Results of the World Football Championship

The 39-day football festival has officially come to an end, leaving us alone with the results of the most unusual World Cup in history. The 2026 World Cup will be remembered as the first global-scale tournament to gather a record 48 teams. The fields of North America saw everything: loud sensations from modest debutants were replaced by routine victories of the giants, and records were rewritten almost every two or three days.  

General data about the World Cup

• Dates: June 11 - July 19, 2026.
• Number of teams: 48.
• Total number of matches: 104.
• Total goals scored: 308 - this is a new World Cup record. For comparison: 172 goals were scored at the previous tournament in Qatar. On average, footballers scored 2.91 goals per game - a figure higher than for the previous quarter of a century.

Spain - 2026 World Cup champion

The Spanish national team became the world champion for the second time in its history. In the final, which took place on July 19 at the "MetLife" stadium (East Rutherford, USA), the Spaniards defeated the Argentine team with a score of 1:0 in extra time. The only goal at the 106th minute was scored by Ferran Torres, who came off the bench. This is the second case in history when a substitute player scores the winning goal in the World Cup final (the first was Mario Gotze in 2014).

It should be noted that towards the end of the second half, the Argentinians were down to ten men: Enzo Fernandez received a second yellow card and was sent off. Moreover, during the regular time, the Argentine team did not make a single shot on goal - this is a negative record for a World Cup finalist.

Interestingly, "La Furia Roja" was one of the main favorites to win the tournament even before it started. Bookmakers rated the probability of the Spaniards' victory at the World Cup with odds of 6.50-7.00. Towards the end of the World Cup, after advancing from the group and confidently playing in the playoffs, the odds dropped to 1.65 for their triumph in the final.

Individual awards of the 2026 World Cup

• "Golden Ball" (best player of the tournament) - Rodri. The Man City midfielder was the key figure of Luis de la Fuente's championship team.
• "Golden Boot" (top scorer) - Kylian Mbappe. He scored 10 goals and made four assists in eight matches, surpassing Lionel Messi.
• "Golden Glove" (best goalkeeper) - Unai Simon. He conceded only one goal in eight matches and kept a clean sheet in seven games.
• Best young player - Pau Cubarsi. The 19-year-old defender started in all eight matches of the team and became the leader of its defense.

Main Records of the 2026 World Cup

• Record attendance. The matches gathered 6,810,966 spectators - this is an absolute record in the history of the World Cups. For comparison: at the 1994 World Cup in the USA, there were about 3.5 million spectators.
• Kylian Mbappe became the best in the history of the World Cups (he now has 22 goals).
• Lionel Messi set several personal records: he became the oldest player to score a hat-trick at the World Cup (38 years and 357 days); scored 33 points according to the "goal + pass" system (21 goals + 12 assists) - this is a new tournament record; broke Miroslav Klose's record for the total number of goals at the World Cups; became the first player to score in eight consecutive World Cup matches; played the most matches at the World Cup as a team captain - 20 matches.
• Michael Olise became the best assistant of the tournament with seven goal assists - this is a new record for a single World Cup. He surpassed Pele's achievement, who previously held this record with 6 assists.
• Unai Simon set a record for the longest clean sheet streak: he did not concede for 649 minutes.
• Manuel Neuer set a record for the number of matches at the World Cups among goalkeepers - 23 games (the previous record belonged to Hugo Lloris - 20 matches).
• Dick Advocaat (head coach of the Curacao team) became the oldest specialist in the history of the World Cups - 78 years old.
• Cristiano Ronaldo became the first footballer in history to score in six World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022, 2026).
• The tournament recorded 14 own goals - this is a repeat of the record set at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Most Memorable Moments of the 2026 World Cup

• The Argentine comeback in the match against Egypt. In the round of 16, it seemed that everything was over for Argentina - they were "burning" 0:2. But with 20 minutes left in the match, Messi turned everything upside down: first he delivered a brilliant goal assist, and then he drove the ball into the net himself. The final point in this drama was put by Enzo Fernandez on the 92nd minute, sending his team further.
• The touching farewell of Cristiano Ronaldo. The round of 16 match against Spain was probably the legendary Portuguese's last performance at the World Cups. Cristiano is already 41 years old. Probably, this was the end of an entire era, watched by millions.
• The fairy tale of Cape Verde. The tiny African team made it to the world forum for the first time and immediately reached the round of 16. The real hero was goalkeeper Vozinha: he repelled 27 shots from the Spaniards and 7 attempts from the Argentinians, becoming a world star. After the tournament, 28 million people subscribed to his social networks - an astronomical figure!
• The Vikings conqueredWorld. Fans of the Norwegian national team staged an incredible performance, synchronously imitating rowing and shouting "Ro!". This flash mob went far beyond the arena: people were rowing in shopping malls, and after the team made it to the quarterfinals, about 100,000 Norwegians staged a mass "rowing" right at the royal palace in Oslo.
• Scandal with Trump and Balogun. The US national team striker Folarin Balogun received a straight red card in the game against the Bosnians, but the disqualification was almost instantly cancelled. Persistent rumors began to circulate that it was not without the intervention of Donald Trump, who allegedly personally called FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
• The Iranian national team faced serious difficulties: part of the staff was not allowed into the US, as a result, the team was based in Mexico and made long flights before matches. Players and coaching staff called the organization of the tournament a "disaster".
• Bronze extravaganza. The match for third place between England and France turned into a "tennis duel". By the break, the English were leading 4:0, but in the second half, the French almost performed a miracle, responding with four goals. The result — 6:4 in favor of the English. Such a high-scoring battle for bronze has never been seen in the history of the World Championships.Your text does not contain any content to translate. It only includes HTML tags. Please provide the text you want to translate.