Why Argentina President Milei will not attend Messi and team’s World Cup final vs Spain?

3 min readUpdated: Jul 17, 2026 01:48 PM Superstitions, known locally as cábalas, are deeply woven into Argentina’s football culture. Fans often repeat the same routines throughout a winning run, whether it is wearing the same clothes, sitting in the same spot, avoiding washing jerseys, or even refusing to move during a match.
It can even stop their President, Javier Milei, from attending Sunday’s FIFA World Cup final at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, when Argentina aim for a horic title defence against Spain.
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Speaking to a local Buenos Aires radio station on Thursday, the 55-year-old Milei said that there was “no way” that he would exchange the confines of his presidential residence, Olivos, for a seat alongside his US counterpart Donald Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino during the final.
“I’m going to keep watching all the games from Olivos,” he told El Observador. The decision is rooted deeply in his superstition, with Milei having already tested the waters during Lionel Messi & Co.’s quarter-final action against Switzerland.
“Since it’s cold and I don’t turn on the heat, I wear an oil company-branded jacket. 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,” he added.
Argentine presidents have long been cautious about attending high-stakes World Cup matches to avoid bringing bad luck to their teams. The superstition dates back to the 1990 tournament, when then-President Carlos Menem visited the Argentine squad right before it suffered a stunning opening loss to Cameroon.Story continues below this ad
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Menem was branded a “mufa,” a jinx. No sitting Argentine president is known to have attended a national team match since.
The Albiceleste are aiming to become the first team in 64 years since Brazil to defend the World Cup title. Messi’s men turned on an epic comeback during the semi-final earlier this week, beating England despite trailing a goal until the 85th minute. In Milei and for the Argentina faithful, the turnaround may have been partially made possible their own unique rituals,  the cábalas.
– With AP inputs