The practice of sports in Argentina is varied due to the population's diverse European origins and the mostly mild climate.

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

is the most popular discipline and other sports played both professionally and recreatively

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

mountaineering Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...

mountain biking Mountain biking (MTB) is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability ...

, padel tennis,

polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

roller hockey Roller hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using wheeled skates. It can be played with traditional roller skates (quad skates) or with inline skates and use either a ball or puck. Combined, roller hockey is played in nearly 60 cou ...

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

. Argentine achievements can be found in team sports such as association football, basketball, field hockey and rugby union, and individual sports such as boxing, golf, tennis and rowing.

Pato ', also called ' (, literally "duck game"), is a game played on horseback that combines elements from polo and basketball. Since 1953 it has been the national sport of Argentina. History ' is Spanish for "duck", as early games used a live duck ...

, the national sport, is not very popular.

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

is one of the most important sport powers in the region, ending at the top of the medal count at the

South American Games The South American Games (also known as ODESUR Games; Spanish: ''Juegos Suramericanos''; Portuguese: ''Jogos Sul-Americanos''), formerly the Southern Cross Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Cruz del Sur'') is a regional multi-sport event held between nat ...

since 1978, with exceptions in 2002 and 2010. In the all-time medal table of the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

, Argentina holds second place among South American countries and fifth place in the Americas, behind the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. Despite a relative lack of success at the Olympic level in more traditional sports like athletics, swimming, and

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

, Argentina has had successful participations in other sports like association football, basketball, field hockey, roller hockey, padel tennis, polo and rugby union.

Football

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

is the most popular sport in Argentina and part of the country's culture. The sport is played by children during breaks at school and by grown-ups on the plenty of both indoor and outdoor fields located throughout the country. The

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

has won the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

three times (in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

), successive Olympic gold medals (in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

), a record sixteen

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

, one

Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six Continental football championships, continental champions ...

and six World Youth Championships. Argentine clubs have won the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

, the top continental competition, a record 25 times and the Intercontinental Cup or

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

9 times, a record shared with Brazilian clubs. The

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

is the top level domestic competition. The country's most famed football idols are

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

and

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

, both of whom captained the national team to a World Cup trophy. Argentina's fiercest rival is

and their rivalry is sometimes known as the " Battle of the South Americans". They have played each other numerous times in the Copa América and the Confederations Cup, and their clubs have met several times in the Copa Libertadores finals. Argentina is one of the few national teams in association football that have beaten Brazil on a regular basis. Argentine and Brazilian national youth teams have also met at various tournaments. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, the under-23 teams met in the

semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

, with Argentina winning 3–0 in a hard-fought game. In addition, the aforementioned Maradona has been often compared with Brazilian iconic player

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

Women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's rugby union ...

is far behind in terms of popularity and professionalism. However, the women's national team has competed in the South American Championship since 1995, finishing as runner-up three times before winning the competition in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

with a 5–0 victory over

. The national team also played in the

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but the outbreak o ...

s, but they finished last in the group on both occasions.

Basketball

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

is a very popular sport, mostly in the

provinces of Argentina Argentina has 23 provinces (, singular ) and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires, which serves as the federal capital, as determined by Congress. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions and exist under a federal system. ...

. The Basketball Clubs' Association organizes the

Liga Nacional de Básquet Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Amer ...

, the top-level league in the country. Although the

National team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

won the first

FIBA World Championship The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

, the sport did not gain country-wide popularity until the 2000s, when the national team conquered the Olympic gold medal at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

and had a good performance in the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, 2010 World Championships finishing on the second, fourth, fifth position respectively. The national team also won the bronze medal at the

. At the 2019 World Championship, the national team finished second again. The national team has won the

FIBA AmeriCup The FIBA AmeriCup (previously known as the FIBA Americas Championship) is the Americas Basketball Championship that takes place every four years between national teams of the Western Hemisphere continents. Since FIBA organized the entire Wester ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

. Argentine

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

star

Manu Ginóbili Emanuel David "Manu" Ginóbili ( , ; born 28 July 1977) is an Argentine former professional basketball player. Credited for popularizing the Euro step move in the NBA, he is regarded as one of the greatest shooting guards and sixth men in the le ...

also won NBA Championship rings in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014 as a member of the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

, the 2007 victory included his compatriot

Fabricio Oberto Fabricio Raúl Jesús Oberto (; born March 21, 1975) is an Argentine-Italian color analyst and former professional basketball player. At , he played as a center and power forward. With the LNB club Atenas, in his native Argentina, Oberto began ...

