The 2022 FIFA World Cup Final was an association football match, the culmination of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the 22nd edition of FIFA’s competition for men’s national football teams.
The match was played at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, on 18 December 2022, the national day of Qatar; it was contested by Argentina and France. The final took place in front of 88,966 supporters, and was refereed by Szymon Marciniak from Poland.
Argentina led 2–0 at half-time, but a hat-trick for France by Kylian Mbappé and an additional goal for Argentina tied the match in extra time. Argentina won the match 4–2 on penalties to win their third FIFA World Cup title and first since 1986. Some reporters regarded it as the best FIFA World Cup final of all time.
The defending champions from the 2018 World Cup were France, which made this the first time since the 2002 final in which a team had consecutive appearances at the finals, and the first since 1998 where the title holders qualified for the subsequent final – both were achieved by Brazil. France have claimed two World Cups, in 1998 and 2018.
The French also reached the 2006 final, but fell to Italy on penalties. Under the management of Didier Deschamps, who won the 1998 tournament as a player, the French failed to conquer the 2014 World Cup, UEFA Euros 2016 and 2020, but successfully clinched the 2018 World Cup title.[6][7] Due to the status as the world champions, France also entered Qatar as one of the favourites to win.
France also aims to emulate the achievement of Italy in 1934 and 1938 and Brazil in 1958 and 1962 as the third country to successfully defend the World Cup title. Didier Deschamps is seeking to become the second manager to win two FIFA World Cup titles, after Vittorio Pozzo with Italy in 1934 and 1938. Having won the 1998 tournament as a player, Deschamps is also seeking to become the third person to win three FIFA World Cup titles, after Brazilian legends Pelé (all as a player) and Mário Zagallo (two as a player, one as a manager).
Argentina, similar to France, have won the World Cup twice before, in 1978 and 1986. They have also finished as losing finalists thrice, in 1930, 1990, and 2014. After the 2014 final loss, they went on to lose two consecutive Copa América finals to Chile, in 2015 and 2016.
After a string of disappointing performances in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where they lost to eventual champions France in the first knockout round, and the 2019 Copa América, where they finished third, newly-appointed coach Lionel Scaloni led Argentina to their first international title in 28 years, as Argentina defeated Brazil 1–0 in the 2021 Copa América Final, handing captain Lionel Messi his first international title with Argentina.
After winning the 2022 Finalissima, beating European champions Italy 3–0, Argentina entered Qatar as one of the favourites to win.
The two nations are meeting in the knockout stage for the second straight World Cup. In 2018 in Russia at Kazan Arena in the round of 16, France won the encounter 4–3 in what The Independent called “one of the greatest World Cup games of all time”.
Antoine Griezmann opened the scoring with a penalty before Ángel Di María and Gabriel Mercado put Argentina in front, with France then scoring the next three goals courtesy of Benjamin Pavard’s volley outside of the box – which was later voted as the goal of the tournament – and then Kylian Mbappé twice. Sergio Agüero reduced the deficit to one in stoppage time, but Argentina was unable to equalise and send the match to extra time.
The match ball for the 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-finals, third place match, and final was announced on 11 December 2022. It is a variation of the Adidas Al Rihla named the Adidas Al-Hilm, meaning ‘The Dream’ in Arabic, a reference to every nation’s dream of lifting the FIFA World Cup.
Whilst the technical aspects of the ball are the same, the colour is different from the Al-Rihla balls used in the group stages and preceding knockout games, with a Gold Metallic, maroon, Collegiate Burgundy, and red design, a reference to the national colors of host nation Qatar and the golden colors shared by the final’s venue Lusail Stadium and the FIFA World Cup Trophy. It is the fifth special ball for FIFA World Cup final matches, after the +Teamgeist Berlin, Jo’bulani, Brazuca Final Rio, and Telstar Mechta.
