The 23rd quadrennial FIFA World Cup hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico is just one day away, with the opening match between Mexico and South Africa taking place on 11 June 2026 in Mexico City, Mexico. As we await the great tournament to start, let’s take a look at what happened in some of the World Cups of the past.
Selecting the host nation for the 2022 World Cup was not without controversy—and that is an understatement. In fact, suspicion over awarding hosting rights to Russia and Qatar in 2010 kicked off a series of events that resulted in the resignation and years-long legal turmoil for FIFA executives, including then-president Sepp Blatter. To put it as concisely as possible, massive amounts of corruption were suspected.
Qatar, host of the 2022 tournament, was mainly scrutinized for two reasons: its government’s treatment of the tens of thousands of migrant workers involved in the infrastructure build-up, and—a more innocent issue—its summer heat.
Due to the latter, FIFA made the unprecedented move of scheduling the World Cup for the fall and winter in the Northern Hemisphere, as opposed to the summer, when it had always taken place. However, by the time the tournament came around, the football fans had seen so many oddities during the COVID-19 pandemic that basically no one batted an eye.
Hungary went into this qualification campaign with high hopes. After decades of major tournament drought, they had made it to the 2016 European Championship in France, where they even topped their group, and to the 2021 Euros held in various countries—postponed from 2020 due to the aforementioned pandemic—as well.
However, the Hungarians failed to meet those expectations and finished fourth in their group behind England, Poland, and Albania but ahead of Andorra and San Marino. Back-to-back losses to Albania were what sealed the team’s fate; even the away win in Poland was not enough to remedy those.
Also, not to make it to the 2022 World Cup from Europe: four-time world champions Italy. They missed the 2018 tournament as well. However, their victory at the 2021 Euros made all their fans and the footballing world believe that it was a one-time major misstep. This proved not to be the case. Italy lost to North Macedonia in the first round of qualification play-offs, after falling to second place in their group behind Switzerland.
Russia were disqualified from the competition during the qualification process due to the Russian Army’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The national team were set to take part in a play-off but was forced to forfeit. Their first-round opponents, Poland, took full advantage of the extra rest time and beat Sweden (who beat the Czechs in extra time to make it there) in the second round, thus qualifying for Qatar.
Co-hosts for the 2026 World Cup, Canada earned their first appearance in 36 years in the CONCACAF federation, even finishing above the region’s two traditional powerhouses, the United States and Mexico. In Africa, the fixture for the 2021 African Cup of Nations final repeated itself in a play-off for a World Cup spot between Egypt and Senegal. The Senegalese came out on top on penalties both times.
Thus, the teams geared up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in the wintertime for the first time, and for a 32-team tournament for the last time—FIFA had already announced they were expanding the field to 48 teams for 2026.
Football fans got to enjoy the ‘classic’ eight-groups-of-four set-up, in place for World Cups since 1998 and for the UEFA Champions League since 1999—for the last time, presumably for generations.
In Group A, hosts Qatar went out without a point, the first hosting nation in World Cup history to do so. The Netherlands advanced in first place, ahead of Senegal, which made it through in second, despite missing their brightest star, Liverpool winger Sadio Mané. Meanwhile, Ecuador also fell short in third place. In Group B, England finished on top (although their fans and media were not all too pleased with the quality of their play). 2026 co-hosts USA also advanced to the knock-outs in second place, but Iran, in third and Wales, in fourth, did not.
Football superstar Leo Messi (who had already left Barcelona and was playing for Paris Saint-Germain at the time) and his Argentinian side kicked off their campaign with an upset 2–1 loss to Saudi Arabia in Group C. However, they quickly recovered by beating Poland and Mexico, thus winning the group. Poland advanced in second place, Mexico came in third, and Saudi Arabia—despite beating Argentina—finished last.
France and Australia made it out of Group D, beating out Tunisia and Denmark. Kylian Mbappé, Messi’s teammate at PSG this time, had already shown his great goal-scoring form, netting a brace against Denmark and scoring one against the Aussies as well.
After winning the World Cup in 2014, Germany suffered a disappointing group-stage exit at the 2018 tournament. Four years later, they were eliminated at the same stage once again, although in far more dramatic fashion. Germany appeared on course to reach the Round of 16 after defeating Costa Rica 4–2 in their final group match. However, Japan staged a remarkable comeback against the elite Spanish side to win 2–1, topping the group in the process. Spain advanced in second place, while Germany were eliminated on goal difference.
The final round of Group E fixtures produced some of the tournament’s greatest drama. At various points during the evening, all four teams occupied qualification spots. Costa Rica, who briefly held a 2–1 lead over Germany, even found themselves in a position to advance before eventually finishing bottom of the group despite a spirited performance.
Morocco surprised everyone in Group F by finishing above the 2018 World Cup finalists, the legendary Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modrić’s Croatia. The Croatians did make it through in second place, ahead of 2018 WC bronze medalists Belgium and Canada, who fell short.
