Between 1993 and 2021, Argentina went trophy-less. That 28-year spell was the longest the South American nation had ever been without winning a major international trophy. Since then, it’s been a pretty much non-stop party in Buenos Aires. In 2021, on the soil of their old rivals Brazil, Argentina beat the ‘Seleção’ 1-0 at the Maracanã to win the Copa América. A year later, after losing their opening game to Saudi Arabia, Lionel Messi scored seven goals on the way to Argentina beating France on penalties in the final to lift their first World Cup since 1986.
Now, over 5,000 miles north of their own country in the USA for the Copa América 2024, Argentina is at it again. Lautaro Martínez’s injury-time goal helped them to a 1-0 win over Colombia, with captain Messi forced off in the second half with an injury. All of a sudden Argentina and Messi are serial winners on the international stage, and now boast the record of being the nation with the outright most Copa América titles, and are one of very few countries to have won three major international tournaments back-to-back.
Argentina Became the Nation with the most Copa América Titles
Back in the 1920’s and 1940 Argentina dominated South American football. They won four Copa América in both of those decades. However, the small nation that borders them in Uruguay was also fighting the odds and churning out trophies. Argentina’s aforementioned trophy drought meant that when Uruguay won it in 1995 they drew level, and when they beat Paraguay 3-0 in the 2011 final they jumped ahead of Argentina on the list of most Copa América titles.
In 2021, when Argentina finally put their recent trophy hoodoo behind them, they got back on terms with Uruguay, and have now overtaken them with their triumph in the USA. With the World Cup win sandwiched between those two victories, it means Argentina has joined a very exclusive club of nations to have won three major international tournaments in a row. The only other country to ever match that feat was this year’s Euro 2024 winner Spain but back between 2008 and 2012. they won Euro 2008 and Euro 2012, whilst beating Netherlands in the 2010 World Cup final in between.
€465m Less Market Value than Brazil but Still Triumphant
Whilst Argentina was the success story again, it was a stark contrast for Brazil. The five-time World Cup winners and 2019 Copa América champions crashed out on penalties to Uruguay after underwhelming in the group stage in which they drew 0-0 with Costa Rica. The poor showings though cannot be put down to lack of talent. Brazil had by far the most valuable squad at this summer’s tournament, worth €465m more than Argentina’s. And as you can see in the graphic below it’s been a theme at the last three major tournaments – all of which Argentina has won.
The gap in squad valuation has been at least €350m in all of the last three tournaments, with the biggest separation coming at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar where Brazil had a squad market value of €1.14b, whilst Argentina’s was worth just €645m. Despite having a squad value of around €500m less than their counterparts, Argentina went all the way, with Brazil crashing out to Croatia in the quarter-finals. Argentina has had an older squad in all three of those tournaments and has been reliant on players in the twilights of their career’s such as Messi or Ángel Di María, but the huge valuation gap emphasized what a great job manager Lionel Scaloni and this Argentina group of players has done, and is a damning indictment on Brazil.
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