. Although

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college compet ...

is not professional in Argentina, the national team participates in most international competitions, reaching their highest point at the

2006 FIBA World Championship for Women The 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women took place in Brazil from September 12 to September 23, 2006. It was co-organised by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and Confederação Brasileira de Basketball, the Brazilian national fed ...

where they finished in the 9th place.

Rugby union

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

is a popular and largely amateur sport. However, despite this amateurism, the

have become one of the most powerful in the sport, finishing third in the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

and rising as high as third in the

World Rugby Rankings The World Rugby Rankings is a ranking system for national teams in rugby union, managed by World Rugby, the sport's governing body. There are separate men's and women's rankings. The teams of World Rugby's member nations are ranked based on th ...

(then known as the IRB World Rankings) immediately after. As of 2020, they have defeated every Tier 1 rugby nation. In particular, the ''Pumas'' have enjoyed a dominating record in recent years against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, going 7–2 since 2000, with a total points against of 7. For the first 20 years of the sport's professional era, dating from 1996, most important Argentine players have emigrated to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

(mainly to England and France). Probably the best known players are 1970s and 1980s star

Hugo Porta Hugo Porta (born 11 September 1951) is an Argentine retired rugby union player. Considered one of the best fly-halves the sport has seen, he is an inductee of both the International Rugby Hall of Fame and IRB Hall of Fame. During the 1970s and ...

;

Agustín Pichot Agustín Pichot (born 22 August 1974) is an Argentine retired rugby union player, formerly captain of the Argentine team and the English club Bristol. In addition to Bristol, he played for French sides Stade Français and Racing Métro after ...

, Pumas captain during their 2007 World Cup run and now the vice chairman of

World Rugby World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

; his successor as captain,

Felipe Contepomi Felipe Contepomi (born 20 August 1977) is an Argentine professional rugby coach who is currently the head coach of the Argentine national side. He was a rugby union footballer who played fly-half or centre; his last club was Club Newman, in ...

; current star utility back

Juan Martín Hernández Juan Martín Hernández (born 7 August 1982) is an Argentine retired rugby union player. A mainstay of the Argentina national team '' The Pumas''. He played for the club Toulon in the French Top 14 competition. His 2010 move to Racing brought ...

; 1990s star and later Pumas head coach Santiago Phelan;

Marcelo Loffreda Marcelo Loffreda (born May 17, 1959, in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine former rugby union footballer and coach. Loffreda won 44 caps with one as captain, playing at centre for the Argentine rugby union side (''los Pumas''). He played mu ...

, who coached the team during their 2007 World Cup run before leaving to take up the coaching post at English club power

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...

. The current

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

is previously mentioned Felipe Contepomi. In 2012, Argentina joined New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the Tri Nations Championship, which then became

The Rugby Championship The Rugby Championship, formerly known as the Tri Nations Series (1996–2011), is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are traditionally the four highest ran ...

. In 2014, Argentina took their first victory in this competition against Australia in the first round. Argentina further cemented its links with

SANZAAR SANZAAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina Rugby; previously known as SANZAR) is the body which oversees Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship competitions in rugby union. SANZAAR meets annually and is composed of the CEOs fr ...

when the country was added to that body's

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

competition, which added teams based in

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in 2016.

Tennis

Nalbandian signing autographs at 2006 Australian Open

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

has been quite popular among people of all ages since the 1970s and is the 2nd largest sport in Argentina, behind football, after both

Guillermo Vilas Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He was the world No. 1 of the Grand Prix tennis circuit, Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977. He won 62 singles titles and 16 doubles titles during ...

and later

Gabriela Sabatini Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini (; born 16 May 1970) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. A former world No. 3 in both singles and doubles, Sabatini was one of the leading players from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, amassing 41 titles a ...

in the 1980s reached the number 2 position and won several Grand Slams. Even though no Argentine player has thus far reached the first place at the

ATP rankings The PIF ATP Rankings (previously known as the Pepperstone ATP Rankings) are the merit-based method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for determining the qualification for entry as well as the seeding of players in all single ...

, many Argentines have been among the most important in the circuit. During the 2000s a number of Argentine players were among the top 10 and the

2004 French Open The 2004 French Open was the 103rd edition of the tournament. On the men's side, Gastón Gaudio became the first men's major champion in the Open Era to save two championship points in the final. Gaudio also became the first Argentine man since G ...

featured an all-Argentine final.