Record five-time World Cup winners Brazil comfortably won Group G. Switzerland joined them in the knockout stages after finishing second, while Cameroon and Serbia were eliminated. Cameroon scored a memorable 1–0 victory over Brazil in the final group match. By that time, Internazionale keeper André Onana had already left the Cameroon camp, after defying head coach Rigobert Song’s orders not to come off his line so often. Devis Epassy, in his place, gave a great performance and kept a clean sheet against the Brazilians.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who was in the middle of a messy ‘break-up’ with his club Manchester United during the tournament, led the Portuguese side to a group victory in Group H. However, Ronaldo only scored one penalty goal in the group stage, against Ghana. He was quite adamant about claiming his team’s first goal against Uruguay. However, it was determined that his head made no contact with the ball after the cross; the goal was awarded to the deliverer, Bruno Fernandes. Portugal ended up winning the game 2–0, sending the Urus out of the tournament. South Korea grabbed the last qualifying spot, while Ghana finished last with three points.
In the Round of 16, the Netherlands beat the United States 3–1; while Argentina triumphed over Australia 2–1—no surprises there.
England had shown a significant improvement in form and comfortably knocked out Senegal with a 3–0 victory. Mbappé kept his appetite for goals, scoring two in France’s 3–1 win over Poland. Croatia advanced over Japan after a 1–1 draw and penalties. Brazil beat another Asian team, South Korea, 4–1.
The first major upset came on the last day of the Round of 16 games: Morocco beat out Spain. After a goalless match and extra time, that clash too went into penalties. There, Moroccan keeper Yassine Bounou, who was playing for Sevilla on the club level at the time, did not concede a single penalty taken by the Spaniards: amazingly, he was able to stop two of the three PK shots, while one hit the post!
Ronaldo was dropped from the Portuguese starting 11 for their first knockout game against Switzerland. The controversial move by head coach Fernando Santos seemingly worked out, as his team delivered a 6–1 thrashing to the Swiss. Gonçalo Ramos, starting in place of Ronaldo, scored a hat-trick.
Which brings us to the Quarter-Finals. There, Croatia prevailed over Brazil on penalties. Argentina advanced ahead of the Dutch also in a PK shoot-out, despite giving up a two-goal lead in the match.
Penalties were in focus in the game between England and France as well, but not as tie-breakers. Tottenham icon Harry Kane converted one, then skied one high in the second half. Thus, the Three Lions failed to come back, and France went through with a 2–1 victory.
Morocco continued their charming underdog story. They beat Portugal 1–0, after Youssef En-Nesyri beat Portugal’s goalkeeper Diogo Costa for a cross and headed the ball into the empty net. Morocco became the first African team to reach the Semi-Finals in FIFA World Cup history.
Argentina beat the Croatians 3–0 to reach their first World Cup final since 2014. Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot, which was followed by a brace from Manchester City striker Julián Álvarez. France faced their former protectorate, Morocco. With a 2–0 win, Les Blues had the chance to become the first nation to defend their World Cup title since Brazil all the way back in 1962.
After their 2018 silver medal, the small Eastern European nation of Croatia earned a bronze medal at the 2022 World Cup, beating Morocco at the end of their historic run in the third-place play-off 2–1.
The Final for the 2022 FIFA World Cup was held at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, on 18 December 2022, in front of 89,000 eager fans. Without any exaggeration, it was one of the most memorable World Cup finals in football history.
Lionel Messi converted another penalty to open the scoring for the Albiceleste in the 23rd minute. Winger Ángel Di María of Juventus doubled the lead before half-time, putting away a low cross on the far side at the end of a counter.
However, the contest for football’s most coveted trophy was not over just yet. France too were awarded a penalty, which was buried home by Kylian Mbappé in the 81st minute. The PSG star levelled the scoreline the very next minute, volleying the ball into the low far corner from the edge of the box. Argentina’s two-goal advantage was gone in just two minutes!
Messi took back the initiative in extra time, scoring a rebound from close range after Lautaro Martínez’s shot was saved by Hugo Lloris in the French goal in the 108th minute. The third penalty of the game was awarded to France again in the dying embers. Mbappé converted that one too, becoming the second player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final after Geoff Hurst for England in 1966, and making the Final a 3–3 ball game.
Randal Kolo Muani nearly decided the final for France, after he found himself one-on-one with Argentine goalie Emiliano Martínez in the added minutes of extra time. However, the Aston Villa keeper pulled off one of the iconic saves of football history and denied Kolo Muani’s shot from around 15 yards out with a kick save.
Martínez took centre stage in the shootout as well, as is often the case for goalkeepers. But first, Mbappé scored yet another goal, in the first round of the penalty shootout this time. The leader of the other side, Leo Messi of Argentina, also did not miss in response.
Kingsley Coman’s shot, however, was saved by Martínez. Dybala converted his, giving the South Americans the advantage in the shoot-out. ‘Dibu’ Martínez cheekily threw the ball away as Tchouaméni came to collect it and put it on the spot. This threw the young French midfielder off his game enough to drag the ball wide. Parades and Gonzalo Montiel for Argentina, as well as Kolo Muani for France, all scored their spot kicks in the rest of the shootout, which meant Argentina won 4–2 on penalties!
Mbappé ended up winning the Golden Boot of the tournament with a phenomenal record of eight goals in seven games, ahead of Messi’s seven. However, the 2022 FIFA World Cup remains in the collective memory of football fans as the event where Leo Messi, one of the all-time greats of the game, achieved the ultimate triumph for himself and his nation, winning the third World Cup title for Argentina.
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