After 39 days and 104 matches across three countries, the 2026 FIFA World Cup comes down to 90 minutes — or 120, or penalties — at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Spain and Argentina kick off at 3:00 p.m. ET on Fox, and the winner takes the whole pot.
This is the first World Cup final to feature two reigning continental champions. Spain holds the 2024 European Championship. Argentina holds the 2024 Copa América. It is also the first final matching the top two teams in the FIFA World Ranking. You want marquee? This is marquee.
Argentina enters as the defending champion, having outlasted France on penalties in Qatar four years ago in what most people who watched it call the greatest World Cup final ever played. A win Sunday makes Lionel Messi’s squad the first back-to-back champions since Brazil in 1962. They already own three titles — 1978, 1986, 2022 — and three runner-up finishes.
Spain’s road to the final was a meat grinder that barely left a mark on them. La Roja opened with a 0-0 draw against Cape Verde, then rolled Saudi Arabia 4-0 and edged Uruguay 1-0 in the group stage. The knockouts were surgical: Austria 3-0, Portugal 1-0, Belgium