Left-Wing Football: Cesar Luis Menotti

Despite World Cup Finalist Argentina’s conflicted political history, Argentinian football has always contained strong threads of political radicalism. While other footballers, such as Johan Cruyff, boycotted the 1978 World Cup in Argentina due to the dictatorship, others, like Argentina coach Cesar Luis Menotti, played the games as a point of resistance.

Argentina won the Cup that year, but Menotti refused to shake the hands of the generals in an act of defiance against the regime. Menotti also coined the term “left-wing football,” noting how politics is inscribed in the very way we play the game.