Radio Gol
·2 June 2026
Argentina’s 2026 World Cup numbers: returnees, heirs

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Yahoo sportsRadio Gol
·2 June 2026

Lionel Scaloni has already finalized the 26 players called up for the Argentina national team that will travel to the World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada to defend the title won in Qatar 2022. The list also confirmed the numbers each player will wear at the biggest stage.
There are eight World Cup debutants: Juan Musso, Leonardo Balerdi, Facundo Medina, Valentín Barco, Nicolás González, Giuliano Simeone, Nicolás Paz, and José Manuel López. The final squad keeps 17 of the world champions from the previous edition.
El Colo Barco, who capped off a great season at Racing Strasbourg, will wear the number 8 shirt, which until recently was worn by Marcos Acuña. Meanwhile, Nicolás Paz, the standout star of Como, will wear the 18, previously worn by Guido Rodríguez. For his part, José Manuel López, Palmeiras’ top scorer, will take Paulo Dybala’s number 21, with Dybala notably not even included in the preliminary list.
Continuing with the newcomers, Juan Musso will wear the number 1 left by Franco Armani, while Cholito will do the same with the 17 that Alejandro Papu Gómez wore in 2022. Nico González (who missed the last World Cup due to an injury just days before the opener against Saudi Arabia) will have the 15, which was used by Ángel Correa. In defense, Balerdi and Medina will wear the 2 and the 25, which were previously worn by Juan Foyth and Lisandro Martínez, respectively. And Licha? The vacant number 6 left by Germán Pezzella.
Another player inheriting a heavyweight number will be Giovani Lo Celso: he will wear Ángel Di María’s iconic number 11. The Real Betis midfielder had also missed the triumph in Qatar at the last moment.
Beyond all those changes, there are 16 who will keep the same numbers: Emiliano Dibu Martínez (23), Gerónimo Rulli (12), Nicolás Tagliafico (3), Gonzalo Montiel (4), Cristian Romero (13), Nicolás Otamendi (19), Nahuel Molina (26), Leandro Paredes (5), Rodrigo De Paul (7), Exequiel Palacios (14), Alexis Mac Allister (20), Enzo Fernández (24), Julián Álvarez (9), Thiago Almada (16), Lautaro Martínez (22), and captain Lionel Messi (10).
1- Juan Musso
2 – Leonardo Balerdi
3 – Nicolás Tagliafico
4 – Gonzalo Montiel
5 – Leandro Paredes
6 – Lisandro Martínez
7 – Rodrigo De Paul
8 – Valentín Barco
9 – Julián Álvarez
10 – Lionel Messi
11 – Giovani Lo Celso
12 – Gerónimo Rulli
13 – Cristian Romero
14 – Exequiel Palacios
15 – Nicolás González
16 – Thiago Almada
17 – Giuliano Simeone
18 – Nicolás Paz
19 – Nicolás Otamendi
20 – Alexis Mac Allister
21 – José Manuel López
22 – Lautaro Martínez
23 – Emiliano Martínez
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.







































