What Happens If the World Cup Final Ends in a Tie?

If the World Cup final ends in a tie after 90 minutes, the teams play 30 minutes of extra time — two 15-minute periods, with stoppage time added to each and a sixth substitution unlocked. If it’s still level after 120 minutes, the champion is decided by a penalty shootout: best-of-five kicks, then sudden death. … Read more

Lionel Messi’s World Cup Finals Record: Every Final He’s Played

Lionel Messi’s World Cup finals record entering Sunday: two finals played, one won, one lost, three goals scored. He lost the 2014 final 1-0 to Germany on Mario Götze’s extra-time winner — and won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player anyway — then completed his career’s great unfinished business in 2022, scoring twice … Read more

Messi vs Yamal: Age Difference, Stats and Career Comparison

Sunday’s World Cup final is a twenty-year age gap wearing two number 10-caliber talents: Lionel Messi, 39, playing his third final in what may be his last World Cup match, against Lamine Yamal, who turned 19 six days before the final and is playing his first. They were born twenty years and three weeks apart … Read more

Spain vs Argentina Head-to-Head History: Every Notable Meeting

Spain and Argentina’s head-to-head record is dead level: 14 meetings, six wins each, two draws — and remarkably, Sunday’s World Cup final is only their second competitive match ever. The first was 60 years ago, a 2-1 Argentina win in the 1966 World Cup group stage in Birmingham, when Luis Artime’s brace overturned Pirri’s opener. … Read more

Spain vs Argentina Odds & Betting Preview: World Cup Final

Spain enters Sunday’s World Cup final as the favorite — the consensus across sportsbooks and prediction markets — on the strength of the most dominant defensive tournament ever recorded: one goal conceded in seven games and a record six clean sheets. Argentina, the defending champion, is the live underdog with an attacking trump card: La … Read more