Spain are world champions again after Ferran Torres scored a late winner in extra time to defeat defending champions Argentina 1-0 in a tense 2026 FIFA World Cup final at New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The victory at MetLife Stadium, in front of 80,663 fans, gives La Roja their second World Cup title, 16 years after their 2010 triumph in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Argentina, bidding to become the first nation since Brazil in 1958 and 1962 to win back-to-back titles, were reduced to 10 men late in regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After 90 minutes ended goalless, the match turned in the closing minutes of normal time when Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez was sent off for a second yellow card following a tackle on Pau Cubarsi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the numerical advantage, Spain broke through late in extra time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ferran Torres slammed home to put Spain ahead with minutes remaining, sealing a 1-0 win and sparking wild celebrations from the Spanish bench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain reached the final with a composed 2-0 semi-final victory over France in Dallas, extending a run that has seen them concede just one goal all tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Argentina advanced with a dramatic 2-1 comeback win over England in Atlanta, with Lionel Messi assisting both goals in the 85th and 91st minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final marked the first ever World Cup decider between the reigning world champions and the current European champions, and pitted the tournament\u2019s top-ranked teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also featured a generational duel between 39-year-old Messi, who finished with 8 goals in the tournament, and 19-year-old Spanish prodigy Lamine Yamal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain are now two-time world champions after winning in 2010. The Spanish women are also reigning world champions, having beaten England in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Argentina, champions in 1978, 1986 and 2022, fall just short in their bid for a fourth title. Messi was chasing a second straight World Cup after leading Argentina to glory in Qatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The match was played at New York New Jersey Stadium, home of the NFL\u2019s Giants and Jets, and was broadcast live on FOX in English and Telemundo in Spanish in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final also featured FIFA\u2019s first-ever World Cup halftime show, curated by Coldplay\u2019s Chris Martin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the 2026 tournament, the first expanded to 48 teams, concluding in New Jersey, Spain leave as champions \u2014 and Argentina as runners-up in a final that lived up to its billing as a clash of Europe vs South America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Spain are world champions again after Ferran Torres scored a late winner in extra time to defeat defending champions Argentina 1-0 in a tense 2026 FIFA World Cup final at New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday. The victory at MetLife Stadium, in front of 80,663 fans, gives La Roja their second World Cup title, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"iawp_total_views":54,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,1,14],"tags":[548,350,351],"class_list":["post-2079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-showbiz","category-trendingnews","tag-champions","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-messi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2079"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2087,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2079\/revisions\/2087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}