This story is part of Billboard’s Global World Cup Series, a collection of 11 cover stories which pairs top soccer stars across the world competing in the 2026 FIFA World Cup with highly-touted musicians in accompanying countries.
This story spans cities scattered across the world and has three Argentine protagonists, all 25 years old and hungry for glory. Florencio Varela, in the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires, is a working-class neighborhood where cumbia and soccer share the same language. That’s where Tobías Medrano and Matías Rapen are from — the two halves of La T y La M, the duo that got its start during the 2020 pandemic and rose to prominence when the Argentine national team adopted their music as the locker room soundtrack. Around that same time, Enzo Fernández arrived in Varela: born in San Martín, in the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires, he was a talented prospect with no room at River Plate. Lent to Defensa y Justicia, he took over the midfield, showcasing his versatile style — panoramic vision, tactical intelligence, precision in the tackle and the pass. He was a key piece in the Copa Sudamericana 2020 and Recopa 2021 titles, trophies that opened the door to Europe: first Benfica, then Chelsea, who paid €121 million in one of the three most expensive transfers in Premier League history.
