Lionel Scaloni will reach a major milestone when Argentina face Spain in the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium: his 104th match in charge of the national team.
It is a notable marker for a coach whose rise began far from the biggest stages in international football. After retiring as a professional footballer in 2015, Scaloni settled in Mallorca and completed the UEFA Pro license. As part of the process, he did his required practice work at CF Son Caliu in Calvià, where he spent six months attending three times per week and working with the youth team.
According to Rafa León, Scaloni lived close to the club, showed up consistently and took the role seriously from the start. León said he arrived with his boots in hand, never missed a session and was always available. He also described the work as something Scaloni did at no cost, purely for love of the game, and added that the key lesson was simple: football is a game, but it has to be treated with responsibility.
From Mallorca to Sevilla and beyond
That period at Son Caliu helped open the next step in his coaching career. Scaloni considered staying there before Jorge Sampaoli called him to join Sevilla, and later he moved on to the Argentina national team and the World Cup in Russia. From there, his path kept building, eventually producing the Copa América, the Finalissima and the World Cup in Qatar.
The final against Spain adds another layer to that story. Argentina have already moved through one of the most successful stretches in the program's recent history, and Scaloni's 104th match in charge will come with another trophy on the line. It is a reminder of how quickly a quiet coaching internship at a small Mallorca club turned into one of the most important jobs in world football.
For more context on Scaloni's Argentina journey, see our coverage of the quarterfinal mindset in Someone Argentina: Lionel Scaloni says Argentina-Inglaterra quarterfinal is "solo es un partido de fútbol", the player selection questions in Giuliano Simeone has just 71 minutes to show Lionel Scaloni what Argentina are missing, and the earlier knockout test in Argentina Vs Egypt: Lionel Scaloni's side face a World Cup quarter-final test with history waiting on the other side.
