CORNERFLICK
Spain’s 1-0 win over Argentina in the 2026 World Cup final kept three long-running tournament patterns alive.
Luis de la Fuente’s side beat Argentina to lift the trophy for a second time, but the result also preserved a run that has stretched across decades.
The first concerns the Ballon d’Or holder. Ousmane Dembélé, the latest winner of the award, could not go on to become world champion with France, meaning no player has ever arrived at a World Cup as Ballon d’Or winner and left with the title in the same tournament.
The second is about coaches. Since the first World Cup in 1930, no team has won the competition with a foreign head coach. De la Fuente, who is Spanish, kept that record intact by leading his own country to the title.
The third dates back to FIFA’s world rankings, introduced in 1992. No team that entered a World Cup as world number one has ever gone on to win it, and Argentina’s defeat in the final extended that sequence once more.