soccer

The SEC’s projected order of finish for 2026 starts where it has for years — Georgia on top — with Texas and Texas A&M closest behind, according to ESPN’s SP+ projections from Bill Connelly, the most rigorous preseason model in the sport. The official SEC media poll arrives this week from SEC Media Days in … Read more

The 2026 World Cup Golden Ball — the award for the tournament’s best player — goes to Rodri of Spain, announced at the trophy ceremony at MetLife Stadium following Sunday’s final. FIFA’s Technical Study Group shortlists the candidates, with the vote famously closing before the final kicks off — which is why losing finalists have … Read more

The 2026 World Cup’s individual awards were handed out at MetLife Stadium after Spain’s 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina in Sunday’s final — and this page tracks every one of them, updating as each winner is confirmed. One is already mathematically settled and official: Kylian Mbappé won the Golden Boot with 10 goals, the first … Read more

Kylian Mbappé won the 2026 World Cup Golden Boot with 10 goals — and made history twice in doing it. The France captain is the first player ever to win the award at consecutive World Cups, adding 2026 to his 2022 Boot, and his two goals in Saturday’s wild 6-4 third-place victory over England carried … Read more

Sunday’s 1-0 final defeat to Spain was almost certainly Lionel Messi’s last World Cup game — his record 34th, at age 39 — but it was not officially the end of his international career, because Messi has made no retirement announcement. Unlike Cristiano Ronaldo, who explicitly declared his 2026 tournament his last, Messi left MetLife … Read more

Spain won the 2026 World Cup, beating Argentina 1-0 after extra time at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, July 19, on Ferran Torres’ 106th-minute goal — a second star sixteen years after the first, sealed by the most suffocating tournament any champion has ever played. Spain finished unbeaten, conceded exactly one goal in eight matches, and … Read more

Argentina’s runner-up finish at the 2026 World Cup is worth $33 million — the largest second-place payout in tournament history, paid by FIFA to the Argentine Football Association after Sunday’s final defeat to Spain in East Rutherford. It’s $17 million less than the champion’s $50 million, and $9 million less than the AFA banked for … Read more