Gastón Gaudio Gastón Norberto Gaudio (; born 9 December 1978) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He won eight singles titles and achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 5 in April 2005. Gaudio's most significant championship c ...

won the Roland Garros in 2004. At the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup,

David Nalbandian David Pablo Nalbandian (; born 1 January 1982) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He reached his highest ranking in singles of world No. 3 in March 2006, during a career that spanned from 2000 to 2013. Nalbandian was runner-up in ...

defeated world number 1

Roger Federer Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...

and the tournament gathered 4 Argentine players, an all-time record for any nationality. Most recently,

Juan Martín del Potro Juan Martín del Potro (; born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), in August 2018. Del Potro won 22 ATP Tour-level sing ...

has emerged as one of the leading players in the world, having won the

2009 US Open 2009 U.S. Open may refer to: * 2009 U.S. Open (golf), a major golf tournament *2009 US Open (tennis) The 2009 US Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts, held from August 31 to September 14, 2009, in the USTA Billie Jean Kin ...

a few days before his 21st birthday. Argentina has won the

World Team Cup The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...

four times, in 1980, 2002,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and has reached the semifinals of the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

7 times in the last 10 years, losing the finals against Russia in

and Spain in

and

; the Argentine team also played the final in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

, where they lost against the United States. The national squad won the

2016 Davis Cup The 2016 Davis Cup was the 105th edition of the Davis Cup, a tournament between national teams in men's tennis. It was sponsored by BNP Paribas. From this season's tournament the deciding set of each match would be settled by a tiebreak at 6 game ...

Field hockey

The women's national team ''Las Leonas'' is one of the world's most successful, with five Olympic medals, two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, a World League and seven

Champions Trophy The ICC Champions Trophy, formerly known as the ICC Knock Out Trophy, is an international One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) contested by international men's teams. Inaugurat ...

. The national team won the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

and

. At the Olympic Games, it won the silver medal in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, as well as bronze in

and

. ''Las Leonas'' also won the annual

on seven occasions, in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and the World League 2014-2015.

Luciana Aymar Luciana Paula Aymar (; born 10 August 1977) is an Argentine retired field hockey player. She is the only player in history to receive the FIH Player of the Year Award eight times, and is considered the best female hockey player of all time. In ...

is recognized as the best female player in the history of the sport, being the only player to have received the FIH Player of the Year Award eight times. The men's national team ''Los Leones'' won the gold medal at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

and the bronze medal at the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

and 2008 Champions Trophy. The national squad also won

on ten occasions and the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

Champions Challenges.

Roller hockey

Roller hockey Roller hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using wheeled skates. It can be played with traditional roller skates (quad skates) or with inline skates and use either a ball or puck. Combined, roller hockey is played in nearly 60 cou ...

is mainly played in the Cuyo region (especially in San Juan Province). Argentine players have an international quality, with the men's national team winning six

Roller Hockey World Cup The World Skate Roller Hockey World Cup is the international championship for roller hockey organized by World Skate. The first event was held in 1936, in the city of Stuttgart. Since 1989, the World Championship tournament is held every two year ...

titles. The women's national team is the world's most successful team, having won six titles.

Auto racing

From

rallying Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (sometimes called "rally racing" in United States), navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed ...

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

, auto racing is a sport followed by a number of fans in Argentina. Formula One legend

Juan Manuel Fangio Juan Manuel Fangio (, ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995) was an Argentine racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "el Chueco" and "el Maestro", Fangio won five Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and—at the ti ...

was five times Formula One world champion under four different teams, winning 102 of his 184 international races, and is widely ranked as the greatest driver of all time. Other distinguished racers were

Oscar Alfredo Gálvez Oscar Alfredo Gálvez (17 August 1913 – 16 December 1989) was an Argentine racing driver, known best for participating – and for scoring two championship points – in the Formula One World Championship Grand Prix on 18 January 1953. Life an ...

Juan Gálvez Juan Gálvez may refer to: * Juan Gálvez (racing driver) (1916–1963), Argentine racing driver * Juan Gálvez (painter) (1774–1846), Spanish artist * Juan Gálvez (bishop) (died 1507), Spanish Roman Catholic prelate * Juan Manuel Gálvez (1 ...

