Sky blue and white stripes, a crest, a laurel wreath and three stars. What each part of the Argentina shirt stands for, and why the count is still three.
You can pick it out across a pub at six in the morning: sky blue and white stripes, the crest, three stars above it. Every part of the Argentina shirt stands for something, and it helps to know what before you pull one on.
The colours
Argentines call the team la Albiceleste, “the white and sky-blue”, and the shirt la celeste y blanca. They are the colours of the national flag, three horizontal bands of sky blue, white and sky blue. It goes back to the flag Manuel Belgrano created and first raised in Rosario on 27 February 1812. The team has played in those colours since the early 1900s. The change kit has traditionally been dark blue.
The crest and the laurels
The badge of the Argentine Football Association, the AFA, has not always been on the shirt. At the 1958 World Cup it appeared only on the team’s jackets, and it did not reach the jersey until 1976. The laurel wreath around it came later still, added for the 1982 World Cup.
The stars
Each star is a World Cup won. The first two were added above the crest in the mid-2000s, for the titles of 1978 and 1986. The third arrived in 2022.
- 1978, Buenos Aires. Argentina 3–1 Netherlands after extra time at the Estadio Monumental, on 25 June. Mario Kempes scored twice and Daniel Bertoni once. Daniel Passarella was captain and César Luis Menotti the coach.
- 1986, Mexico City. Argentina 3–2 West Germany at the Estadio Azteca, on 29 June. José Luis Brown, Jorge Valdano and Jorge Burruchaga scored. Diego Maradona was captain and Carlos Bilardo the coach.
- 2022, Lusail. Argentina 3–3 France after extra time, then 4–2 on penalties, on 18 December. Lionel Messi scored twice and Ángel Di María once. Messi was captain and Lionel Scaloni the coach.
Argentines have a word for that record: tricampeones, three-time champions.
Why it is still three
Stars count titles, not finals. In July 2026 Argentina reached the World Cup final again and lost 1–0 to Spain after extra time, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. A runners-up medal does not change the shirt, so it carries the same three stars it did the day before.
That is worth remembering when you put it on at dawn for the next match. You are wearing 1978, 1986 and 2022, and the colours of a flag first raised more than two centuries ago.
Wondering which Argentine club’s colours would suit you too? Pick Your Argentine Club.
