The

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

is an international

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the ' ( FIFA, the International Federation of Association Football), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the 1930 FIFA World Cup, except in 1942 and 1946, when it was not held because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The 2022 FIFA World Cup, hosted by Qatar, was won by

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, who beat

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

4–2 on

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. The World Cup final match is the last of the competition, and the result determines which country is declared the world champion. If after 90 minutes of regular play the score is a

draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to: Common uses * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anything ...

, an additional 30-minute period of play, called extra time, is added. It is split into segments of two 15 minutes of play time. If the game is still tied after extra time, it is then decided by a penalty shoot-out. The team winning the penalty shoot-out are then declared champions. The tournament has been decided by a one-off match on every occasion except

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

, when the tournament winner was decided by a final round-robin group contested by four teams (

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, Sweden, and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

). Uruguay's 2–1 victory over Brazil was the decisive match (and one of the last two matches of the tournament) that put them ahead on points and ensured that they finished top of the group as world champions. Therefore, this match is regarded by FIFA as the ''de facto'' final of the 1950 World Cup. In the 22 tournaments held, 80 nations have appeared at least once. Of these, 13 have made it to the final match and 8 have won. With five titles, Brazil is the most successful World Cup team and also the only nation to have participated in every World Cup tournament.

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

have four titles each. Current champion Argentina has three titles. France and Uruguay have two titles each, while

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and Spain have one each. The team that wins the finals receive the

FIFA World Cup Trophy The World Cup is a solid gold trophy that is awarded to the winners of the FIFA World Cup association football tournament. Since the advent of the World Cup in 1930, two trophies have been used: the Jules Rimet Trophy from 1930 to 1970, before ...

; its name is engraved on the bottom side of the trophy. The

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

matches, along with the

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

, and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

matches, are to date the only final matches played by the same pair of nations (Brazil–Italy and Argentina–Germany, respectively). As of 2022, the 1934 final remains the latest final to have been between two teams playing their first final. The final match of the most recent tournament in Qatar took place at the country's biggest sports complex, the

Lusail Stadium Lusail Stadium ( ar, استاد لوسيل, ), also unofficially known as Lusail Iconic Stadium, is a football stadium in Lusail, Qatar. Owned by the Qatar Football Association, it is the largest stadium in Qatar by capacity and one of eight st ...

in Lusail. As of 2022, only nations from Europe and South America have competed in a World Cup final. Six nations have won the final as host:

, and

. Two nations have lost the final as host:

and Sweden.

List of finals

Results

Footnotes

References

General * Specific

External links

FIFA World Cup™
at FIFA.com {{featured list

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

List of finals

Results

See also

Footnotes

References

External links