Thousands of people flooded to Buenos Aires’ Obelisco on November 24 as the Racing Club faithful celebrated the team’s win at the 2024 Copa Sudamericana. But while the historic triumph was a reason to celebrate for many, Argentina’s superstitious society also experienced a moment of dread. Why? Because many in Argentina believe Racing Club is mufa.

‘Mufa,’ the Argentine jinx

There’s no consensus on the origin of the word, a Rio de la Plata slang term (also known as lunfardo). Yet, according to Argentina’s traditional children’s magazine Billiken — a primary source for our Translation Troubles — the most common theory is that it comes from the Italian muffa, meaning mold or fungus.

Mufas are enormously important in Argentine football superstition. If you’ve ever watched a game with an Argentine fan, you’ll also know about cábalas: lucky charms, traditions and habits thought to be linked with the outcome of the match.

Some people take them very seriously. Mexico ‘86 winner Carlos Bilardo used to shout “quiricocho” — the nickname of a kid who used to be a bookie for his 1982 Estudiantes side — when the opposing team was about to take a clear goalscoring chance or a penalty, to cast upon them the boy’s mufa. The reason was simple: if you bet a number with him, it never came up as a winner. Now, even Premier League footballers shout it.

It even has a verbal form, mufar, which means to intentionally jinx others. The Argentine internet swarms with fans trying to jinx each other, posting content that has “proven” to ruin another team’s chances. These include victory celebrations ahead of time and connections to people considered mufa, such as former President Carlos Menem, and — bizarrely — Mick Jagger (the rockstar attended several major England defeats, including the one against Argentina in France 1998). 

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Is Racing Club mufa?

So what makes Racing, hypothetically, the most mufa of clubs? For starters, the team has a unique relationship with jinxes, and a knack for the unusual.

On May 12, 1996, goalkeeper Carlos Bossio entered the history books of Argentine football. With his Estudiantes team losing 1-0, he went up for a last minute corner, headed the ball and tied the game. Thus, he became the first — and so far only — goalkeeper in Argentina’s main league history to score a headed goal. The rival team, of course, was Racing.

In 2015, Racing goalkeeper Sebastián Saja was on the verge of a record himself. As La Academia and Rosario Central went into the third minute of their February 13 clash, banners around the stadium announced he’d just gone 587 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal, breaking Agustín Cejas’s record. Fans started clapping, but celebrations didn’t last long. The very next ball he got, Saja fumbled a clearance kick and gave the ball away to their rivals, allowing them to score the only goal of the game.

Racing also has a curious relationship with the fate of Argentine governments.

In 1966, an iconic Academia team led by Juan José Pizzutti won the Primera Division title nearly undefeated. Earlier that year, the self-proclaimed “Argentine Revolution” staged a coup and overthrew constitutional president Arturo Illía.

Thirty-five years passed before Racing won another Primera Division title. This time, it was December 27, 2001, in the midst of an economic and social meltdown so catastrophic that it would define a generation. The week before, President Fernando de la Rúa resigned and fled Casa Rosada in the wake of the Plaza de Mayo Massacre, in which police brutality claimed the lives of five people.

This has prompted many Argentines to ask what La Academia’s 2024 Copa Sudamericana triumph could trigger this time. 

Still, is Racing really mufa? Much like the legend of the seven black cats rival fans allegedly buried beneath La Academia’s stadium to jinx them, most of the aforementioned events have been blown out of proportion. The club has had its share of misfortunes, perhaps a few more than average. But is River Plate mufa because Vélez Sarsfield goalkeeper José Luis Chilavert scored an unrepeatable 60-meter belter against them, also in 1996? What about Boca Juniors, who became champions during most of Argentina’s military coups?

Fairy tales teach us that curses — like records — exist only to be broken, and few fairy tales exist like that of Racing’s head coach and life-long fan Gustavo Costas.

Annoy all your Academia fan friends with their mufa status all you want. Just don’t blame them the next time you miss your bus or step on a loose paving stone.