Superstition keeps Argentina's President Milei home for World Cup final against Spain

Argentina’s President Javier Milei will not attend Sunday’s World Cup final against Spain in New Jersey, citing superstition and a strict personal ritual he has maintained throughout the tournament.

When asked on Thursday whether he would travel to watch the match alongside U.S. President Donald Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino — as had been widely expected — Milei was unequivocal. “No way,” he told Buenos Aires radio station El Observador. “I’m going to keep watching all the games from Olivos,” he said, referring to his presidential residence, where he has watched all seven of Argentina’s matches at this World Cup.

Milei also revealed a specific ritual tied to his choice of clothing. “Since it’s cold and I don’t turn on the heat, I wear an oil company-branded jacket,” he explained. “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.”

The behaviour reflects a deeply embedded Argentine football culture built around so-called cábalas — ritualistic beliefs and habits that fans follow with unusual intensity when the national team is playing. Some supporters wear the same unwashed jersey for every match; others are bound to repeat an accidental action — reading the Bible, sitting in a particular chair — if Argentina happened to be scoring at the time. One widely circulated video from this tournament showed a group of fans who began reading scripture just as Argentina scored against Egypt, and have felt obliged to repeat the ritual at every game since.

Milei’s caution also has a clear historical precedent. The superstition around sitting presidents attending high-stakes matches dates to the 1990 World Cup, when President Carlos Menem visited the squad before their opening game — a shock defeat to Cameroon. Menem was subsequently branded a mufa, or jinx, and no sitting Argentine president is known to have attended a national team match since.

For Milei, the calculus is straightforward: Argentina are in the final, the routine is working, and no diplomatic occasion is worth the risk of breaking it.