Overall, Argentina has appeared in a World Cup final six times, a record equaled by Italy and surpassed only by Brazil and Germany.

Captained by Diego Maradona, Argentina won their second World Cup eight years later, in 1986, with a 3–2 final victory over West Germany.

A few decades later, Argentina, led by Lionel Messi made their fifth final appearance in 2014, losing to Germany 1–0 after extra time.

Individually for Argentina, Lionel Messi is the all-time most-capped player with 191 matches and the highest goalscorer with 112 goals.

In 2022, again under the captaincy of Messi, Argentina won their third World Cup, beating France 4–2 on penalties, following a 3–3 draw after extra time.

Argentina has also been very successful in the South American Football Championship, the Copa América, winning it 16 times; they were crowned champions most recently in 2024.

[29] Additionally, Argentina played some matches at Rosario Central's stadium, Estadio Gigante de Arroyito, during their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Most recently, Argentina played at GEBA on 19 October 1919, winning the Copa Premier Honor Argentino after a 6–1 victory over Uruguay.

Playing at the stadium for La Albiceleste on 2 October 1924, forward Cesáreo Onzari scored directly from a corner kick, the first such incident in football, when Argentina beat Uruguay 2–1; such goals are now often referred as Olympic goals due to the fact that Uruguay had just won the 1924 Olympic title.

At the 1958 World Cup, Argentina wore the yellow jersey of Swedish club IFK Malmö against West Germany, as the team had arrived in Sweden without an away kit.

At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, the then manager, Carlos Bilardo, asked the team's kit supplier, Le Coq Sportif, for lighter blue shirts for their quarter-final against England in three days, but they could not be provided.

[47] Sporting the makeshift jerseys, Argentina beat England on 22 June, with Diego Maradona scoring his famous "Hand of God goal".

Win Draw Loss Fixture The following 26 players were named in the squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches on 14 and 19 November 2024 against Paraguay and Peru, respectively.

They played each other for the third consecutive World Cup in the Brazil 2014 event's final, where Argentina was defeated in extra time by a score of 1–0.

[89] During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, some Mexican and Argentine fans had a fight in Doha prior to the match between both sides, among great animosity.

[91] This sense of rivalry is more keenly felt by Mexican supporters and media, since Argentines do not consider Mexico rivals like Brazil, Germany, Uruguay or England.

Considered by sports media to be two historically great teams,[92] the Argentines and Dutch have developed an intense rivalry.

[96] One of the most recent and intense meetings happened in the 2022 World Cup, a 2–2 draw where Argentina advanced on penalties, in what is known as the Battle of Lusail.

[97][98] A recurrent rivalry developed from the 1990s between Argentina and Nigeria, based not on geographical proximity, long-term battles for honours or factors outside football, but due to the frequency of significant matches between them.

The fixture is the most common in the competition's history involving an African nation,[105] and has occurred in five of the six tournaments for which Nigeria has qualified.

Below full international level, their Olympic teams also faced off in the gold medal match in 1996 (3–2 to Nigeria), and 2008 (1–0 to Argentina).

[100] Argentina has a long-standing rivalry with its neighbour, that came into existence from the early South American Championships, the 1928 Summer Olympics and the first World Cup final, held in 1930.