Argentina’s starting lineup against Egypt at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Photo by Bryan Berlin/WikiPortraits.

During this World Cup, which culminated in a dramatic final between Argentina and Spain, social media was deluged with posts branding Argentina as a racist country. Countless posts on Facebook asserted, on the basis of one out-of-context photograph, that its star player, Lionel Messi, is a Zionist, a malevolent “bad guy.” Spain, with its government’s clear opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and its young star, Lamine Yamal, who has spoken out in support of the Palestinian people, was cast as the “good guy.”

In post after post Argentina and its people and players were portrayed as racists who strongly supported Israel, Zionism, and the genocide in Gaza. While there is not a shred of doubt that the current president of Argentina, Javier Milei, is a fanatical supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli state, according to a recent survey, only a small minority (21 percent) of Argentina’s population has a favourable view of Israel.

This campaign, while ignoring the complexities of Argentine society, capitalized on algorithms that reward aggression and outrage to label Argentina as one of the world’s most racist societies, citing the “whiteness” and style of play of its national football team. Organizations and individuals in Argentina representing the very people the campaign claimed to be supporting, people with nuanced views grounded in their own actual experience, received scant attention, becoming almost invisible, their voices erased.

Outrage against the Argentina side was ramped up on social media to such a degree, that the real scandals of the World Cup were almost completely overshadowed. Thus, a World Cup tainted by FIFA’s abandonment of its own disciplinary rules and “fair play” slogan, in its quest for US President Donald Trump’s blessing and corporate dollars, got a virtual pass in the storm of outrage levelled at one South American team and nation (in the days following the conclusion of the tournament, the full extent of FIFA’s new business model has been revealed in a plan to sell off rights to future World Cups to private investors).

During the World Cup, FIFA caved not only to Trump’s brazen political interference in aid of the USA team, but also to racist American policies that forced Somali referee Omar Artan to be dropped from the competition, caused fans from racially profiled........

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