Football is the most popular sport in Argentina and part of the culture in the country.According to the Wikipedia article Sport in Argentina It is the one with the most players (2,658,811 total, 331,811 of which are registered and 2,327,000 unregistered; with 3,377 clubs and 37,161 officials, all according to FIFA)Country info on FIFA website and is the most popular recreational sport, played from childhood into old age.Secretaría de Deportes de la Nación e INDEC; Censo sobre Hábitos en actividades físicas y deportivas de la población argentina, Buenos Aires, 2000. The percentage of Argentines that declare allegiance to an Argentine football club is about 90%.Consulto Aequis

Football was introduced to Argentina in the latter half of the 19th century by the British immigrants in Buenos Aires. The first Argentine league was contested in 1891, making it the fifth-oldest recognised league of a FIFA member (after England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Netherlands).Argentina 1891 at RSSSF The Argentine Football Association (AFA) was formed in 1893 and is the eighth-oldest in the world.

The Argentina national team is one of the eight to have won the FIFA World Cup, having done so in 1978, 1986, and 2022, while being runner-up in 1930, 1990, 2014 and 2026. Argentina has also won the top continental tournament, the Copa América, 16 times, and the FIFA Confederations Cup in 1992. It also holds the record for having more official titles than any other nation with 23. The nation's Olympic representative has won two gold medals (in 2004 and 2008), while the under-20 team has won a record six U-20 World Cups. At club level, Argentine teams have won the most Intercontinental Cups (9) and the most Copa Libertadores (25).

Women's football has a national league since 1991, the Campeonato de Fútbol Femenino. In turn, the female national representative qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 2007 and won their first Campeonato Sudamericano Femenino (top continental competition) in 2006.

In futsal, Argentina were FIFUSA/AMF Futsal World Cup champions in 1994 and 2019. They also compete in the FIFA code of futsal, where they finished champions in 2016, runner-up in 2021 and fourth place in 2004.FIFA.com The team also won the FIFA Futsal Copa América in 2003, 2015 and 2022. Moreover, Argentina was world champion in futsal for the visually impaired in 2002, 2006 and 2023, and also won the gold medal at the IBSA World Blind Games 2015, a silver medal (2004) and two Bronze (2008 and 2016) in the Paralympic Games, three runner-up world championships (1998, 2000 and 2014), three championships of the Copa América (1999, 2005, 2017), three silver medals in the Parapan American Games (2007, 2011, 2015) and two runner-up finishes in the Copa América (2009 and 2013).

Argentina also compete in the beach football World Cup, where their best finish was third in 2001.AFA - Fútbol Playa

History

The beginning

By 1867, there was a large British community in Buenos Aires. Most of them had established themselves in Argentina coming from the United Kingdom as managers and workers of the British-owned railway companies that operated in Argentina. British citizens founded social and sports clubs where they could practise their sports, such as bowls, cricket, football, golf, horse riding, rugby union and tennis amongst others.

Two English immigrants, Thomas and James Hogg, organized a meeting on 9 May 1867 in Buenos Aires where the Buenos Aires Football Club was founded. The club was given permission by the Buenos Aires Cricket Club to make use of the cricket field in Parque Tres de Febrero, Palermo, Buenos Aires, on the site now occupied by the Galileo Galilei planetarium. The first recorded football match in Argentina took place on this pitch on 20 June 1867,Early History of Football in Argentina - RSSSF by Osvaldo J. Georgazzi, 1999 being covered by English language daily newspaper The Standard. This newspaper, published in Argentina, was the first one to cover football matches in the country. That first match, originally scheduled for May 25 in La Boca, had to be postponed due to bad weather.150 años del primer partido de fútbol en Argentina by Jorge Gallego on Telam, 20 June 2017

Early 20th. century

The most successful and admired team of this early period was Alumni, founded by graduates and students of Watson Hutton's English High School. Like all of the early clubs, it was composed mainly of British players.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the game became increasingly popular amongst other European immigrants, especially Italians.

British football clubs tours of South America contributed to the spread and development of football in Argentina during the first years of the 20th century. The first club to tour the country was Southampton F.C. in 1904, who were captained by George Molyneaux. They beat the Buenos Aires High School Alumni team 3-0 with Molyneaux remarking on 'how far the Argentines were ahead of their European counterparts in France and Denmark.' Several other teams came afterwards (mainly from England although some Scottish clubs also visited South America), until 1929 with Chelsea F.C. being the last team to tour.South American Trip of Chelsea FC 1929 by Pablo Ciullini on RSSSF

In 1916, Argentina competed in the first Copa América which was won by Uruguay. Argentina would win the tournament for the first time in 1921, and have gone on to win it a total of 16 times.

Consolidation During the 1920s decade, Huracan was a strong competitor, winning most of the annual championships, as Racing Club did during the 1910s. To mention a tradition, the Huracán footballers and fans used to meet at the historical Japanese Cafe.

