Analysis: there's a rich and colourful culture behind the nicknames given to Argentinian soccer players
The Argentina men’s soccer team that emerged victorious at the World Cup in Qatar included a greyhound, a noodle, and a flea, or, as they are better known, Nahuel Molina, Ángel Di María and Lionel Messi. 'Apodos’ (nicknames) are extremely prevalent in Argentine professional footballing culture, usually meriting a separate section in the personal details column on a player’s Spanish-language Wikipedia page.
Nicknames are used not only among the players themselves, but by members of the public and also by TV analysts, who have been known on occasion to coin new nicknames for players mid-game. At least one new nickname was created during the 2022 World Cup when attacking midfielder Rodrigo de Paul’s teammates christened him Motorcito (Little Engine) on social media, in reference to the player’s seemingly boundless stamina.
As linguist Kerstin Jung explains in her contribution to The Linguistics of Football, the widespread use of first names and nicknames to refer to players can be viewed as an extension of the familiarity and affection felt by Argentine commentators and members of the public towards the selección.
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Many nicknames reference physical attributes. The best known is of course la Pulga (the Flea), a name given to Messi when he was 11 on account of his small physical stature (due to a growth hormone deficiency for which the player was treated with daily injections). El Fideo (the Noodle) refers to Di María’s wiry frame, while Marcos Acuña is Huevo (Egg) because of a tendency to sustain bumps and bruises while playing as a child.
Animal nicknames feature heavily in the 2022 squad in ways that are sometimes self-explanatory. For instance, Molina is el Galgo (the Greyhound), while understudy goalkeeper Franco Armani is Pulpo (Octopus). Striker Julián Álvarez has been Araña (Spider) since early childhood, when a coach noted his ability to move up the field in rapid zigzagging movements. Lautaro Martínez's moniker, el Toro (the Bull) came about as a result of his trademark goal celebration.
A study carried out among Cape Breton coalminers showed that nicknames can sometimes act as a storehouse of a culture’s identity and values. In Argentina, particular players are viewed as embodying different aspects of the country’s footballing culture, which has traditionally prized the grace and skill of ‘la nuestra’ (or ‘our way’) as well as the gritty realism of ‘anti-fútbol’. Whereas the nicknames of centre backs Nicolás Otamendi (el General) and Lisandro Martínez (el Carnicero, the Butcher) attest to the strain of cynicism at the core of the modern Argentine game, 2022's breakthrough star Enzo Fernández's apodo of el Músico (the Musician) pays tribute to its more traditional preference for playmaking virtuosity.
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Other nicknames contain implicit shout-outs to the shared past that connects these players to their footballing heritage and to Argentine popular culture more generally. Leandro Paredes became known as el Heredero because he was perceived to be 'the heir' to Boca Juniors' legend Juan Ramón Riquelme. A considerably lighter load of expectation was placed on goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, nicknamed el Dibu due to his resemblance to a 1990s Argentine children’s TV character.
Football writers in Argentina tend to treat the sport as a literary artform, and there is evidence of a poetic sensibility in some of the nicknames coined over the years. Alfredo Di Stéfano was labelled la Saeta Rubia (the Blonde Arrow) by a journalist while at River Plate in the 1940s and 1990s star Claudio Caniggia was known as el Hijo del Viento (Son of the Wind). More recently, current coach Lionel Scaloni was dubbed el Leónidas de Pujato by an Argentine radio host, after the Greek king Leonidas I who led the victorious 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.
Historically, players from economically marginalised communities have been particularly celebrated among Argentine fans. Ex-forward Carlos Tévez became known as el Jugador del Pueblo (the People’s Player) and also as el Apache (after Fuerte Apache, the housing project where he grew up).
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There are high hopes for current squad member Thiago Almada who hails from Tévez's old neighbourhood. He is known as el Guayo after his mispronunciation of 'guacho’, a colloquial term that has come to mean something along the lines of ‘orphan’ or ‘street urchin’. Not coincidentally, Almada is also known as el Pibito. As Jonathan Wilson explains in his footballing history of Argentina, the pibe is a near-mythic figure in Argentine football: the street kid who learned to play on potreros (wastelands or vacant lots) while relying on a combination of skill and guile.
The most famous and controversial pibe was of course Diego Maradona. He was variously known as el Pibe de Oro (the Golden Pibe), el Pelusa (the Fuzz, on account of his big hair as a youth), el Barrilete Cósmica (the Cosmic Kite), el Cebollita (the Little Onion, because of Maradona’s part in a legendary Argentinos Juniors underage side known as ‘los Cebollitas’) and D10S (God).
Having a nickname correlates with an increased life expectancy of 2.5 years
Not everyone likes their nickname. Alexis Mac Allister, another breakout star from Qatar 2022, was known among team-mates as Colo (Red, or Ginger, because of his hair colour). Mac Allister was not fond of the name and team captain Messi had a word with the others and the name was quietly dropped.
In general, though, nicknaming seems to foster inclusion and bonding among teammates. Research into the lives of baseball players in the US suggests that having a nickname correlates with an increased life expectancy of 2.5 years.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
