Argentina's journey to the World Cup final was a story of thrilling, last-gasp comebacks, but their magic finally ran out against a powerful Spanish side, which prevailed over the defending champions with a 1-0 win in extra time.
Spain had clearly done their homework, successfully keeping Lionel Messi and Argentina away from the danger zone for almost the entire game. The Argentine star, who had a great tournament with eight goals and four assists, was kept quiet. It broke his streak of scoring or assisting in every single knockout match across the last two World Cups.
Spain’s defensive masterclass led to an incredible statistic: Argentina became the first team in history to fail to have a single shot, on or off target, in the first 90 minutes of a World Cup final. Their first and only attempt did not come until the 116th minute.
By then, the game was already slipping away. They were trailing 1-0 and were down to 10 men following the sending-off of midfielder Enzo Fernandez. It became clear that Argentina had relied too heavily on the 39-year-old Messi to bring them a second consecutive World Cup.
In contrast, Spain demonstrated strength on their bench. Matchwinner Ferran Torres and fellow substitute Nico Williams came on to inject speed and attacking drive into the European champions' game. The duo combined in the 106th minute to give Spain a historic second World Cup trophy.
Spain had been the most consistent side in the tournament, and it showed in the FIFA World Cup 2026 awards. While France’s Kylian Mbappe won the Golden Boot for his 10 goals and four assists, and the Netherlands won the Fair Play Award, Spain’s Rodri, Pau Cubarsi and Unai Simon won the Golden Ball, Best Young Player and Golden Glove awards.
Spain will be laughing all the way to the bank, too, having earned a huge prize money of $50 million, which is roughly ₹482 crore. Runners-up Argentina will take home $33 million (₹318 crore).
The FIFA Council had approved a record-breaking share of ₹727 million to be distributed as a result of the World Cup, with $655 million (a 50 per cent increase compared to the previous edition) as prize money among the 48 participating teams. In addition, each qualified team got $1.5 million to cover preparation costs. Here is the full list of who will get how much prize money.
Champions: $50 million
Runners-up: $33 million
3rd place: $29 million
4th place: $27 million
5th-8th place: $19 million
9th-16th place: $15 million
17th- 32nd place: $11 million
33rd-48th place: $9 million
