10 things to know before Argentina vs Spain

Sunday, July 19, 2026 · MetLife Stadium, New York / New Jersey

1. 1
   Two of football's aristocrats
   Argentina (3× champions — 1978, 1986, 2022) and Spain (1× champion — 2010) together own four of the last twelve World Cup titles.
2. 2
   Back-to-back bid
   Argentina enter as reigning champions from Qatar 2022. A win would make them the first team to retain the World Cup since Brazil in 1962.
3. 3
   First of its kind on North American soil
   This is the first men's World Cup final ever contested between a South American and a European nation held in the USA, Canada or Mexico.
4. 4
   Head-to-head lean
   Argentina and Spain have met 15 times all-time, with Argentina holding a 9–4–2 edge — but Spain won their most recent meeting 6–1 in a 2018 friendly in Madrid.
5. 5
   Messi's third final
   If he starts, Lionel Messi becomes the first player in history to appear in three separate men's World Cup finals (2014, 2022, 2026).
6. 6
   Spain unbeaten in finals
   Spain have appeared in one World Cup final and won it — Iniesta's extra-time strike vs the Netherlands in Johannesburg, 2010.
7. 7
   MetLife's biggest night
   MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ hosts its first ever men's World Cup final in front of a capacity crowd of approximately 82,500.
8. 8
   Latest final ever
   July 19 is the latest calendar date on which a men's World Cup final has ever been played — a byproduct of the expanded 48-team, 104-match format.
9. 9
   No competitive history
   Argentina and Spain have never previously met in a competitive knockout match at any level — every prior meeting between them has been a friendly.
10. 10
    Record payday on the line
    The winner takes home a record $47.5 million from FIFA's prize pool — the largest single-tournament payout in the history of the men's game.