Spain beats Argentina to win the 2026 World Cup

By ToI Staff and Agencies 20 July 2026, 1:02 am

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Spain’s Ferran Torres (front right) celebrates after scoring the winning goal in the World Cup final soccer match between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, N.J., near New York, July 19, 2026. At left is Nico Williams, who head down the ball for Torres to score. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Spain beats Argentina 1-0 to win the 2026 World Cup.

Ferran Torres scored the only goal of the game in extra time, after Spain had outplayed Argentina but failed to score in normal playing time.

Spain’s Ferran Torres (right) lashes the ball past Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez in the World Cup final in New York / New Jersey Stadium, July 19, 2026 (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)

Torres smashed the ball past Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez for his first goal of the tournament in the 106th minute. Nico Williams had kept a long cross in play when he headed the ball toward Torres in front of the goal. It was Spain’s 20th shot of the match.

Spain’s Ferran Torres celebrates scoring the first goal and only goal during the World Cup final soccer match between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, N.J., July 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Argentina had not had a single shot on goal at that point, but tried desperately to salvage the game after Spain took the lead, with Lionel Messi knocking Spain’s Mikel Merino off his feet with a powerful shot. Giovanni Simeone fired over the crossbar in the final moments of the game, with arguably Argentina’s best chance.

Torres had a second goal for Spain correctly disallowed for offside.

Argentina had Enzo Fernandez sent off for a second yellow card offense shortly before the end of normal time. A second Argentina player, Leondro Paredes, was given a red card for violent conduct amid brief altercations after the final whistle.

Spain took nine of the game’s first 10 corner kicks, and only a World Cup final-record 12 saves by Argentina’s goalkeeper Martinez kept the 2022 champions in the game.

Spain is now unbeaten in its last 38 matches — 29 wins, nine draws — and now is the outright holder of the longest such streak by any European team ever. Italy went 37 matches (28 wins, nine draws) from October 2018 through September 2021, before Spain ended that streak. And for the last two-plus years, nobody has beaten Spain. Not even Messi.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi in action during the 2026 World Cup final between Spain and Argentina at the New York/New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford on July 19, 2026. (PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP)

Spain conceded only one goal in eight matches at the tournament, setting a World Cup record for fewest goals allowed by a champion. And this title, combined with the World Cup won by Spain’s women in 2023, makes the European nation the first to hold both the men’s and women’s titles simultaneously.

Spain had previously won the title in 2010. Argentina was seeking its fourth World Cup, having won in 1978, 1986 and 2022. Messi, 39, has indicated this World Cup will be his last.

The final was the 104th and last match of the biggest World Cup ever, a 48-team event hosted in the US, Canada and Mexico. Some 80,000 people were in the stadium, with as many as 2 billion watching around the globe.