Argentina Friendly overshadowed by passport data leak before World Cup warm up

Chalien Dantes / Contributor

A routine pre-World Cup friendly turned into an unexpected security scare after confidential passport details belonging to members of Argentina’s national football team were accidentally made public.

The incident occurred ahead of Argentina’s 3-0 victory over the Iceland national football team in Alabama, where more than 88,000 fans watched the reigning world champions continue their preparations for the tournament. Reports indicate that Argentina’s official team sheet was released with players’ passport numbers still visible. The document included personal information belonging to several stars, including Lionel Messi, Enzo Fernandez and Lisandro Martinez. The information was subsequently reproduced by several media outlets before the mistake was noticed. Typically, sensitive details such as passport numbers are removed before team sheets are distributed publicly. However, in this case, the information remained visible, exposing details relating to both the starting lineup and substitutes.

The error is believed to have originated with Road to ’26, the company responsible for organizing the friendly match and several other pretournament fixtures in the United States. Iceland’s team sheet reportedly did not contain similar information, avoiding the same issue.

Despite the off field distraction, Argentina managed an extraordinary victory. Valentin Barco opened the scoring before Messi came off the bench and converted a penalty. Thiago Almada later added a third goal to seal the win.

The match also provided a positive update on Messi’s fitness after he recently recovered from a hamstring injury suffered while playing for Inter Miami CF.

Argentina now turns its attention to defending the World Cup title it won in 2022. The South Americans enter the tournament after also capturing the last two Copa America crowns and will begin their group stage campaign next week against Algeria.