Indian fans who stayed up past midnight on Monday, July 20, got a final that looked close on the scoreboard and lopsided everywhere else.
Spain won 1-0. Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute. Argentina did not register a single shot on target across 120 minutes. And when FIFA read out the award winners, Spain's captain Rodri walked away with the Golden Ball as the best player of the 2026 World Cup.
Here is the full award list, who came close, and why the votes went the way they did.
FIFA World Cup 2026 award winners at a glance
| Award | Winner | Key Number |
|---|---|---|
| Golden Ball (best player) | Rodri, Spain | Captained a side that conceded once in 8 games |
| Silver Ball | Lionel Messi, Argentina | 8 goals, 4 assists at age 39 |
| Bronze Ball | Kylian Mbappe, France | 10 goals |
| Golden Boot (top scorer) | Kylian Mbappe, France | 10 goals, 4 assists |
| Golden Glove (best goalkeeper) | Unai Simon, Spain | 7 clean sheets in 8 matches |
| Best Young Player | Pau Cubarsi, Spain | Started at centre-back at 19 |
Also Read | FIFA World Cup 2026 Final: Spain Beat Argentina 1-0 After Extra Time
Rodri Golden Ball: why Spain's midfielder was named player of the tournament
Golden Ball voting usually rewards goals. Rodri did not win it that way.
He won it because Spain conceded one goal in eight matches, the lowest total any World Cup winner has ever managed, and because he played more games than any previous champion's midfielder in a 48-team format. Every Spanish clean sheet started with the screen he set in front of the back four.
The final made the case better than any highlight reel. Spain held 65 per cent of the ball. They took 20 shots, 12 of them on target, and finished with 1.94 expected goals. Argentina managed two shots and 0.20 xG, and did not attempt their first until the 117th minute.
Lionel Messi touched the ball 54 times in a match that ran close to three hours. That number is the story of Rodri's tournament. Spain did not defend deep against Argentina. They kept the ball away from Messi entirely, and Rodri sat at the centre of that machine.
There is a second reason the vote landed where it did. Rodri missed most of the 2024-25 club season with a serious knee injury after winning the 2024 Ballon d'Or. Speaking after the final, he said he hopes younger players see his story as proof that a career can recover from a low point.
Reports after the match noted he has now joined a very short list of players who have won the World Cup, the Champions League and the Ballon d'Or.
The case for Messi, and why he finished second
Messi took the Silver Ball. At 39, he scored eight goals and set up four more, and Argentina reached back-to-back finals largely on his form.
He also had a quiet final. He did not score, Argentina had no shot on target, and voters watched the last 120 minutes before submitting their ballots. That is how a tournament of that quality ends in second place.
Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni called him the best to ever stand on a pitch during an emotional post-match press conference. It is widely expected to have been Messi's final World Cup match.
Golden Boot 2026: Mbappe makes history with back-to-back wins
Kylian Mbappe finished as top scorer with 10 goals and four assists.
That makes him the first player, in either the men's or women's World Cup, to win the Golden Boot at two consecutive tournaments. He also won it in Qatar in 2022.
The race was still live going into the final weekend. Mbappe and Messi were level on eight goals and four assists each. Then France played England in the third-place match on Saturday, July 18, and lost 6-4 in a game that broke scoring records. Mbappe scored twice in that defeat.
Messi needed a hat-trick in the final to overtake him outright, or a brace to force the assists tiebreaker. He did not score.
Also Read | FIFA World Cup 2026: Argentina Beat England 2-1 to Reach Final Against Spain
Top scorers, 2026 World Cup:
- Kylian Mbappe (France): 10
- Lionel Messi (Argentina): 8
- Jude Bellingham (England): 7
- Erling Haaland (Norway): 7
- Harry Kane (England): 6
- Ousmane Dembele (France): 6
Golden Glove: Unai Simon posts the best defensive record in World Cup history
Unai Simon conceded one goal in the entire tournament across eight matches. He kept seven clean sheets. Sofascore put his save percentage at 90.9.
No goalkeeper has ever taken a team to the title while conceding less, and no team has ever won a World Cup with a better defensive record than the 2026 Spain side.
The irony of the final is that the better individual goalkeeping display came from the other end. Emiliano Martinez made 11 saves for Argentina, a record for a World Cup final, and kept the score at 0-0 deep into extra time. Award votes go to the tournament, not the night, and Simon's eight-match record was untouchable.
Best Young Player: Pau Cubarsi
Pau Cubarsi, 19, played centre-back for a champion side that conceded once. The Barcelona defender takes the Young Player award, given to players born on or after 1 January 2005.
He also happened to be the player Enzo Fernandez fouled to earn his red card in the final.
How the final was actually won
Argentina went down to 10 men in the third minute of second-half stoppage time. Enzo Fernandez, already booked, caught Cubarsi with a reckless challenge, and referee Slavko Vincic had no realistic option other than a second yellow.
Spain still could not break through in the first half of extra time. Nico Williams put the ball in the net earlier in the game and saw it disallowed for a foul, a call Spain disputed.
Then came the restart of the second period of extra time. Thirty-nine seconds in, Pedro Porro floated a ball to the back post, Williams beat Nahuel Molina in the air and headed it back across, and Ferran Torres finished from close range. Torres had come on in the 62nd minute for Mikel Oyarzabal. It was his first goal of the tournament.
Torres said afterwards that the goal belonged to 47 million people.
Luis de la Fuente, at 65, becomes the oldest coach to win a men's World Cup. Spain began the tournament with a draw against debutants Cape Verde.
Also Read | FIFA World Cup 2026: Spain Beat France 2-0, Reach Final After Oyarzabal and Porro Goals
What this World Cup meant for Indian audiences
Football's biggest event is no longer a niche watch in India.
Zee reported more than 100 million viewers across digital, linear and social platforms in the opening weekend alone, a football record for its networks. Indian fans followed the tournament on ZEE5 and on the free DD Sports telecast.
The 2026 expansion to 48 teams and 104 matches stretched the tournament across five weeks and three host nations. For Indian broadcasters and advertisers, that meant a longer inventory window than any previous edition, even with most knockout matches landing after midnight IST.
The next edition, in 2030, will be co-hosted across Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with three opening matches in South America.