José Froilán González José Froilán González (5 October 1922 – 15 June 2013) was an Argentine racing driver, who competed in Formula One between and . Nicknamed "the Pampas Bull", González was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in wit ...

, and

Carlos Reutemann Carlos Alberto "Lole" Reutemann (12 April 1942 – 7 July 2021) was an Argentine racing driver and politician, who competed in Formula One from to and served as the Governor of Santa Fe from 1999 to 2003. Reutemann was runner-up in the Form ...

. Years after Fangio's career was over,

was the best known Argentine driver of the 1970s. More recently

José María López José María "Pechito" López (born 26 April 1983) is a Argentine race car driving, driver who is currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Akkodis ASP. He is three-time World Touring Car Championship, World Touring Champi ...

has emerged as one of the world's top

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. The ...

drivers, winning the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sing ...

in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Argentine competitions include the

TC 2000 The TC2000 (''Turismo Competición 2000'', formerly ''Súper TC2000'') is a touring car racing series held in Argentina since 1979. Rules Prior to 2012, engines of up to were allowed, with only limited modifications from standard engines ...

and

Turismo Carretera Turismo Carretera ( Road racing, lit., ''Road Touring'') is a popular stock car racing series in Argentina, and the 2nd oldest auto racing series still active in the world. The series is organized by Asociación Corredores de Turismo Carretera. ...

road racing Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a race track, closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily c ...

series, as well as

Rally Argentina The Rally Argentina () is an Argentine rally competition that has been a round of the World Rally Championship, the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, the South American Rally Championship and the Argentine Rally Championship. It is held in the ...

of the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

. Argentina has also hosted the

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

and

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

editions of the

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally () or simply "The Dakar" (), formerly known as the Paris–Dakar Rally (), is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). It is an off-road endurance event traversing terrain much tougher than convent ...

. Former events include the defunct Formula One

Argentine Grand Prix The Argentine Grand Prix (Spanish: ''Gran Premio de Argentina'') was a round of the Formula One championship, held intermittently from to , at the Autódromo Oscar y Juan Gálvez in the Argentine national capital of Buenos Aires. Origins and ...

and

World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing series run for sports car racing, sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), from 1953 World Sportscar Championship, 1953 t ...

1000 km Buenos Aires The 1000 km Buenos Aires was an endurance sports car and stock car event held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The race mostly run on the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, although it ran on the Costanera circuit in 1957. Besides a single ra ...

Boxing

Pascual Pérez was Argentina's first world boxing champion. There are Argentine boxing legends such as

Carlos Monzón Carlos Roque Monzón (7 August 1942 – 8 January 1995), nicknamed Escopeta (''Shotgun''), was an Argentine professional boxer who held the undisputed world middleweight championship for seven years. He successfully defended his title 14 times a ...

Horacio Accavallo Horacio Enrique Accavallo (14 October 1934 – 14 September 2022) was an Argentine professional boxer who competed from 1956 until 1967. He held the WBA and WBC flyweight titles between March 1966 to October 1968.

Santos Laciar Santos Benigno Laciar (born January 31, 1959), known familiarly as Santos Laciar and nicknamed Falucho, is an Argentine who was boxing's world flyweight and super flyweight champion. Biography Laciar was born in Huinca Renancó, in the provinc ...

, Juan Martín Coggi and

Nicolino Locche Nicolino Locche (September 2, 1939 – September 7, 2005) was an Argentine professional boxer who held the World Junior Welterweight title from 1968 to 1972. Born in Mendoza, Locche turned professional at the age of 19 and amassed a record o ...

who held the world champion's title in their categories. Argentine boxers have, as of 2004, earned 24 Olympic medals, including seven gold medals. Argentine boxer Victor Galindez was the third

Latin American Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...

to win the world's Light-Heavyweight title (after

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

José Torres José Torres may refer to: Music * José de Torres (1665–1738), Spanish composer * José Torres (percussionist) (born 1958), Cuban-Polish percussionist * Tomatito (José Fernández Torres, born 1958), Spanish flamenco guitarist Politics * Jo ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

's Vicente Rondon, WBA-recognized champion during the middle of the 1970s). Galindez died after he was run over by a car during an

competition in which he took part. In 1994, WBA world Middleweight champion Jorge Castro knocked out John David Jackson in the ninth round to retain his title in

Monterrey, Mexico Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

. Since Castro was on the brink of suffering a technical knockout loss when he won the fight, the punch with which he beat Jackson has become known as boxing's version of Diego Maradona's

Hand of God goal "The Hand of God" () was a goal scored by Argentine footballer Diego Maradona during the Argentina v England quarter finals match of the 1986 FIFA World Cup. The goal was illegal under association football rules because Maradona used his hand ...

