Argentine President Javier Milei is skipping Sunday’s World Cup final against Spain, and he’s not pretending otherwise. He says superstition is the reason, and he plans to stay at home in Olivos, where Argentina has won every game he has watched so far in the tournament. He’s even keeping on the same heavy jacket, hoping not to break the streak.
That kind of thinking might sound quirky to outsiders, but in Argentina it hits a much deeper nerve. Soccer there is not just a sport, it’s part of the national pulse, and rituals known as “cábalas” can feel almost sacred when the stakes get big.
Milei said he had no interest in traveling to New Jersey for the final, even though he was expected to watch alongside U.S. President Donald Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino. When asked about making the trip, his answer was blunt: “No way.”
He also explained the jacket routine that has become part of his game-day logic. Because he keeps the heat off at home and wears an oil company-branded coat to stay warm, he linked one moment of bad luck to taking it off during the Switzerland game, only to see Argentina concede before putting it right back on.
For many Argentines, that kind of story is familiar. Some wear the same shirt for every match, some refuse to wash a lucky jersey, and others insist on sitting in the same chair, on the same couch, in the same room, every single time the team plays.
The rules can get strangely specific, too. If someone happens to be in the bathroom when Argentina scores, that person may be exiled from the room for the next kickoff, because no one wants to risk upsetting the rhythm.
And it’s not just about what people wear or where they sit. In one widely shared World Cup video, fans were reading from the Bible right as Argentina began scoring against Egypt, and after that, they kept repeating the same exact moment before each match.
Other rituals are aimed squarely at the opponent. Some fans freeze figurines of players or slip pieces of paper with rivals’ names into the freezer, all in the belief that a little symbolic bad luck can travel straight onto the pitch.
Argentina’s presidential history with World Cup games has its own superstitious baggage. The fear goes back to 1990, when then-President Carlos Menem visited the national squad before Argentina suffered a shocking loss to Cameroon in its opener.
That result stuck with him. Menem was labeled a “mufa,” or jinx, and since then no sitting Argentine president is known to have attended a national team match, especially not one with major title implications.
Spain, though, is not carrying the same nerves into the final. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is expected to attend the match in New Jersey, and King Felipe VI is also set to be there, which makes the contrast with Argentina even sharper.
For Milei, staying home is part belief and part momentum, but mostly a refusal to mess with something that is working. He has watched the whole run from Olivos, and when a country starts treating every sock, jacket, chair, and prayer like a spell, even a president can end up playing along.
