Uttiyo Sarkar

The Cultural Context Behind ‘Messi Dance Whore’ Chant

Argentina National Football Team, Football Chants, Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi and the entire Argentina team received a grand reception from their fans, who sang loud chants and heavily celebrated their first game after the Qatar World Cup win. The Albieceleste defeated Paraguay 2-0 in their first 2026 World Cup qualifying game on an occasion of massive celebration.

The entire Argentina squad had a lot of fun with the fans after the game, which was another highly-entertaining clash. Messi scored a brilliant free-kick after seeing multiple efforts hit the bar. Considering the huge role he played in Argentina’s World Cup success, it’s obviously not surprising that he was the vocal point of much of the post-game celebration.

The Argentina fans had a lot of fun with Leo and bashed out some brilliant chants directed toward him, which even his teammates seemed to enjoy.

It appeared that the Argentina fans wanted Leo to loosen up a little bit and have fun with his teammates on the pitch after the game. Messi, being among the more senior members and team captain, decided to keep himself grounded as the younger players danced and fooled around with the fans.

Then out of nowhere, the Argentina supporters in the stands started chanting a made-up song to get him to dance. A lot of fans started chanting: “Que baile Messi, La puta que lo pario”, which directly translates to “Get Messi dancing the whore that gave birth to him.”

Messi did not appear to be offended or perturbed by these words at all, nor were his teammates offended. In fact, everyone on the pitch found it to be utterly hilarious and it urged his teammates to start getting on his case in an effort to get him to dance on the pitch.

While the ‘Get Messi dancing the wh***,’ can be seen as offensive and denigratory at first, apparently this chant is not abusive at all – in a sense.

Even though the term ‘the wh*** that gave birth to him’ might seem offensive, it’s not as shocking as it might sound by basic translation.

A better translation to the term would like ‘Get Messi F****** Dancing’, and in a more endearing way over anything else – as the fans just wanted him to have fun on the pitch and loosen up in the celebrations.

In Argentina, a term like that is generally taken as a compliment – which is why Leo and his teammates can be seen laughing about it when the fans start singing it. Even though thousands of fans and his own colleagues wanted to see him dance, Messi refused to do so on the day and just sing some songs during the celebrations.

It’s not like Leo never dances. In fact, he danced on top of a table after Argentina won the World Cup final in December – pulling off some hilarious moves with the World Cup trophy in his hand.

He’s also been spotted dancing around with his wife Antonella at some private parties in the past, which indicates that he reserves his dance moves only for special occasions.

One could also perhaps argue that Leo leaves his dancing for when he steps on the pitch. His incredible talent allows him to dance his way past players with ease, something he’s been doing for the last few decades to build his legacy as the GOAT.