Marcela Acuña Marcela Eliana Acuña (born 16 October 1976) is an Argentine professional boxer and part-time politician. She has held multiple super bantamweight world titles, including the IBF title since 2018; the WBA title from 2006 to 2008; the WBC titl ...

is a world champion

female boxer Although women have participated in boxing for almost as long as the sport has existed, female fights have been effectively outlawed for most of boxing's history until recently, with athletic commissioners refusing to sanction or issue licenses ...

, and arguably one of the most popular fighters of the 2000s in Argentina. Other fighters, such as

Oscar Bonavena Oscar Natalio "Ringo" Bonavena (September 25, 1942 – May 22, 1976) was an Argentine heavyweight professional boxing, professional boxer with a career record of 58 wins, 9 losses and 1 draw. A rugged, wild-swinging puncher, he was nicknamed "Ring ...

Juan Roldán Juan Domingo Roldán (6 March 1957 – 18 November 2020) was an Argentine professional boxer, best remembered for his strong showing in the early rounds of an undisputed world championship bout against Marvelous Marvin Hagler. After flooring H ...

, and Luis Firpo, did not win world championships, but were also popular among boxing fans during their years as professional fighters. On 17 April 2010, Sergio Martínez outpointed American

Kelly Pavlik Kelly Robert Pavlik (born April 5, 1982) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2012. He won the unified WBC, WBO, ''Ring'' magazine and lineal middleweight titles by defeating Jermain Taylor in 2007, and made thr ...

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

to become the lineal

Middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

champion of the world.

Marcos René Maidana Marcos René Maidana (born 17 July 1983) is an Argentine former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2014. He held the WBA (Regular) super lightweight title from 2011 to 2012, and the WBA (Regular) welterweight title from 2013 to 2014. A ...

has also been champion in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Cricket

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

has been played in Argentina since 1806, with the international side making its first appearance in 1868, against the Uruguay national team. The sport regained some popularity, due to the national team's participation at the

World Cricket League The ICC World Cricket League (WCL) was a series of international one-day cricket tournaments for national teams without Test status (i.e., teams of Associate status) administered by the International Cricket Council. All Associate Members of ...

, and the Argentina national women's cricket team at the Women's version of the

ICC Americas Championship The ICC Americas Championship is a one-day cricket tournament organised by ICC Americas for non-Test national cricket teams in the Americas affiliated with the International Cricket Council. As well as providing the opportunity for national te ...

. Though cricket is a minor sport, Argentina is the strongest team in mainland South America, and are currently playing in division 7 of the World Cricket League. There is a huge scope of development of the sport in this country, given that there are a large number of British descendants in Argentina. Argentina also dominates the South American Cricket Championship.

Golf

Among the best in South America, the first prominent figure of this sport in Argentina was

José Jurado José Jurado (1899–1971) was a professional golfer in the sport’s Golden Age. Born in Villa Ballester, northern suburb of Buenos Aires, he was the first Argentine to travel to major international championships and is thus often credited a ...

. He was the first Argentine to travel to major international championships and is thus often credited as the "Father of Argentine Professional Golf". Other notable Argentine golfers include

Roberto De Vicenzo Roberto De Vicenzo (14 April 1923 – 1 June 2017) was a professional golfer from Argentina. He won a record 229 professional tournaments worldwide during his career, including seven on the PGA Tour and most famously the 1967 Open Championship. ...

Antonio Cerdá Antonio Cerdá (10 December 1921 – 28 November 2010) was an Argentine professional golfer. Professional career Cerdá solo runner-up second in the 1951 Open Championship to Max Faulkner. Two years later he finished joint runner-up at the 1953 ...

, José Cóceres,

Eduardo Romero Eduardo Alejandro Romero (17 July 1954 – 13 February 2022) was an Argentine professional golfer. Nicknamed "El Gato" ("The Cat"), he won over 80 professional tournaments around the world, including eight on the European Tour and five on the Ch ...

Ángel Cabrera Ángel Leopoldo Cabrera (; born 12 September 1969) is an Argentine professional golfer who has played on both the European Tour and PGA Tour. He is known affectionately as ''"El Pato"'' in Spanish ''("The Duck")'' for his waddling gait. He is a ...

