​Argentina fans have once again travelled in huge numbers for the 2026 World Cup, bringing colour, noise and passion to stadiums throughout the tournament. Photograph: Rob Newell/CameraSport/Getty Images.
Brazilian journalist and columnist Julia Duailibi is best known for writing about politics in her weekly column for O Globo, one of Brazil’s most influential newspapers. But last Thursday, she stepped away from her usual subject matter and turned instead to football, explaining why she would not be supporting Argentina in the 2026 World Cup final.
Writing the morning after Argentina’s dramatic semi-final victory over England, Duailibi said she had long admired the “hermanos”, the affectionate term many Brazilians use for Argentinians, and would normally have enjoyed backing another South American nation on the global stage. However, she said the racist behaviour displayed by a minority of Argentina supporters, combined with what she described as the silence of many others in the stadium, had left her unable to cheer for them.
Her reaction reflects a broader mood across Latin America before Sunday’s World Cup final between Argentina and Spain. In previous generations, many fans in the region would instinctively support a Latin American team against European opposition. But that sense of continental solidarity appears to have weakened, and in some places it has been replaced by open hostility towards Argentina.
Racism among some Argentina fans has been one of the most frequently cited reasons for that shift, but it is not the only factor. Nicolás Cabrera, an Argentinian sociologist and anthropologist who has spent much of his academic career studying football supporters across Latin America, said attitudes have changed significantly in recent years.
“In the past, people were much more likely to back a Latin American side when it faced a European team,” Cabrera said. “But that has changed a lot. The rejection of Argentina used to be found mainly among its traditional rivals, especially Brazil, Uruguay and Chile. Now it has spread further, including to some football fans in Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador.”
Cabrera, who has lived in Rio de Janeiro for the past decade and works as a university lecturer and researcher, believes several factors have contributed to these growing divisions. One major reason is Argentina’s recent success. No other Latin American national team has come close to matching Argentina’s consistency on the world stage in recent years. The team have reached three of the past four World Cup finals and have won at least one of them, strengthening their position as the region’s dominant football power.
By contrast, several of Argentina’s neighbours have endured disappointing campaigns. Brazil, still the most successful country in World Cup history with five titles, have not appeared in a final since their 2002 triumph. For many Brazilian supporters, watching Argentina repeatedly compete for football’s biggest prize has only deepened an already intense rivalry.
Argentina’s global profile has also been elevated by Lionel Messi, who remains one of the most recognisable and admired players in world football. Even at 39, Messi has been one of the standout performers of the 2026 World Cup, continuing to attract attention from fans across the world. His brilliance, however, has not been enough to soften attitudes towards Argentina among many Latin American supporters who feel alienated by the behaviour of sections of the fanbase.
Cabrera also points to the changing structure of South American club football. The Copa Libertadores, the continent’s premier club competition, has expanded dramatically over the decades. In the 1990s, the tournament involved around 20 teams; today, when preliminary rounds are included, nearly 50 clubs take part. As clubs from different countries meet more often, rivalries have become sharper and more personal.
“The more often teams from across the region play each other, the more fans provoke one another,” Cabrera said. “Those repeated encounters create tension, and that tension carries over into national-team football.”
Social media has intensified the problem. Online platforms have allowed football rivalries to spread far beyond stadiums and television broadcasts, turning jokes, insults and chants into viral content. Cabrera argues that hate speech, racism, xenophobia and discrimination now circulate more quickly and more widely than ever before, amplifying resentments that might once have remained local or temporary.
The debate around Argentina’s place in Latin American football culture has therefore become about more than Sunday’s World Cup final. It touches on race, identity, regional rivalry and the way football supporters behave both inside stadiums and online. For some fans, Argentina still represent South American excellence and the chance to defeat a European power on the biggest stage. For others, supporting Spain has become a way to reject what they see as arrogance, discrimination and an unwillingness among some Argentina supporters to confront racism within their own fan culture.
As the 2026 World Cup final approaches, Argentina will once again be backed by thousands of passionate travelling fans and millions more at home. But across Latin America, the response will be more divided than in the past. The old assumption that the region automatically unites behind one of its own no longer holds. In this final, for many supporters, football loyalty is being shaped not only by geography, but also by values, history and the behaviour of fans themselves.