Why Argentina automatically qualify for next World Cup as 23 million sign petition calling for ban
FIFA rules means that Argentina will automatically qualify for the next World Cup in 2030.
The team lost out to Spain in the finals this year, with a 1-0 defeat knocking the defending champions Argentina off the top spot.
Undeterred, the team still had bis parade through Buenos Aires despite their defeat in the final, with Spain lifting the coveted trophy as Argentina's side controversially turned their backs.
It comes as this alongside a number of other actions led to many outraged fans to sign a petition to bar Argentina from competing in the World Cup altogether, with the number of signatures giving an indication of the ill-feeling towards the team held by football fans around the world.
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But despite this, Argentina have a guaranteed spot in the 2030 World Cup as they will be one of six co-hosts for the competition.
While most of the matches in fours years time will take place in Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, one match will be held in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina.
Under FIFA's rules, host countries automatically qualify for the tournament, meaning that Argentina will not have to go through the gruelling process of qualification, even though only one match in the tournament will be hosted there.
The 2030 tournament will mark a special moment for the World Cup as it celebrated 100 years since the first tournament in 1930, where Argentina made it through to the final.
Argentina drew a huge amount of criticism in the 2026 World Cup as the team's behaviour on the pitch sparked outrage in fans.
Animosity towards the team is so high around the world that the petition to slap the team with a 'lifetime ban' from the World Cup drew a whopping 23,316,108 signatures from 170 countries around the world in less than a week.
This made the petition, called 'Argentina Out', one of the most signed petitions of all time, with the organisers quickly rocketing past their initial target of five million.
The petition accused FIFA of bias towards Argentina, saying: "Why should the rest of the teams play in the tournament if the winner is known in advance?
"Exclude Argentina from the World Cup and give everyone a fair chance."
Following Spain's victory in the World Cup final, hate-watched by fans around the world, the petition was updated to read: "FIFA ignored us but Spain delivered. Thank you Spain."
Of course, the petition does not have any bearing on FIFA's decision making, and as we've seen Argentina are already confirmed to be competing in 2030.
Nonetheless, the petition demonstrated the high levels of ill-feeling towards Argentina's national football team around the world.
The side was at the centre of multiple controversies in the 2026 World Cup, including a brawl which broke out on the pitch after their defeat to Spain in the final in which punches were seen to be thrown.
After this, the team's turning their backs on Spain as they celebrated with the trophy was slammed as 'classless' by TalkSport's Adrian Durham.
Following their 2-1 defeat of England, Argentine players had also sparked outrage after displaying a banner which read 'Las Malvinas son Argentinas', meaning 'the Falklands are Argentine'.
Kit Roberts