In 1928, Argentina Olympic football team competed at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, where they finished runners-up to Uruguay. Two years later, they competed in the first FIFA World Cup, again finishing runners up to hosts Uruguay.

Following two seasons of disrupted play due to mass cancellation and suspension of matches and the mid-season withdrawal of teams in the 1929,1929 in Argentine football at rsssf and 1930,1930 in Argentine football at rsssf 18 teams decided to form a breakaway professional league for the 1931 season.1931 in Argentine football at rsssf The amateur league carried on in parallel until it folded in 1934 with many of the teams joining the new professional second divisionArgentine 2nd division champions at rsssf. The creation of the professional league helped curb the exodus of Argentine talent to high paying European football clubs. The 1934 World Cup Italy national team championship side featured several Oriundo in the squad composed of Argentine-born players such as Raimundo Orsi, Enrique Guaita, and Luis Monti who also played for Argentina in the 1930 World Cup.

In 1964, Independiente became the first Argentine club to win the Copa Libertadores, Argentine clubs have won the competition a total of 25 times.

In 1967, Racing became the first Argentine team to win the Intercontinental Cup. Argentine clubs have won the tournament a record 9 times.Intercontinental Cup at rsssf

In 1971, Rosario Central became the first club not based in Buenos Aires or Greater Buenos Aires to win the First Division League, after winning this year´s Nacional championship.

In 1978, Argentina hosted the World Cup, where the team defeated the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time in the final to win their first World Cup.

In 1979, a young Diego Maradona was part of the Argentina under-20 team which won the FIFA Under-20 World Cup. Argentina have gone on to win a record six U-20 World Cups.Under 20 World Cup at rsssf

In 1982, due to an uncertain political atmosphere and an extremely unstable government with multiple presidents over the span of a short time, most football clubs were lacking the money to keep top domestic players. 1982 saw a whole slew of players leave Argentina for Europe: players like Diego Maradona, Mario Kempes (who had already played in Spain and had briefly returned to Argentina), Daniel Passarella and many others leave for Spain, France, Italy or England.

In 1986, Argentina would win their second World Cup in the 1986 World Cup, where the team defeated to Germany 3–2.

In 1995, Rosario Central became the first club not based in Buenos Aires or Greater Buenos Aires to win an international cup recognised by FIFA, the Conmebol Cup. Argentine clubs have won the tournament a record three times.Copa CONMEBOL

In 2004, the Argentina Olympic football team won Gold at the Athens Olympic games; they defended their title in 2008 to become the first team to defend the Olympic football title since Hungary in 1968.Olympic football tournament at rsssf

In 2022, Argentina won the World Cup for the third time, beating France 4–2 on penalties following a 3–3 draw after extra time.

Clubs

League system

Around 520 registered football clubs play in the Argentine Football Association (AFA) league system, which is organized in a pyramid of seven leagues divided from the third level between clubs directly affiliated to AFA (es) and clubs indirectly affiliated to AFA (es). In the branch of clubs indirectly affiliated to AFA below the fourth level, there are 250 other Regional Leagues that are affiliated with AFA and compete for the right to enter the league system at the lowest tier.

The Primera División is the highest level of club football in Argentina. It was founded in 1891 as an amateur competition, becoming professional in 1931 with a league by 18 teams which were dissatisfied with the amateur system they were participating on until 1930. This group of 18 founding members of the present league included nearly all of the most prominent clubs of those times, unified by the idea that full and compulsory amateurism was no longer sustainable (many of those teams are still today among the most popular clubs in Argentina). For many years, the only winners were the so-called "big five"Argentina - List of champions at rsssf (Boca Juniors, Independiente, Racing Club, River Plate and San Lorenzo de Almagro). This dominance was finally broken in 1967 by Estudiantes de La Plata. Since then, ten other teams have won the championship, resulting in a total of 30 teams having been champions of Argentina as of 2026. River Plate has won the most championships with 38. The only teams outside the Buenos Aires and Greater Buenos Aires to have won the championship are Rosario Central and Newell's Old Boys from Rosario, Estudiantes and Gimnasia y Esgrima from La Plata and Belgrano from Córdoba.

Below the second division, Primera Nacional, the league system is regionalized with three divisions for clubs directly affiliated to AFA (es) of Buenos Aires, Greater Buenos Aires and twenty-two clubs from the cities of Rosario, Santa Fe, La Plata, Zarate, Campana, Luján, Junín, General Rodríguez, Cañuelas, Pilar and Mercedes; and two divisions for clubs indirectly affiliated to AFA (es) that cover the rest of the country. Even below these seven leagues, Argentine football is regionalized into almost 250 Regional Leagues, which consist of teams that participate in championships and tournaments organized by the Consejo Federal del Fútbol Argentino (es) (CFFA), internal organ of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), to obtain the right to enter the Torneo Regional Federal Amateur, established in 2018.

League championships