It has been officially confirmed since Sunday that the Finalissima between Argentina and Spain must be canceled entirely. All alternatives to the originally planned match in Qatar have fallen through—which, according to UEFA, was primarily due to the world champions.
In December 2022, the Argentine national team was crowned world champion in Qatar. As expected, a return to the Arabian Peninsula some three and a half years later will not happen—surprisingly, the match has been canceled entirely instead.
On Sunday, UEFA canceled the Finalissima between Argentina and Spain, which was originally scheduled to take place on March 27 at the World Cup final stadium in Lusail near the capital Doha, describing the situation as a “great disappointment” in its statement.
Following the military escalation in the Middle East, Qatar was no longer a viable host location. However, all attempts to “save” the match in other ways have failed. “With the firm determination to save this important match, and despite the understandable difficulties of relocating a game of such significance to another venue within an extremely short timeframe, UEFA explored other possible alternatives, all of which ultimately proved unacceptable to the Argentine Football Association,” the European soccer governing body explained.
Accordingly, Argentina rejected both a match at Madrid’s Bernabéu and a two-legged tie, with the second leg scheduled to take place during an international break before the EURO and the 2028 Copa América in Buenos Aires. In the end, the world champions also refused to agree to a match at a neutral venue in Europe on March 27 or 30.
“Argentina proposed holding the match after the World Cup, but since Spain has no available dates, this option had to be ruled out. Finally, contrary to the originally agreed plan, according to which the match was to take place on March 27, Argentina declared its willingness to play exclusively on March 31—a date that proved unfeasible,“ writes UEFA. As a result, the Finalissima was canceled entirely, ”much to UEFA’s regret.”
The Finalissima pits the reigning European champion against the current Copa América winner. The first edition under the new name—the match had previously been held in 1985 and 1993 under a different name—was won by Argentina 3-0 against Italy at London’s Wembley Stadium in 2022.
However, enthusiasm for the Finalissima—which has little sporting significance—had been limited among the defending champions from the start. They were concerned about repeating the 1-6 defeat Argentina suffered against Spain in an unofficial Finalissima match shortly before the 2018 World Cup. Furthermore, the national association is said to have insisted on the lucrative compensation that would have been offered for a match held in Qatar if a new date had been set.
The fact that UEFA explicitly thanked the authorities in Qatar, the Spanish Football Federation, and Real Madrid in its statement, but not the AFA, is certainly no coincidence.