Football and friendship are two pillars of Argentine identity. From the combination of both during the intense weeks of the World Cup in Qatar – between screams, minutes of suffering and shouts of “boys, let’s be happy again” – thousands of promises were born if the team were to become champions. When Messi kissed the long-awaited World Cup, tattoo artists’ phones started ringing. Since then they haven’t stopped. Many have sold out shifts for the next few weeks. In some cases, the waiting list is up to a year. The cup, three stars – one for each Argentina World Cup – and portraits of the Albiceleste captain are among the most coveted tattoos.
“For Messi, whatever,” says Alexis Laube, 18, before lying on the stretcher at Emily Lagos’ Coven studio. It’s his first tattoo. He is nervous but determined. He has to keep a promise he made to a friend after Argentina’s first game, when they lost to Arabia in shock. “It was more of a shock than a sadness, because who would have imagined defeat,” he says. That day, Laube and a friend promised to get a tattoo if Argentina won the World Cup.
Emily Lago shows a Coven Studio client a WM design. Valentina Fusco
The World Cup, which Lago records above his ankle, will be the lasting memory of the first World Cup title celebrated by the Argentine centenarians who have supported Messi since childhood despite the constant shadow that Diego Armando Maradona cast over him. “The goal I screamed the most was Messi’s third in the final,” he says at the stadium’s door, recalling that he suffered a lot during the World Cup and there were even moments when he passed out, and others in which he started crying and couldn’t breathe. After beating France, he rushed to find out where to redeem the promise.
diversity of the public
“I received a lot of messages on Sunday the 18th when we won. And I was surprised because I have a mostly female audience and I didn’t expect this madness. This week I’ve tattooed men, women and even families, parents with children who have come to keep promises,” says Lago. The tattoo artist, who has eight years of experience, assures that the World Cup frenzy is something unprecedented: “Sometimes I get several requests on the same topic, for example when a band comes to Buenos Aires, like Coldplay or Harry Styles, but I still have that never experienced such madness”.
The tattoo artist Jimena Castillo Beltrán describes a similar scenario. “On Sunday and Monday everyone called and wanted it now, now, now. People who aren’t even football fans but had made a promise or wanted to get a tattoo to remember it,” he explains. Castillo Beltrán specializes in botany, but now her shifts are full until February on World Cup orders. “In my case, I most often tattoo May Suns for our flag and the date 12/18/22”.
A tattoo artist from Coven Tattoo Studio will paint the design that will be tattooed on Alexis Laube’s leg. Valentina Fusco
Tattoo artist Gian Scianca believes what is happening is “related to football but goes beyond” because it is also linked to regaining a certain Argentine quirk and pride after years of pessimism. Among those who come to his studio these days are men over 40 who, when Argentina won the previous World Cups in 1978 and 1986, didn’t think about getting a tattoo and are now considering the possibility of getting a little memory on their skin to engrave .
The World Cup fever in Argentina understands neither age nor gender. Musician Malena Pizarro and her partner Martina Feldkamp are football fans and spent part of their honeymoon in Qatar supporting the team in their opening two games against Saudi Arabia and Mexico. They traveled there despite their fear of local laws prohibiting homosexuality. Pizarro, a member of an 8-a-side soccer team, got the number 10 tattooed when Argentina won the Copa America, and in November all the players promised that they would get a new tattoo if the Albiceleste won the World Cup would.
“Because I’m very boisterous [hincha de Boca Juniors] When I saw Messi doing Riquelme’s gesture, that of the Topo Gigio, I thought: “That’s it”, I’m doing that, but then the most symbolic image seemed to me to be that of Messi kissing the trophy. And I tattooed it on my left leg as a tribute, which is his leg even though I’m right-handed,” says Pizarro, who plays as a forward.
hyper-realistic portraits
Messi is the undisputed protagonist of the tattoo boom. At studios specializing in hyper-realistic portraiture, their schedules have collapsed. César Molina, better known as Yeyo, has been on the waiting list for a year. With more than half a million followers on Instagram, this 35-year-old tattoo artist has become known for his intricately detailed portraits of Messi and Maradona, the two idols of Argentine football. An order takes him a whole day, in some cases even two, and since he published the image of a leg adorned with the flea kissing the cup, he hasn’t stopped receiving orders to repeat it .
Such is the rage that tattoo artists work everywhere these days, from homes to bars. “A tattoo is for life and I know I won’t regret it,” said Federico Gómez at Club Otra Historia, where a line of young people, beers in hand, lined up in front of a tattoo artist’s stretcher on Tuesday. “I do the Cup to remind myself every day of the joy I felt when we became champions.”
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