Alejandro Domínguez, president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) and FIFA vice president, told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday that he has reached an agreement with the Argentina national team, which won this year's World Cup, to arrive in Israel for an exhibition match, likely against Israel’s national team.
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The Argentinian team will likely include its international superstar Lionel Messi, though he has yet to announce whether he’ll be arriving in Israel or not.
Domínguez said that the national under-20 Argentine team also will come to Israel, and that the head of the Israel Football Association, Moshe Zoaretz, and his counterpart in the Argentine Football Association, Claudio Tapia, will work to coordinate dates for the upcoming matches.
Five years ago, the Argentina national team was supposed to come to Israel for an exhibition match against Israel's national team at Teddy Stadium, but it was canceled at the last minute due to pro-Palestinian protests and threats received by the Argentinians.
However, Argentina arrived in Israel a few months later for a friendly match against the Uruguayan national team at Bloomfield Stadium.
In the last season, Messi came to Israel twice with his former team, Paris Saint-Germain: first as part of the French Super Cup held at Bloomfield Stadium, and later to play against Maccabi Haifa in the UEFA Champions League at Sammy Ofer Stadium. Now, he may come to Israel again, this time as a world champion.
The Argentina national team has visited Israel several times before. The most memorable visit was in 1986 when they arrived in Israel with the legendary Diego Maradona and defeated Israel's national team 7-2, just before heading to the World Cup in Mexico, which they won.
Since then, a tradition has developed in which Argentina comes to Israel for exhibition matches before the World Cup. This happened in 1990, 1994, and 1998. In 1998, Israel surprised Argentina with a 2-1 victory in a match held at Teddy Stadium.