Andrés Romero Andrés Fabián Romero (born 8 May 1981) is an Argentine professional golfer who plays on both the PGA Tour and European Tour. Career Romero was born in Tucumán. He won his European Tour card by finishing 14th on the Challenge Tour rankings i ...

and Ricardo González. De Vicenzo and Cerdá won the

1953 Canada Cup The 1953 Canada Cup took place June 2–3 at the Beaconsfield Golf Club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the first Canada Cup event, which became the World Cup (men's golf), World Cup in 1967. The tournament was a 36-hole stroke play team event ...

. In history, Argentine golfers won three Majors,

the

British Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

, and Ángel Cabrera the U.S. Open in

and the Augusta Masters in

Handball

Although handball in Argentina lacks the popularity of this sport on the European continent, both in terms of infrastructure and federated players, the Handball is a firmly growing sport in Argentina with the men's national team regularly qualifying for the World Championship. Argentina has started producing world class talent, such as the brothers

Diego Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. ...

and

Sebastián Simonet Sebastián Alejandro Simonet Moldes (born 12 May 1986) is an Argentine handball player for Ademar León and the Argentina men's national handball team. He defended Argentina at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, along with his younger brother ...

. The Men's national handball team won the gold medal at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Guadalajara 2011, were an international multi-sport event held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby c ...

and at the

2019 Pan American Games The 2019 Pan American Games (), officially the XVIII Pan American Games () and commonly known as Lima 2019, were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization held in Lima, Peru from July 26 to August 11, 2019, with preliminar ...

and seven Pan American Handball Championships.

Padel tennis

Padel tennis Padel () is a racket sport typically played in doubles on an enclosed court slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court. It has the same scoring system as tennis, but different rules, strokes, and technique. The balls are similar but softer. ...

is played by four and a half million amateur players in thirty five thousand courts; it is the most participated sport in Argentina. Professional players compete in National Circuit of tournaments. Argentina won 19 titles at the

Padel Tennis World Championship The Padel World Championship is an international competition of padel that has been held every second year since 1992. The first edition was held in Spain. The event is organized by the International Padel Federation and includes both male and f ...

(between women and men).

Polo

Argentina's

team won their first Olympic gold medal in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

and the second gold medal in

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

Adolfo Cambiaso Adolfo Cambiaso (born 15 April 1975) is an Argentine professional polo player with a 10-goal handicap rating. Early years From an early age his mother, Martina de Estrada Lainez, encouraged her son Adolfo and his half brothers to play polo.

Gonzalo Pieres Gonzalo Pieres Jr. (born December 17, 1982) Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Province is a professional Argentine polo player with a 10-goal handicap. Currently, he is ranked number 3. Biography Early life Gonzalito was born into a family of polo playe ...

, his brother

Facundo ''Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism'' (original Spanish title: ''Facundo: Civilización y Barbarie'') is a book written in 1845 by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, a writer and journalist who became the seventh president of Argentina. It is a corne ...

, the Novillo Astrada brothers, the Heguy's, and Tommy Iriarte are currently ranked amongst the best polo players in the world. The three most important polo tournaments in the world, the

Argentine Open The Argentine Open or Abierto de la República or Abierto de Argentina is one of the oldest national golf open championships. First played in 1905, when it was called the Open Championship of the River Plate, it has featured numerous notable winn ...

, the

Hurlingham Open The Hurlingham Open () is a yearly polo competition that takes place at the Hurlingham Club The Hurlingham Club is an exclusive private social and athletic club located in the Fulham area of London, England. Founded in 1869, it has a Geo ...

, and the Tortugas Open are held in

. Historically, Argentina has always been a leading country in this sport, and has been uninterrupted world champions since 1949 and Argentine players comprise most of the world's top ten players. Argentina has won five

World Polo Championship The World Polo Championship is an international polo competition between countries. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the Federation of International Polo (FIP), and is contested by the national teams. There is no restriction ...

Sailing

Argentina won 10 Olympic medals in

(1 gold, 4 silver, 5 bronze), the Argentinian experience and level in this sport is high, even between young children competing in optimist class boats. Carlos Espínola is the sailor who won most Olympic medals in this sport with four.

