Argentina national football team.

Argentina national football team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Argentina Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) La Albiceleste (The White and Sky Blue)
Association Argentine Football Association (AFA)
Confederation CONMEBOL (South America)
Head coach Jorge Sampaoli
Captain Lionel Messi
Most caps Javier Zanetti (143)[1]
Top scorer Lionel Messi (58)[2][3]
Home stadium Antonio Vespucio Liberti (El Monumental)
FIFA code ARG
First colours

Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 2 Steady (4 May 2017)
Highest 1 (March 2007, October 2007 – June 2008, July–October 2015, April 2016 – April 2017)
Lowest 24 (August 1996)
Elo ranking
Current 3 (30 April 2017)
Highest 1 (July 2007, May–July 2016)
Lowest 18 (June 1990)
First international
Uruguay 2–3 Argentina Argentina
(Montevideo, Uruguay; 16 May 1901)[1][4]
Biggest win
Argentina Argentina 12–0 Ecuador
(Montevideo, Uruguay; 22 January 1942)
Biggest defeat

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 6–1 Argentina Argentina
(Helsingborg, Sweden; 15 May 1958)
Uruguay Uruguay 5–0 Argentina Argentina
(Guayaquil, Ecuador; 6 December 1959)
Argentina Argentina 0–5 Colombia Colombia
(Buenos Aires, Argentina; 5 September 1993)
Bolivia Bolivia 6–1 Argentina Argentina
(La Paz, Bolivia; 1 April 2009)
World Cup
Appearances 16 (first in 1930)
Best result Champions, 1978 and 1986
Copa América
Appearances 41 (first in 1916)
Best result Champions, 1921, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1937, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1991 and 1993
Confederations Cup
Appearances 3 (first in 1992)
Best result Champions, 1992

The Argentina national football team (Spanish: Selección de fútbol de Argentina) represents Argentina in football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association (AFA), the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentina's home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires.

La Selección (national team), also known as the Albicelestes (sky blue and whites), has appeared in five World Cup finals, including the first final in 1930, which they lost 4–2 to Uruguay. Argentina won in their next final appearance in 1978, beating the Netherlands at extra time, 3–1. Argentina, led by Diego Maradona won again in 1986, a 3–2 victory over West Germany. They again made the World Cup finals in 1990, and lost 1–0 to West Germany following a controversial penalty call in the 87th minute. Argentina made their fifth appearance in a World Cup final in 2014, again losing to Germany, 1–0 during extra-time. Argentina's World Cup winning managers are César Luis Menotti in 1978, and Carlos Bilardo in 1986.

Argentina has been very successful in the Copa América, winning it 14 times and also winning the 'extra' South American Championships in 1941, 1945 and 1946. The team also won the FIFA Confederations Cup and the Kirin Cup, both in 1992, and the Argentine olympic team won the Olympics football tournaments in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.[5]

Argentina, Brazil and France are the only national teams that have won the three most important men's titles recognized by FIFA: the World Cup, the Confederations Cup, and the Olympic tournament. They have also won their respective continental championship (Copa América for Argentina and Brazil, and UEFA European Championship for France).[6][7]

Argentina is known for having rivalries with Brazil, Uruguay, England and Germany due to historic occurrences with one another throughout football history.[8][9]

Contents

1 History
2 Kit history
3 Managers
4 Results and fixtures
    4.1 2016
    4.2 2017
        4.2.1 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification Standings
5 Players
    5.1 Current squad
    5.2 Recent call-ups
6 Competitive record
    6.1 FIFA World Cup
    6.2 FIFA Confederations Cup
    6.3 South American Championship
    6.4 Copa América
    6.5 Olympics record
    6.6 Pan American Games
7 Records and statistics
    7.1 Most capped players
    7.2 Top goalscorers
    7.3 World Cup winning captains
    7.4 Individual stats
8 Gallery
9 Notable matches
10 Rivalries
    10.1 Brazil
    10.2 England
    10.3 Germany
    10.4 Uruguay
11 Honours
12 See also
13 Notes
14 References
15 External links