Since the crowning of their national football team on Sunday 18 December in Qatar, the Argentines have been tattooing an image that has become emblematic: that of their idol kissing the World Cup trophy.
“The next two weeks I only have tattoos related to the World Cup. Some had already made an appointment to get snakes or skulls, but they changed to Messi or the Cup. I already have two or three appointments a day on my agenda,” explains Esteban Vucinovich , nicknamed “Tebi Cobra”. According to this Buenos Aires tattoo artist, the World Cup trophy is the most requestedfollowed by Messi of course, but also by goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, decisive in the final against France after extra time and penalties.
These supporters are inspired by the examples provided by some Argentine players, just crowned world champions, such as Angel Di Maria who recently sported a World Cup tattoo on his right leg. “On the skin for eternity. Thank you so much my friend. You said it when we won the Copa America (in 2020). I had saved the other leg for this occasion. It said. Go Argentina!”, wrote Di Maria on his Instagram account, captioning a photo of the tattoo and its creator.
‘A perfect representation’ of Argentine football
“I have a Messi tattoo as a token of thanks“, explains Nicolás Rechanik, a state official. “It represents not only who Messi is, but also the team that has brought us a third World Cup and all the years of effort to achieve this goal.” Before having Messi on his left leg who wore the white jersey with blue stripes and kissing the Golden Cup, had already gotten a tattoo from Argentina’s other soccer idol, Diego Maradona, who was crowned world champion in 1986 and died in 2020. “It’s a perfect representation of that which is what Argentine football is to us,” he sums up.
Alma Ocampo, a 20-year-old girl who has been playing soccer since she was a child, decided to get a tattoo when Argentina surprisingly lost their first World Cup match against Saudi Arabia. “When everyone was losing faith, I told myself that I would get the Cup tattooed if Argentina won it. So I did it, with the date of December 18, 2022”, that of Argentina’s third world title, she specifies.
Ariel Sacchi, a physical education teacher, had a playing card tattooed depicting five World Cups, as many as those played by Messi, with the Argentinian superstar in the center kissing the trophy. “I decided to get Leo (Messi, ed) tattooed because he gave all of us Argentines the greatest joy. I think he deserved it (the world title, ed) and after failing so many times, he finally chose it over “,
But not all tattoos are the same: on social media people laugh at those who wear a slightly too big Messi or another with a mistake in the name of goalkeeper Emiliano “Dibu” Martinez.
