Spain beat Argentina 1-0 to win the World Cup 2026 final — Ferran Torres settled it in extra time
Spain won the World Cup 2026 final 1-0 over Argentina, Ferran Torres scoring in the 106th minute at MetLife Stadium. It is Spain's second title, sixteen years after 2010.
It ended the way Spain played the whole tournament: unhurried, unbothered, and utterly airtight. At MetLife Stadium, Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in extra time to win the World Cup 2026 — their second title, sixteen years after South Africa 2010. The defending champions went out without doing the one thing nobody thought possible a month ago: Argentina did not manage a single shot in the ninety minutes.
The night turned crueller still before extra time began. Enzo Fernández — the stoppage-time hero of the semi-final against England — picked up a second yellow right at the end of regulation, leaving his side to play the extra half hour with ten men.
How did Ferran Torres score the winner?
The goal came in the 106th minute, at the start of the second period of extra time: a long ball ripped through Argentina’s line, Nico Williams won the race and cushioned a header back across, and Ferran Torres met it with a half-volley the Argentine keeper never saw. One moment, and it was enough — Spain finish the tournament having conceded exactly one goal in seven games, the wall that had reached the final all but intact.
Who won the World Cup 2026 Golden Boot?
The Golden Boot goes to Kylian Mbappé with 10 goals — Messi finished on 8, after the two had arrived at the weekend level. For Messi, at 39, this was the farewell everyone knew was coming, and football declined to repeat the 2022 script: this time the trophy went past him, handed over on the pitch by Gianni Infantino with Donald Trump alongside on the stage. The official match sheet is on FIFA’s site.
For Spain the circle closes neatly: European champions in 2024, world champions in 2026, with Lamine Yamal’s generation inheriting the stage on the very night Messi left it. Our tournament diary signs off in the World Cup 2026 tracker — it was quite a ride, and it ended in Spanish red.
By Vasco Almada
Image: Bryan Berlin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)