Spain Beat Argentina in Extra Time to Win the 2026 FIFA World Cup

For 106 minutes, the 2026 World Cup final played out as an argument between the best soccer team in the world and the one man who refused to concede a point. Emiliano Martinez made 11 saves on Sunday at New York New Jersey Stadium, the most by any goalkeeper in a final, and Argentina still lost 1-0. Ferran Torres beat him in extra time to hand Spain a second World Title, 16 years after their first. This is Spain’s era now, and everyone else is living with it.

Few finals have felt this lopsided. Spain arrived as the reigning European and Olympic champion, then piled up 65 percent possession, 852 passes to Argentina’s 464, and 20 shots to two. Argentina became the first team in World Cup history to finish 90 minutes of a final without a shot, and Lionel Messi’s effort in the 117th minute stood as its first and last. “There is no doubt that the right team won,” former England captain Alan Shearer said on the BBC broadcast. “From start to finish, Spain controlled possession.”

Argentina’s game plan finally cracked

Argentina never pretended to want the ball. Lionel Scaloni’s champions sat deep, spoiled everything, and staked the night on Martinez. The plan held for 90 minutes, then collapsed in seconds. Enzo Fernandez, already booked, flew into a late challenge that sent 19-year-old Pau Cubarsi somersaulting, and the referee showed him a second yellow card in the 90th minute. Argentina played extra time with 10 men, and its hope of becoming the first repeat champion since Brazil in 1962 left the field with Fernandez.

The holders nearly survived anyway. Nico Williams put the ball in the net early in extra time, and the referee ruled it out for a foul in the buildup. Then, 37 seconds into the second period, Williams beat his man and cut the ball back for Torres, a 62nd-minute substitute, who lashed the winner into the roof of the net. “The goal belonged to 47 million people,” Torres said after the game.

The final whistle stripped away whatever sympathy remained. Leandro Paredes clashed with Rodri, Gavi, and Borja Iglesias, and Nahel Molina swung a punch at a passing Spanish player. “Someone has been crowned World Cup champions. It is not good enough,” former England striker Wayne Rooney said. At the same time, ex-goalkeeper Joe Hart called the scenes disgusting and insisted, “Argentina can have absolutely no complaints about what happened.”

Spain’s golden generation is just getting started

Scaloni offered no argument, even through tears. “They deserved the victory, that is the reality,” he admitted, though he wondered aloud how the night might have gone with 11 men. Messi, at 39 and almost certainly played in his final World Cup, wept during the medal ceremony. “They were better, to be honest,” he said. He settled for the Silver Ball behind Rodri, and Kylian Mbappe’s ten goals edged him for the golden boot by two.

Spain swept nearly everything else. Rodri won the Golden Ball, and Unai Simón claimed the Golden Glove after a record seven clean sheets in a tournament in which Spain conceded only one goal. Cubarsi, the teenager that Enzo Fernandez flattened, beat Lamine Yamal to clinch the best young player award. Yamal, at only 19 years and six days, became the third-youngest man to play in a final, behind only Peke and Giuseppe Bergomi.

The scary part for everyone else starts now. Spain opened this tournament with a scoreless draw against debutante Cape Verde, won every game after, and stretched its unbeaten run to 38 matches, a European record. Luis de la Fuente has lost once as Spain’s manager, and two of his brightest stars are teenagers. Argentina brought the best goalkeeper to New Jersey. Spain brought everything else, and it looks ready to keep bringing it for a decade.