The defending champions have been awarded 8 penalties in their last 12 World Cup matches, fueling debate about VAR's role in high-stakes football and the growing intersection of sports betting markets and crypto.
Argentina has racked up 8 penalties in their last 12 World Cup matches, a figure no other national team has achieved in a comparable span. For anyone keeping score at home, that’s roughly one penalty every 135 minutes of tournament football.
The defending champions received 5 penalties during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the most any single nation has ever been awarded in a single tournament. They’ve already added 3 more in the ongoing 2026 edition.
The numbers behind the record
Lionel Messi has missed 2 penalties in the 2026 World Cup. Those misses came against Austria and Egypt, marking a record for penalty misses by a single player in one World Cup edition (excluding shootouts).
VAR, officiating trends, and what investors should watch
Since its introduction at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, VAR has steadily increased the number of penalties awarded at the tournament level. Argentina’s record is the most extreme manifestation of this trend, but they’re not the only beneficiaries. The overall rate of penalties per match has climbed across consecutive World Cups.
Argentina entered the 2026 World Cup as reigning champions following their dramatic penalty shootout victory over France in the 2022 final. Messi’s penalty misses against Austria and Egypt haven’t derailed their tournament yet, but they’ve introduced an element of uncertainty that prediction markets are actively pricing.
