Spain beats Argentina in extra time to win 2026 World Cup

Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute at MetLife Stadium, and Spain beat Argentina 1-0 to win the 2026 World Cup. The extra-time finish delivered Spain its second title and denied the defending champions in front of more than 82,000 fans in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The final, played on July 19, 2026, tilted Spain’s way after Argentina was reduced to 10 men when Enzo Fernández was sent off before the decisive goal. Spain controlled long stretches of the match in New York/New Jersey and kept pressing until Torres finally finished the job, turning a tense, scoreless final into a defining moment for a squad that had been building toward this stage for years.

The victory completed a second World Cup run for Spain, nearly 16 years after Andrés Iniesta scored in the 116th minute against the Netherlands in Johannesburg to deliver the country’s first crown in 2010. That earlier triumph remains the reference point for Spanish football, and this latest title puts Luis de la Fuente’s team back in the same lineage of control, patience and late-game nerve. De la Fuente had already linked this side to the spirit of 2010 after Spain’s dominant semifinal win over France, and the final gave that comparison a concrete ending.

The scale of the event underlined the sport’s reach well beyond Europe and South America. The 2026 tournament had already drawn more than 3.6 million spectators, a record attendance figure, and the championship match in New Jersey added another packed stadium to a World Cup that has taken on major commercial weight in the United States.

The reaction was immediate in Madrid, where celebrations spilled into the streets after the final whistle, and in fan zones across New York, Madrid and Buenos Aires. For Spain, the result strengthened its standing as a football power with two world titles on the ledger. For Argentina, the loss ended a title defense and sharpened the sense of transition around a team trying to define its next chapter after its recent period of global prominence.