Two Argentine YouTubers Arrested for Allegedly Sneaking Into World Cup Match With Expired Media Passes

Two Argentine YouTubers with three-quarters of a million combined subscribers now face up to five years behind bars after allegedly bluffing their way past World Cup security with credentials that had expired months earlier.

Pato Perrotta, 26, and Beni Marmol, 20, were arrested on Saturday, 27 June, at Hard Rock Stadium after making it through multiple layers of security to attend the Colombia vs Portugal group-stage clash at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a breach that is now under investigation alongside the men themselves.

According to an affidavit from the Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office, Perrotta told authorities he had been hired by a media company to cover the event and produced credentials to back up his claim. The credentials turned out to be expired and tied to a previous event, making them invalid for Saturday's match. That discrepancy was enough for officials to charge both men with felony interference with a sports entertainment event, a crime carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Manager Confirms Bail, Case Still Unfolding

The arrest is still being pieced together in real time. In a live video, a streamer said he had learned of the incident directly from the YouTubers' manager, Momo Benavides, who confirmed bail had been paid for both men.

'I have been with Mármol y Pato since yesterday. We already paid bail, they will be released in a few hours. The cause is still not entirely clear. The judge just set bail and nothing more. All that is said are rumours about it,' Momo said.

Momo added that Perrotta and Marmol will remain in the United States until the case is resolved, and that there is no deportation order against either man.

'I imagine that, obviously, the fact that they have paid bail is not going to allow them to return. They are going to have to stay there until it is resolved,' Momo said. 'They are not deported, they just do not have to be near the stadiums where the World Cup matches are played. The crime charged is interference in sporting events,' he added.

With bail posted but the underlying circumstances still murky even to the men's own representative, the case stands as an active story rather than a closed one. Perrotta and Marmol now find themselves grounded in Miami, locked out of the very tournament they tried to get closer to.

It marks an unfortunate turn for two creators with substantial online followings. Perrotta boasts more than 500,000 YouTube subscribers, while Marmol trails closely with 270,000.

The Price of Admission and What It Was Worth to Fans Who Paid It

The case lands against the backdrop of just how steep the price of admission was for fans trying to get into the match through legitimate means.

Seats for Colombia vs Portugal reportedly cost as much as $1,000. With Cristiano Ronaldo featuring for Portugal, many supporters understood the match could be one of the last times they would see him play on the World Cup stage, and they priced their attendance accordingly.

'I am old — 40 — and this is the last time I will get to see Cristiano. That's why I paid for this. I cried when I stepped in the stadium. Forty years for this, that's why I paid that,' said Pablo Ceballos, a Ronaldo fan.

Beyond Ronaldo's pull, the footballing passion of both nations ran deep. Many fans treated the match as a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, willing to pay whatever it took to be inside the stadium rather than risk being shut out of it.

'We put it down,' said Colombian supporter Juan Ramirez. 'This is a once in a lifetime experience.'

That is precisely the gap two YouTubers allegedly tried to close with a set of outdated credentials instead of a four-figure ticket. The match itself ended in a draw, with both Colombia and Portugal advancing to the last 32 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the top two finishers in Group K, a result Perrotta and Marmol now watch unfold from outside the tournament entirely, facing felony charges instead of the World Cup access they were chasing.