Argentina Soccer

Argentine, like Brazil and England is a country rich in the culture of football. That is the reason why Argentinean soccer players like Maradona, Passarela, and Kempes etc. are still remembered and worshiped in their country even after such a long time after their retirement.

Soccer in Argentina was introduced in the latter half of the 19th century by the immigrants coming from England, along with other games like rugby. The Argentine Association Football League was founded on February 21, 1893, the organization which went on to become the Argentine Football Association. In the earlier days of soccer in Argentina, almost all the professionals and players were either the British emigrants or had the British nationality. As the popularity of the game increased in Argentina, a decline was observed in the control of the British over the game, and finally in 1911 all the British Alumni packed their bags to allow the local players and authority to take over. By 1912, the association renamed as Association Argentina de Football. Majority of the important clubs, employing good players to pay for them had already started to work by then.

The Argentinean football has seen quite a few rise and fall in the history of soccer. They saw a high time when Diego Maradona, the joint title holder of the greatest player in the history of the game with Pele, was at the peak of his game. Although the Argentinean soccer team faced a decline in their football skills and performance lately, they are back with a bang topping the FIFA ranking leaving Brazil and Italy behind these days.

Argentine’s football team has so far taken part in thirteen world cups. They have won two cups out of those. One of them was played in 1978 on their home ground and the other one in Mexico in 1986. They also managed to reach the finals of another two cups (Uruguay, 1930, Italy 1990), but were defeated in both of them once by Uruguay and in the other by Germany. Around the later half of the 20th century the women also stated to take part in the amateur level of the soccer in Argentine. It all resulted in the creation of the Women national soccer team; they also qualified and took part in the 2003 FIFA World Cup.

Pele included some five high profile Argentinean soccer players when he made his list of ‘125 top all time soccer players’. Argentina has created many big guns like Daniel Passarela, Diego Maradona, Gabriel Batistuta, Hernan Crespo, and Alfredo Distefano. The young Barcelona player, Lionel Messi is now-a-days making his mark, keeping the name of his country in the front with his exceptional soccer skills.

The Argentinean League system is not as advanced as that of the European countries. However it is really helpful in selection of the national team. Not only that, but also it provides there country fellows a chance with watching some good players abroad, playing on their grounds. The league consists of many different parts. The main league is organized as follows; the first two of them have the clubs from through out the country, whereas the other three leagues (third, forth and fifth) are divided geographically.

The game of soccer plays a very important and integral role in the lives of the Argentineans. . The majority of the Argentineans either play soccer or watches it, on television or by going to the stadium. The street look deserted during an international match of Argentine, especially that of a world cup.