Santiago Lange Santiago Raúl Lange Roberti (born September 22, 1961 in San Isidro, Argentina) is an Argentine Olympic sailor and a naval architect. Sailing career He studied Naval Architecture at Southampton College of Higher Education (now known as Solent U ...

won the World Championship on four occasions (1985, 1993, 1995 and 2004) and the gold medal at the

Volleyball

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

has a professional male league. Argentina national volleyball team's best achievements are the bronze medals at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

and 1982 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship. The male team is usually

ranked A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorded in a list, such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than", or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak ...

by the FIVB among the top 10 national teams in the world. The national team also won the gold medal at the

in three occasions (1995, 2015 and 2019). Argentina featured national teams in

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

that competed at the 2018–2020 CSV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup in both the women's and the men's sections.

Water polo

Argentina's women's national under-20 water polo team made its debut at the 2021

FINA Junior Water Polo World Championships FINA Junior Water Polo World Championships is an international water polo tournament held every two years for the players under the age of 20. It was launched by FINA in 1981 for men and in 1995 for women . Editions Men Women * World Aquatics ...

Olympic Games

Argentina was one of eight founding members of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

, and first participated in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...

with one single athlete. Argentine Olympic competitors have, from 1900 to 2016, garnered 77 medals (21 gold, 26 silver, 30 bronze); from 1924 to 1952, its athletes had good showings, giving the Argentine delegations global ranks of between 16th and 19th. From 1956 to 2000, however, Argentina did not win any gold medals, a situation that was reversed in

, when it acquired two and further so, in

and

. On 4 July 2013,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

was selected as host city for the

2018 Summer Youth Olympics The 2018 Summer Youth Olympics (), officially known as the III Summer Youth Olympic Games, and commonly known as Buenos Aires 2018, were an international multi-sport event, sports, cultural, and educational event held from 6 to 18 October 2018 ...

.Buenos Aires elected as Host City for 2018 Youth Olympic Games
/ref>

Team nicknames

International events

Argentina has hosted a wide range of international competitions, among them: ;Key :A: Partially or wholly hosted in

Avellaneda Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the provinces of Argentina, province of Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater B ...

:B: Partially or wholly hosted in

:C: Partially or wholly hosted in

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

:E: Partially or wholly hosted in Esperanza :J: Partially or wholly hosted in

Jujuy San Salvador de Jujuy (), commonly known as Jujuy and locally often referred to as San Salvador, is the capital and largest city of Jujuy Province in northwest Argentina. Also, it is the seat of the Doctor Manuel Belgrano Department. It lies near ...

:LP: Partially or wholly hosted in

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

:MP: Partially or wholly hosted in

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

:M: Partially or wholly hosted in Mendoza :N: Partially or wholly hosted in

Neuquén Neuquén (; ) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers which form t ...

:Q: Partially or wholly hosted in

Quilmes Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Rio de la Plata, in the , on the southeast end of the Greater Buenos Aires, being some away from the urban centre area of Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and is the seat of the eponymous '' ...

:R: Partially or wholly hosted in

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

:S: Partially or wholly hosted in

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Salta Province, the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the List of cities in Argentina, 7th most-populous ...

:SJ: Partially or wholly hosted in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

:SF: Partially or wholly hosted in Santa Fe :TA: Partially or wholly hosted in

Tandil Tandil is the main city of the homonymous partido (department), located in Argentina, in the southeast of Buenos Aires Province, just north-northwest of Tandilia hills. The city was founded in 1823, and its name originates from the '' Piedra M ...

:TI: Partially or wholly hosted in Tigre :TU: Partially or wholly hosted in

San Miguel de Tucumán San Miguel de Tucumán (), usually called simply Tucumán, is the capital and largest city of Tucumán Province, located in northern Argentina from Buenos Aires. It is the fifth-largest city of Argentina after Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Argentin ...

:V: Partially or wholly hosted in

Villa Ballester Villa Ballester is a city located in the northern Greater Buenos Aires urban area and it is part of the General San Martín Partido in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is served by the Línea Mitre commuter railway with its station also na ...

Sports Originating in Argentina

The following sports originated in Argentina: *

Cestoball Cestoball is a dynamic team sport that originated in Argentina in 1897, developed by Professor Enrique Romero Brest, a pioneer in Argentine physical education. Initially called ''pelota al cesto'' (ball to basket), it was officially incorporated ...

Tejo The World Esperanto Youth Organization (, TEJO) is an organization dedicated to supporting young Esperanto speakers around the world and promote the use of Esperanto. TEJO was founded in 1938 as the ''Tutmonda Junular-Organizo'' (World Youth Org ...