A surprise: 23 million signatures to expel Argentina from the World Cup "for life"!

More than 23 million people have signed the "Leave, Argentina" petition, which calls for a lifetime ban on the Latin American side competing at the World Cup.

The tally hit 23,316,108 signatures, according to Euro News. The petition accuses FIFA and its referees of favouring Argentina and captain Lionel Messi, before posing the question: "Why should the rest of the world compete when the winner is already known? Exclude Argentina from the World Cup and give everyone a fair chance."

The petition set a target of 5 million signatures. The reality blew past it several times over, laying bare a mood of "rejection" towards Argentina, built on claims that FIFA were "favouring" the tango dancers and that referees showed bias towards their players during matches.

With the signing window now closed, the petition came extremely close to breaking the record for the largest signed petition in history. That mark, held by the Guinness World Records, belongs to "Jubilee 2000", which gathered more than 24 million signatures during 1997, calling for the cancellation of the unpayable debts incurred by the world's poorest nations by the year 2000.

The petition drew a huge number of signatures, yet nobody responded to Argentina's exclusion. The only consolation for those who signed it? The Argentine national team lost the final.

The petition signed off on its official website with the phrase: "FIFA ignored us, but Spain kept its promises, thank you Spain."

Spain are champions of the world for the second time in their history. They beat Argentina in the final of the 2026 World Cup, held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, courtesy of a single Ferran Torres strike in the 106th minute at MetLife Stadium, teed up by Nico Williams.

Slovenia's Slavko Vincic took charge of a final littered with controversy. Argentina's Mac Allister and Nicolas Tagliafico both escaped cards for fouls many felt warranted one, while Spain saw two goals chalked off, from Nico Williams and Ferran Torres.

Defeat denied Lionel Messi one last title before his final dance. The Argentina captain has said he will end his international career with his country, and the Inter Miami man also missed out on the Golden Boot and the tournament's all-time top scorer crown, both of which went to Kylian Mbappe on a tally of 22 goals.

England took bronze, their finest World Cup showing since lifting the trophy in 1966. They beat France in a breathless third-place play-off that finished 6-4.

The final wasn't the only flashpoint. A string of refereeing decisions throughout the tournament sparked fierce controversy aimed at Argentina, with players resorting to violent conduct: pushing, shirt-pulling and reckless tackles.

It started with Lionel Messi's violent tackle on Aissa Mandi in the Argentina-Algeria match. Several refereeing experts reckoned the challenge warranted a red card for the Tango captain.

The round-of-16 clash with Egypt lit the fuse. Messi and his teammates turned the tables to win 3-2, and afterwards manager Hossam Hassan claimed his side had lost to factors on and off the pitch, insisting there were marketing reasons for keeping Messi in the tournament.

According to the Brazilian website "Globo", the Argentine fan Gisela Sanchez cast doubt on the performance of referee Slavko Vincic. In her post, she called on FIFA to review refereeing decisions that, she claims, altered the course of the match.

Argentina were denied the title by those decisions, Sanchez argued. A petition launched on Change.org demanding a replay has since passed 61,000 signatures.

She offered no evidence to back up the alleged violations, the same violations Argentine fans point to in their calls for a replay of a final settled in extra time.