France's forward Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the 2026 World Cup third-place match between France and England at Miami Stadium in Miami on July 18, 2026 [AFP]By Anushe Engineer and ReutersPublished On 20 Jul 202620 Jul 2026
Spain dethroned Argentina to lift the World Cup trophy and beckon a new era in global football after substitute Ferran Torres scored a clinical goal to give his side a 1-0 win in the 106th minute at New York New Jersey Stadium.
La Roja finally broke the deadlock after dominating Argentina for most of the match in front of 80,000 fans on Sunday.
“It was a goal scored by 47 million people – it wasn’t even mine or from the 26 players. It was destined to happen; it was meant to be a winner,” Torres said after the win.
While he orchestrated Spain’s winning the ultimate prize, his teammates walked away with awards of their own.
At 27, Mbappe can confidently call himself the best striker in the world with the most World Cup goals in history (22) and the most at this tournament (10).
He snatched back the award from Lionel Messi after netting twice in France’s third-place match against England, which the Three Lions ultimately won 6-4.
With 10 goals and four assists, Mbappe edged out Messi’s eight goals and four assists to win the coveted award, which the Frenchman has won a record two times now.
Spain midfielder Rodri collected the Golden Ball award, given to the best overall player in the tournament. While he did not record a single goal or assist in Spain’s eight matches, he completed more passes, ran more distance and had more player involvements than any other player in this year’s tournament.
He also played a key role in heavily limiting Messi’s touches during Spain’s stifling 1-0 win.
Rodri edged out Messi from this win, too, as the Argentinian captain settled for the Silver Ball and Mbappe took home the Bronze.
Simon finished with seven clean sheets, two more than the previous record for a single World Cup.
The 29-year-old’s nine career World Cup clean sheets are one off the record of 10 shared by former France keeper Fabien Barthez and former England keeper Peter Shilton.
Best Young Player Award: Pau Cubarsi – Spain
Spain’s Pau Cubarsi kisses the trophy as he celebrates after winning the World Cup [Hannah Mckay/Reuters]The Spaniard’s future is bright after his clinical performance throughout the tournament, not least in Sunday’s World Cup final.
He lived up to the hype around young players to watch and delivered when it mattered the most, even outshining Spain’s poster boy Lamine Yamal.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera ahead of the final, football icon Tobin Heath said Cubarsi was “the most incredible name” that stood out for her among young players (accurate analysis yet again).
“To be so young, to play so many minutes and be so effective with this Spanish defence, it highlights an incredible way that Spain is generationally able to really connect the ideas and implementation of the type of football that they want to play.”
Netherlands are the eighth team to take home the award after recording only three yellow cards at the tournament.
The Dutch entered the World Cup as favourites in Group F, but their wait for a World Cup title was delayed by Morocco after they defeated Oranje 3-2 on penalties to send them packing in the round of 32.
