The 2026 FIFA World Cup has officially come to an end and after 104 matches played across three different countries with the largest field that the tournament has seen yet, Spain has emerged as the champions. On Sunday, July 19, Spain faced off against Argentina in East Rutherford, New Jersey for the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, with an estimated 1.5 billion people tuning in.
For Argentina, this stage was nothing new, as the nation has played in seven FIFA World Cup finals, winning three of them. However, for Spain, this marked just the second time that the nation has made it this far in the tournament. Spain’s first appearance in a FIFA World Cup final came in 2010, which saw the nation win by a score of 1-0 in extra time, a piece of foreshadowing to how this match would end.
Before the game even began, the stadium was already treated to tons of entertainment, with pregame celebrations that included viral YouTube sensation IShowSpeed performing his song, “Champions”, which was featured on the official FIFA World Cup 2026 album, in addition to performances by Laura Pausini, Nicole Scherzinger and Robbie Williams. Legendary actor Tom Cruise also made an appearance, giving an inspiration speech to motivate and excite the crowd before the game kicked off. The star power didn’t stop there, however, as artist Post Malone performed several songs to the pumped up crowd.
As the game kicked off, the excitement and anticipation could be felt by millions across the world. One of the biggest sporting events in the world, with just one nation able to capture the glory that comes from winning the FIFA World Cup. However, for all the excitement, the game remained quiet in terms of scoring with both teams tied at 0 entering halftime. Though, the score didn’t tell the full story, as Spain was fully in charge of the game, giving Argentina no chances to create shots and constantly putting offensive pressure on the team.
Entering the second half, the match picked up where it left off, with Spain continuing to dominate, but unable to find the back of the net. Spain’s difficulty in scoring can be credited largely to Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, who recorded 11 saves in the match, the most ever in a FIFA World Cup final.
Despite Spain playing better than Argentina for the majority of the match, it was still tied heading into stoppage time, leaving Argentina with glimpses of hope that they could either pull off an unlikely win or force the game into penalty kicks. However, in the second minute of stoppage time, disaster struck for Argentina after midfielder Enzo Fernández got booked for his second yellow card, meaning that it would turn into a red card and leave Argentina down a player for the remainder of stoppage time and extra time. In a game where the team was already struggling to keep up with their opponent, this was a devastating blow for Argentina.
In the 97th minute of stoppage time, Spain were awarded a free kick just outside of the penalty box, which was seemingly their last attempt in regulation time to win the match. Spanish superstar Lamine Yamal placed the ball almost perfectly, but it was Martinez once again who made the save for Argentina to force the game into extra time.
In the 95th minute, it seemed that Spain had finally been able to find their goal, as Nico Williams found the back of the net, but a Spanish foul negated the goal. It didn’t take much longer for Williams to get his redemption, as he headed the perfect assist to Ferran Torres, who scored the deciding goal in the 105th minute to give Spain the lead.
As the game headed towards an end, Argentina made a push to tie the game, finally attacking, however, Spain’s defense proved to be too talented to get past. As the 120th minute struck, the final whistle blew and Spain were officially the 2026 FIFA World Cup champions. The win marks the nation’s second time winning the tournament and a legacy cemented in history for all of Spain’s players and coaches.
