Football

Football

     Football is the most popular sport in Argentina, it has more registered players than any other sport (2,658,811 total players, 331,811 of which are registered and 2,327,000 unregistered. There are 3,377 clubs and 37,161 officials) and it is the most popular recreational sport played from childhood into old age. The percentage of Argentines that declare allegiance to an Argentine football club is about 90%.

Football was introduced to Argentina in the latter half of the 19th century by the British inmigrants in Buenos Aires. The first Argentine league was contested in 1891, making it one of the oldest leagues outside Great Britain. The Argentine Football Asociation (AFA) was formed in 1893 and is the eighth oldest in the world.

     Argentina is one of the eight countries to have won the football World Cup having done so in 1978 and 1986. They have also won the continental tournament Copa America on fourteen occasions. At youth level the Argentina Olympic football team has won two Gold Medals (2004 and 2008) and the Argentina Under-20 team has won a record six FIFA U-20 World Cups. At club level Argentine teams have won the most Intercontinental Cups (9) and the most Copa Libertadores (21).

     In Women's Fotball there has been a national women's league in Argentine since 1991, the Campeonato de Fútbol Femenino. Argentina women's team qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time in 2007.

     Argentina were world champions in football for the visually impaired in 1998.

     In Futsal Argentina were FIFUSA/AMF Futsal World Cup champions in 1994, they also compete in the FIFA code of Futsal, where they finished 3rd in the 2004 FIFA Futsal World Cup, they won the FIFA Futsal Copa América in 2003.

     Argentina also compete in the Beach Football World Cup, their best finish was 3rd in 2001.

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