Newell’s Old Boys , but one day, the hotel where I worked became the location chosen by the opposing team-Rosario Central- to concentrate before the Games.
The technical director of the team, (who had previously been the coach of the Argentine national team) the legendary Cesar Luis Menotti, promised me that he would quit smoking if I changed teams and became a fan of his club. And that’s how I decided to do something that is unthinkable for most Argentines, and I changed to the opposing team.
Jesi ( @Jesi
I’m a fan of Independiente, honestly the only reason is that that’s the team my dad is a fan of them, as he is the biggest football influence I’ve had throughout my life. I rarely watch their games, but I do watch every Argentina match and if I could I would watch every match of the World and American Cups. I almost did in 2014! I really care about our national team and find international matches the most interesting.
Farid ( @FaridTDF
I’m not a person very passionate about football but I am a fan of my beloved River Plate, like my sons. I have the idea that the passion and likeness when it comes to football are taken when we are kids, and in that way my father didn’t encourage us to like football, but fortunately, my childhood friends were used to playing “chuti”, a term used in Northern Argentina, Jujuy and Salta, to say play ball. My friends were all fans of River Plate, so of course I couldn’t be a fan of another team myself. In the afternoons after class it was a must to go to the paddock and hang out kicking the ball. As a fun fact I add that I never went to watch an official match of the Argentine Football league, although I did visit the River Plate museum that I recommend as it has a lot of history.
Ceci ( @Cecilita
I’m not a big soccer follower, but since I have memory, I am a fan of River Plate. Being a fan of River Plate in my family is like your name. We are all from River Plate. All of us! Included the cat! My parents gave me that team since I was a child and changing it, would be like a kind of family betrayal! Hopefully I married someone from River Plate too! Ha Ha!
In general, we do not see football every Sunday as other Argentinians do, but we do not miss a game of Argentina. The nervousness, the anxiety, the joy and the anguish that generates me to see the selection playing, is really incredible. In my case, all those feelings comes from 1986, when Argentina won the world cup in Mexico. I was a child then and the celebrations of my family and from people on the streets marked me forever. I have never seen so much joy and emotion until that day! The whole country united in the streets celebrating, was the most beautiful thing I lived in relation to football!
Karol ( @kroza
I’m not that much into football, but my husband is! We are River Plate fans, so much so on my honeymoon I visited the Monumental (River Plate’s Stadium) and got a shirt with my “new married name”on it. I’m ok with watching the matches, but with my team playing different leagues at the same time, it’s so hard to keep track of the score chart I just gave up several years ago.
Something curious I recall about our passion for football is that when I was at school, then college and even now I’m back to school (as a teacher) classes have always been suspended due to our National Team playing in the World Cup, everybody goes to the biggest room where you can set up a projector set or TV set and watch the match. It’s nearly impossible during World Cup time not to relate everything to the sport (especially at early education) , so you’re likely to see the Maths, Language, Music, English teachers trying to carry out all sorts of crazy football-themed activities!
The truth is that no matter how far our team’s rivalries take us, we all come together when it comes to supporting our national team.
Thank you for reading about our passion for football!
If you’re coming to Argentina, why not visit the River Plate or Boca Juniors museums, that include entering their stadium?
Special thanks to #TeamArgentina, @AdroGran , and @Jose-Two for the great photos!
Is your country as passionate about football as ours?
What’s your favorite football team?
And… hey, how many cups do you have? (kidding!)
This post is included in the series about Argentina of the Team Challenge proposed by** @ErmesT **. It’s about introducing our country, its culture, and traditions.
We invite you to know more about our country reading the post series Living Argentina.
You’ll find out many interesting things about our culture, dishes, slang, …and more!
You can find all the posts of this series searching for the hashtags #teamChallenge and #teamArgentina
. I had to remain closed on the hotel for hours, waiting for the supporters to go away, the road closed by the police and hundreds of people in the street showing their anger.