For FIFA, the tournament represented far more than football. The governing body is expected to end its current four-year commercial cycle with revenues approaching $15 billion, nearly double the $7.6 billion generated from the Qatar World Cup in 2022.

Although it was a tough final, Rodri was in no doubt that his team deserved to join their Spanish 2010 predecessors by lifting the biggest prize in the game.

The 48-year-old was appointed manager after Argentina crashed out of the 2018 World Cup in the round of 16 amid skepticism about his lack of head coaching experience and only brief time as an assistant.

Cucurella said earlier this week that he would tattoo the coach's face on his body if Spain lifted the trophy.

From Monday, the flags will gradually come down. Midnight alarms will be switched off. Tea stalls will close a little earlier, and conversations will return to work, exams and the routines that had briefly been put on hold. The borrowed dreams will be folded away until another World Cup arrives.

Nervous excitement and rowdy cheers turned into anguished groans, nailbiting tension and tears, as Argentines' hope of yet another epic comeback led by Lionel Messi in the World Cup fizzled out against Spain.

Messi, who had scored eight goals in the tournament and delivered four assists, was very quiet.

The newly crowned world champion sought only the solace and celebration of his mother and girlfriend, moments of quiet intimacy that anchored his historic achievement.

The dust has settled. Spain lifted their second World Cup title with a 1-0 victory over an Argentina side that never truly showed up in the all-important final at New York-New Jersey Stadium today.

Spain went all the way round the footballing wheel on Sunday, from silk to sludge, from purity to persistence, and still ended up exactly where they wanted to be -- World Cup champions, with the ball at their feet and belief in their bones.

Fernandez's sending off also gave Argentina an unwanted record as the country to have had the most red cards in World Cup final history.

The 19-year-old Lamine learned to play football on the streets of Rocafonda, a working-class, multi-ethnic area of Mataro, a coastal city about 30 km (19 miles) north of Barcelona.

"I feel especially proud of this generation of footballers who have grown with this idea... giving us an example of a group, of a family," an emotional Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said.

With Spain beating Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the FIFA World Cup 2026 final at the New York New Jersey Stadium on Monday, here is a look back at the tournament's roll of honour over the years.

As the FIFA World Cup 2026 concluded on Monday with Spain reclaiming the title for the first time since 2010 after a 1-0 extra-time victory over Argentina in a one-sided final at the New York New Jersey Stadium, here is the tournament at a glance.

Spain produced a dominant display to beat Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the FIFA World Cup 2026 final and reclaim the title they last won in 2010 at the New York New Jersey Stadium on Monday.

From the opening whistle at MetLife Stadium, La Roja outclassed the defending champions, controlling the contest less through surgical brilliance and more through Argentina's total collapse in basic execution.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni admitted Spain were the better team following his team's 1-0 extra-time defeat in the 2026 World Cup final on Sunday.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni intervened to cool tempers down at the end of a fierce encounter.

Ferran Torres said his World Cup-winning goal for Spain on Sunday belonged to "47 million people, not just me or the 26 players".