Spain Beats Argentina 1-0 After Extra Time to Win 2026 World Cup

Spain won its second men’s World Cup on Sunday, beating defending champion Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the 2026 final on Ferran Torres’ 106th-minute goal at New York/New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The final was scoreless after 90 minutes and stretched through the full 30 minutes of extra time before Torres broke through. Argentina played the extra period with 10 men after midfielder Enzo Fernández was sent off in second-half stoppage time for a second yellow card. The match also took a physical toll on Argentina, with defender Lisandro Martínez leaving injured.

The victory gave Spain only the second men’s World Cup title in its history and its first since 2010. It also ended Argentina’s attempt to defend the championship it won in 2022. A victory would have made Argentina the first men’s team to win back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1962.

Spain’s breakthrough finally came in the second half of extra time, when Torres scored in the 106th minute to decide a match that had stayed tense and tight for nearly two hours. Until then, Argentina remained alive largely because of goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, who repeatedly kept Spain from taking control.

According to The Associated Press, Martínez finished with 10 saves, the most ever by a goalkeeper in a World Cup final. That performance preserved the deadlock through regulation and into extra time, even as Argentina were reduced to 10 men and forced to absorb pressure.

The result adds a second star to Spain’s men’s national team and places this title alongside the breakthrough triumph of 2010. For Argentina, it closes a run that had carried the reigning champion back to the final and to the edge of a historic repeat.

The match was played in the United States at MetLife Stadium, officially called New York/New Jersey Stadium for the tournament, in a 2026 World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico and expanded to 48 teams for the first time.