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FIFA World Cup final

Founded	1930; 94 years ago (1930)
Current champions	Argentina (3rd title)
Most successful team(s)	Brazil (5 titles)

The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, when it was not held because of World War II.

The World Cup final is the last match of the competition, played by the only two teams remaining in contention, and the result determines which country is declared the world champion. It is a one-off match decided in regulation time. In case of a draw, extra time is used. If scores are then still level, a penalty shoot-out determines the winner, under the rules in force since 1986; prior to that, finals still tied after extra time would have been replayed, though this never proved necessary. The golden goal rule would have applied during extra time in 1998 and 2002, but was not put in practice either.

The only exception to this type of format was the 1950 World Cup, which featured a final round-robin group of four teams; the decisive match of that group is often regarded as the de facto final of that tournament, including by FIFA itself.

The team that wins the final receives the FIFA World Cup Trophy, and its name is engraved on the bottom side of the trophy. Of 80 different nations that have appeared in the tournament, 13 have made it to the final, and 8 have won. Brazil, the only team that has participated in every World Cup, is also the most successful team in the competition, having won five titles and finished second twice. Italy and Germany have four titles each, with Germany having reached more finals than any other team, eight. Current champion Argentina has three titles, Uruguay and France have two each, while England and Spain have one each. Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Sweden, the Netherlands and Croatia have played in the final without winning. Only teams from Europe (UEFA) and South America (CONMEBOL) have ever competed in the final.

Argentina defeated France on penalties in the latest final, staged at Qatar's Lusail Stadium in 2022.

List of final matches

London (1966)Paris (1938, 1998)Berlin (2006)Rome (1934, 1990)Madrid (1982)Stockholm (1958)Bern (1954)Munich (1974)Moscow (2018)class=notpageimage| Locations of finals held in Europe

Montevideo (1930)Buenos Aires (1978)Rio de Janeiro (1950, 2014)Santiago (1962)Yokohama (2002)Mexico City (1970, 1986)Johannesburg (2010)Pasadena (1994)Lusail (2022)East Rutherford (2026)class=notpageimage| Locations of finals held in the rest of the world

List of FIFA World Cup finals

Year	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Location	Attendance	Ref.
1930	Uruguay	4–2	Argentina	Estadio Centenario	Montevideo, Uruguay	68,346
1934	Italy	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Czechoslovakia	Stadio Nazionale PNF	Rome, Italy	55,000
1938	Italy	4–2	Hungary	Stade Olympique de Colombes	Paris, France	45,000
1950	Uruguay	2–1	Brazil	Maracanã Stadium	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	173,850
1954	West Germany	3–2	Hungary	Wankdorf Stadium	Bern, Switzerland	62,500
1958	Brazil	5–2	Sweden	Råsunda Stadium	Solna, Sweden	49,737
1962	Brazil	3–1	Czechoslovakia	Estadio Nacional	Santiago, Chile	68,679
1966	England	4–2 (a.e.t.)	West Germany	Wembley Stadium	London, England	96,924
1970	Brazil	4–1	Italy	Estadio Azteca	Mexico City, Mexico	107,412
1974	West Germany	2–1	Netherlands	Olympiastadion	Munich, West Germany	78,200
1978	Argentina	3–1 (a.e.t.)	Netherlands	Estadio Monumental	Buenos Aires, Argentina	71,483
1982	Italy	3–1	West Germany	Santiago Bernabéu	Madrid, Spain	90,000
1986	Argentina	3–2	West Germany	Estadio Azteca	Mexico City, Mexico	114,600
1990	West Germany	1–0	Argentina	Stadio Olimpico	Rome, Italy	73,603
1994	Brazil	0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–2 pen.)	Italy	Rose Bowl	Pasadena, United States	94,194
1998	France	3–0	Brazil	Stade de France	Saint-Denis, France	80,000
2002	Brazil	2–0	Germany	International Stadium	Yokohama, Japan	69,029
2006	Italy	1–1 (a.e.t.) (5–3 pen.)	France	Olympiastadion	Berlin, Germany	69,000
2010	Spain	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Netherlands	Soccer City	Johannesburg, South Africa	84,490
2014	Germany	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Argentina	Maracanã Stadium	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	74,738
2018	France	4–2	Croatia	Luzhniki Stadium	Moscow, Russia	78,011
2022	Argentina	3–3 (a.e.t.) (4–2 pen.)	France	Lusail Stadium	Lusail, Qatar	88,966
2026				MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, United States

Results

Results by nation

Team	Winners	Runners-up	Total finals	Years won	Years runners-up
Brazil	5	2	7	1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002	1950, 1998
Germany	4	4	8	1954, 1974, 1990, 2014	1966, 1982, 1986, 2002
Italy	4	2	6	1934, 1938, 1982, 2006	1970, 1994
Argentina	3	3	6	1978, 1986, 2022	1930, 1990, 2014
France	2	2	4	1998, 2018	2006, 2022
Uruguay	2	0	2	1930, 1950	—
England	1	0	1	1966	—
Spain	1	0	1	2010	—
Netherlands	0	3	3	—	1974, 1978, 2010
Hungary	0	2	2	—	1938, 1954
Czechoslovakia	0	2	2	—	1934, 1962
Sweden	0	1	1	—	1958
Croatia	0	1	1	—	2018

See also

• List of FIFA Confederations Cup finals
• List of FIFA World Cup final stadiums
• List of FIFA World Cup final goalscorers

Footnotes

1. The 1962 and 1966 finals had provisions for only a single replay, and then a drawing of lots. For knockout matches other than the finals, penalty shoot-outs had been adopted from 1978, while lots would have been drawn between 1962 and 1974.
2. The team's totals include the records of West Germany (1954–1990).
3. Decisive match of a final stage; technically not a final but often regarded as such.

References

General

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External links

• FIFA World Cup Archived 22 May 2023 at the Wayback Machine at FIFA.com

• FIFA World Cup finals
• FIFA World Cup-related lists
• FIFA World Cup–winning countries
• Lists of FIFA World Cup matches