Rabat – Argentina and Spain arrive at Sunday’s World Cup final with fourteen meetings behind them: six wins apiece, and two draws, and this time, the winner will finally settle which of the two nations comes out on top.
It’s a fitting split for two sides who’ve spent decades producing some of football’s most iconic players without ever really settling who’s better.
Argentina gave the game Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi; Spain did the same with Xavi, Iniesta, and a golden generation that redefined how international football could be played.
Sunday will be the first time these two sides meet with a World Cup trophy on the line, and only the second time they’ve faced each other at the tournament at all.
Their first meeting goes back to 1966, when Argentina edged Spain 2-1 in the group stage in England, Luis Artime scoring twice with Pirri pulling one back for La Roja.
Argentina were eliminated shortly after by the hosts in the quarterfinals, while Spain didn’t make it out of the group stage.
It’s a fixture from a different footballing era entirely; not a single player set to feature in Sunday’s final had even been born yet.
Their more recent game is a lot fresher, and a lot more one-sided. Spain demolished Argentina 6-1 in March 2018, a friendly hosted in Madrid, Isco scoring a hat-trick in one of the heaviest defeats either nation has handed the other.
The two sides were actually due to meet earlier than this, in the 2026 Finalissima pitting the reigning European and South American champions against each other, but the match was scrapped over security concerns at the planned venue, denying fans an early preview of Sunday’s showdown.
In the years since their last competitive meeting, both nations have padded out their trophy cabinets: a World Cup and two Copa Américas for Argentina,and a European Championship for Spain.
The Messi-Yamal factor
They arrive in New Jersey as two of the most in-form teams in world football, each chasing a different piece of history, Argentina going for back-to-back titles, last achieved by Brazil in 1958 and 1962, and Spain hunting their second World Cup crown.
There’s also more history to this clash.
Sunday will mark the first time Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal have ever faced each other on a football pitch. This in itself is a full-circle moment, given a photo of a young Messi with baby Yamal went viral a few years back after it emerged the two families had crossed paths years earlier.
Whoever wins the clash doesn’t really matter for most fans around the world, because they know they are about to see one of the most anticipated finals in World Cup history. And this time, the winner almost feels secondary to the occasion’s symbolic significance for Messi and his Barcelona heir.
