Argentina soccer fans are asking their president to grow a moustache before the 2026 World Cup: Here’s why
Ahead of Argentina’s World Cup defense this summer, the ‘moustache theory’ has taken hold in the South American country.
Javier Milei, Argentina’s president, is an instantly recognizable figure: the right-wing populist, elected as the South American nation’s leader in 2023, sports a distinctive mop of shaggy, dark hair, complemented by bushy, mutton-chop sideburns.
If you ask superstitious soccer lovers in Argentina, however, Milei needs to add further facial hair to his eye-catching look: specifically, a moustache.
“Easy way to solve this problem”
As the Argentinian men’s national team prepares to defend its title at this summer’s World Cup, the teoría del bigote - the ‘moustache theory’ - has begun to take hold in the country.
The theory appears to have gained traction thanks to the Argentinian TV host Mario Pergolini. On a recent edition of his show Otro Día Perdido (’Another Day Lost’), Pergolini noted that Argentina’s three men’s World Cup final wins each came at a time when the country’s president wore a moustache.
Argentina lifted its world titles in 1978, 1986 and 2022 - years in which the country was governed by the moustachioed presidents Jorge Rafael Videla, Raúl Alfonsín and Alberto Fernández, respectively. By contrast, Argentina’s three World Cup final defeats - in 1930, 1990 and 2014 - coincided with the tenures of leaders whose upper lips were accessory-free (Hipólito Yrigoyen, Carlos Menem and Cristina Fernández, respectively).
Presented with the ‘moustache theory’ on an episode of the sports talk show Fútbol de Primera, the Argentinian soccer journalist Andrés Cantor joked: “We’re going to have to ask Milei to grow a moustache.” Cantor’s FDP colleague Daniel Chapela agreed: “There’s an easy way to solve this problem.”
Those lighthearted pleas have been echoed by Argentinians on social media. “Javier Milei, we’re all asking you to do it,” wrote the TV personality Yuli Cagna, while the Instagram user annto.nfs called on the president to consider the needs of “the entire nation”.
Goal glut for clean-shaven Kempes
On the other hand, Argentinians are unlikely to be badgering Mario Kempes, the goalscoring hero of the Albiceleste’s 1978 trophy triumph, to grow a moustache. After all, Kempes’ facial hair appears to bring World Cup misfortune.
That was the conclusion drawn after the striker, complete with moustache, fired blanks in each of Argentina’s first three games at the ’78 finals. In the fourth, a second-round match against Poland, Kempes finally broke his World Cup duck - after lopping off his ‘tache at the urging of the team’s head coach, César Luis Menotti.
A player who did not typically bear bristles, Kempes recalled in a 2018 interview with FIFA.com: “[Menotti] took me to one side and said, ‘If you don’t have a beard or moustache when you’re playing for [your club] Valencia, why don’t you just shave once and for all [...] and remember how to score goals again?’”
Having heeded his boss’s advice, Kempes not only bagged a double against the Poles, but added two more against Peru to send Argentina into the final. And in the title decider against the Netherlands, Kempes once more netted a brace, firing the tournament hosts to a 3-1 victory at Buenos Aires’ Estadio Monumental.
¿ANULO MUFA? 👨🏻❌@ESPNMarioKempes se afeitó el bigote para cambiar su suerte en la Copa Mundial de 1978. ¿El resultado? ¡Goleador y campeón con @Argentina! 🏆🇦🇷
— Copa Mundial FIFA 🏆 (@fifaworldcup_es) November 8, 2022
When does Argentina’s 2026 World Cup begin?
If Milei is to embrace the teoría del bigote in time for Argentina’s World Cup kickoff, the president’s furry-top-lip window closes on Thursday, June 16. That’s when Lionel Scaloni’s team begins its World Cup defense, with a Group J clash against Algeria in Kansas City, Missouri. The Argentinians then move on to round-robin matchups with Austria on June 22 and Jordan on June 27, both of which are to be played in Arlington, Texas.
Held in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the 2026 World Cup runs until July 19, when MetLife Stadium hosts the final in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
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