Updated on Monday at 12:25 p.m.
The Argentine mens national football team departed from New York on Monday morning in a flight back to their home country, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) announced.
The squad had gone straight back to their hotel, avoiding the media after the 2026 World Cup final, where they lost 1-0 to Spain.
Not all of them are coming home: after what is believed to be his last World Cup game, star Lionel Messi reportedly decided to stay in the United States and traveled to Miami, where he plays for the Inter Miami club.
Following the final, some of the teams players will travel from the United States directly to various destinations and either rejoin their clubs or begin their break, AFA said in a statement on Sunday night.
According to reports from Argentine sports media, other players who will not return to Argentina include Rodrigo De Paul who also plays at Inter Miami as well as Enzo Fernndez, Lautaro Martnez, Julin lvarez, Gernimo Rulli, Nicols Paz, Cristian Romero, Nahuel Molina Lucero and Juan Musso.
The rest of the players, coaches, and staff members will land in Ezeiza Airport in Buenos Aires province on Monday at around 6:30 p.m. after taking off from New York minutes after 8 a.m., Argentina time.
A government source told the Herald that there will not be an official government welcoming. Instead, the team will be received by the airports authorities and an honor guard made up of members of federal security forces. Once they leave the airport grounds, the security operation will be led by the Buenos Aires provincial government.
The team is coming back on a charter flight from state-owned airline Aerolneas Argentinas, on flight AR1971, a source from the company told the Herald. Their families will arrive earlier, at around 3:30 p.m., in a different flight alongside AFA executives.
National team coach Lionel Scaloni is reportedly in the return flight with the rest of the coaching team. Players Nicols Otamendi and Gonzalo Montiel are also expected to be among those returning to Buenos Aires to rejoin local team River Plate, as well as Leandro Paredes, who plays for Boca Juniors.
The final result wasn’t enough to make the dream of a back-to-back championship come true, but it did reaffirm a bond that transcends any result, AFA said, thanking the support of the Argentine fans in the name of the team.
National holiday? On Sunday night, President Javier Milei announced on his X account that he would declare a national holiday to celebrate the national teams achievements. However, he did not establish a date, saying it would depend on when the players and the coaching staff wanted to celebrate with the Argentine people.
Fans who had gathered at the Obelisco to celebrate the team were violently dispersed by a large Buenos Aires City Police operation. Long rows of police officers were seen advancing alongside water trucks to push fans out of the streets. Fifteen people were arrested.
Preparing for a massive welcoming Rumors of a national holiday and a massive welcoming in case Argentina won the final had circulated before the team played on Sunday. Expectations were similar to how locals welcomed them after winning the 2022 World Cup, when around 5 million Argentines took to the streets to welcome the team.
The government had also offered the presidential palace Casa Rosada to the players so they could wave to the crowd from the balcony without any public officials including president Milei himself joining them.
Milei said in an interview with Radio Mitre on Sunday night that his administration offered AFA six options for the team to celebrate, including free access to the Casa Rosada, if they so desire. He also said that they were awaiting the teams decision so that they can have that moment to interact with the Argentine people in recognition of the tremendous work theyve done.
However, those plans including the declaration of a national holiday seem to have fallen through, given Messi and a large part of the team will not be coming to Argentina for now.
A source from the security ministry of Buenos Aires City told the Herald that there are no welcoming events or security operations planned for Monday. The flight bringing the rest of the team will land in the Ministro Pistarini National Airport in Ezeiza, Buenos Aires province.
In 2022, the team tried to travel from Ezeiza to Buenos Aires City by bus but was unable to reach the capital due to the large number of people on the streets. Instead, they hopped onto helicopters and flew over the city before returning to the AFA headquarters.