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World Cup superlatives: Who was the tournament's biggest loser?

From Messi's brilliance to the American infatuation with Erling Haaland, GOAL looks at some of the best and worst of the 2026 World Cup

Biggest winners and losers of the 2026 World Cup

The 2026 World Cup came to a close in New Jersey on Sunday as Spain were deservedly crowned champions after a dour 1-0 win over 10-man Argentina in one of the worst finals in the tournament history. La Roja substitute Ferran Torres scored the only goal of a game that was essentially attack versus defence even before Enzo Fernandez got himself stupidly sent off for a second yellow card in the final minute of normal time.

From free agent to World Cup hero: Eloy Room’s remarkable rise

The goalkeeper was facing retirement as recently as December last year, but he has become a USL Championship hero after breaking the World Cup save record.

Spain v Cabo Verde: Group H - FIFA World Cup 2026

How have debutant teams performed at the FIFA World Cup?

Four nations made debuts at the 2026 World Cup, with Cape Verde, Curacao, Jordan and Uzbekistan gracing the grandest stage in international football for the first time. It was the tournament with the most newcomers since 2006 and Cape Verde achieved the feat of ending a 16-year wait for a debutant to reach the knockout stages, before succumbing to Lionel Messi's Argentina in a classic.

Curacao v Cote D'Ivoire: Group E - FIFA World Cup 2026

'One of the best' - Pepe shines as Ivory Coast reach World Cup knockouts

Nicolas Pepe rolled back the years with a magnificent individual performance to fire Ivory Coast into the World Cup knockout stage. The experienced attacker netted a historic brace against Curacao to ensure the Elephants progressed beyond the tournament's group stage for the first time in their footballing history.