‘No way’ – Why Argentina president refuses to watch World Cup final with Trump and Infantino
Argentina’s president Javier Milei won’t be attending the World Cup final because of superstition.
La Albiceleste booked their place in Sunday’s showpiece against Spain with a dramatic 2-1 win over England in the semifinal.
Powered by Lionel Messi, Argentina are looking to defend their World Cup crown at MetLife Stadium, and win the tournament for the fourth time.
But the nation’s president won’t be travelling to New York for what will be the biggest sporting event of the year.
Instead, Milei will be watching from home.
He’s done so for the team’s previous seven games, which have all been victories, and doesn’t want to break the winning habit now.
When asked on Thursday if he’d travel to the United States to watch the game alongside close ally Donald Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the superstitious leader replied: “No way.”
“I’m going to keep watching all the games from Olivos,” he told El Observador, a local Buenos Aires radio station.
Quinta de Olivos, located in the north side of the Buenos Aires suburb, is Milei’s presidential residence.
And in a bid to help his team get over the line, the politician added he’ll be wearing his trusty heavy jacket as he watches, too.
“Since it’s cold and I don’t turn on the heat, I wear an oil company-branded jacket,” Milei explained.
“The day of the Switzerland game, it made me really hot. I took it off, and they scored a goal against us.
“I put it back on and never took it off again.”
Argentine presidents have long history of World Cup superstition
Milei is far from the first Argentine president to lean into superstitions when it comes to soccer.
Leaders of the South American nation have long been cautious about attending high-stakes World Cup games, to avoid bringing bad luck to the teams.
The superstition dates back to the 1990 tournament, when former president Carlos Menem visited the defending-champion Argentina squad before it suffered a shock opening loss to Cameroon.
At that tournament, hosted in Italy, the team bounced back to reach the final, but lost to West Germany.
Menem was branded a jinx after visiting the team, and no sitting Argentine president is known to have attended a national team game since.
In 2026, Milei will hope his defending champions will avoid the same fate, given he has stayed away from the tournament.
Like their president, most living in Argentina have so-called ‘cábalas’ — ritualistic beliefs and habits which carry unusual weight and reflect the intensity with which they watch their national team.
Some wear the same clothes during every match, and refuse to wash their jerseys for the duration of the World Cup.
Others, like Milei, will watch game from the exact same spot.
With routines down to a T, and the president staying away from MetLife on Sunday, it will be up to Messi and his teammates to deliver on the field and become just the third country to pull off back-to-back World Cup wins.
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