Italy retained their crown<\/a>, and were a much better side than they\u2019d been four years beforehand. Brazil also appeared a serious force for the first time at the competition. But this is surely the least fabled World Cup in history, and remembered chiefly for the political tensions shortly before the following year\u2019s outbreak of the Second World War.<\/p>\n In truth, the first three editions were not particularly well-organised or serious competitions, with many of the world\u2019s best sides not bothering to enter. As such, they are the bottom three in our list.<\/p>\n 22: 1934. Hosts: Italy. Final: Italy 2-1 Czechoslovakia (after extra time)<\/strong><\/p>\n Similarly, Italy\u2019s victory at this World Cup is remembered chiefly in relation to the influence of Benito Mussolini<\/a>, and some rather charitable refereeing decisions they benefited from en route to glory.<\/p>\n This is also the only tournament where the holders, Uruguay, didn\u2019t enter \u2014 they were still annoyed that few European teams bothered participating when they\u2019d hosted the first World Cup four years beforehand.<\/p>\n 21: 1930. Hosts: Uruguay. Final: Uruguay 4-2 Argentina<\/strong><\/p>\n The most famous of the three pre-Second World War tournaments, if only because it was the inaugural one. The stories related to the staging of this first edition have become somewhat legendary, particularly the European entrants travelling together by ship across the Atlantic Ocean, then stopping off to collect the Brazil squad en route. But the football was largely primitive and uncompetitive, as only 13 countries competed.<\/p>\n At least the final, a genuinely fierce local derby, produced an exciting game with six goals, and the nature of the host nation triumphing<\/a> helped to popularise the basic concept of spending huge sums of money to stage FIFA\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n 20: 1962. Hosts: Chile. Final: Brazil 3-1 Czechoslovakia<\/strong><\/p>\n An edition without any genuinely legendary matches, and with only one true standout performer: Brazil\u2019s outside-right Garrincha was sensational<\/a>. But Pele pulled up injured in their second game, and that was his World Cup over. In general, attacking players struggled to make their mark in an aggressive tournament, and the Brazilian winners<\/a> were considered less complete and less exciting than four years beforehand.<\/p>\n In truth, you never really hear the 1962 World Cup spoken about for almost any reason aside from Garrincha.<\/p>\n 19: 1954. Hosts: Switzerland. Final: West Germany 3-2 Hungary<\/strong><\/p>\n A famous finale, with West Germany prevailing over a side who had defeated them 8-3 in the group stage. But the manner in which they triumphed was hardly glorious: a physical approach that focused on injuring Hungary\u2019s best players.<\/p>\n This tournament was hugely compromised by a bizarre structure. Not only did the groups consist of only two matches for each side \u2014 the two strongest teams didn\u2019t play each other \u2014 the four group winners were then all placed on the same side of the knockout draw, with all the runners-up on the other.<\/p>\n The strange thing, of course, is that the side to emerge from the latter half of the bracket ended up winning the final, to nobody\u2019s great delight.<\/p>\n 18: 1990. Hosts: Italy. Final: West Germany 1-0 Argentina<\/strong><\/p>\n There was a sense of romance about Italy\u2019s hosting of this competition, but the low goals-per-game rate spoke volumes \u2014 to the extent football felt compelled to introduce the backpass law, and clamp down on dangerous tackles, to bring some excitement back to the sport.<\/p>\n Only one of the quarter-finals produced more than one goal: England\u2019s 3-2 comeback victory against Cameroon. The semi-finals, Argentina vs Italy and West Germany vs England, were both hugely tense but lacked genuine quality, and both went to penalties after 1-1 draws.<\/p>\n These produced a final that was a repeat of the one four years earlier in Mexico, and was a fittingly terrible contest. Argentina, weakened by injury and suspension, became the first World Cup finalist not to score. The game was only notable for their two red cards, and the Germans winning it late on through an Andi Brehme penalty<\/a>.<\/p>\n 17: 1966. Hosts: England. Final: England 4-2 West Germany (after extra time)<\/strong><\/p>\n This World Cup tends to be placed unreasonably high in similar lists compiled by English publications, for obvious reasons. But to everybody else, 1966 was a dull tournament, characterised by lenient refereeing that meant the star players \u2014 particularly Pele \u2014 struggled to have an impact. The efficiency of European teams got the better of the flair from the South American contenders.<\/p>\n But there were some good stories: the complete unknowns from North Korea defeated Italy, debutants Portugal reached the semi-final, and the final was a six-goal thriller<\/a> featuring a controversial goal and only decided in the last minute of extra time.<\/p>\n \n North Korea players celebrate after their 1-0 win over Italy in 1966 (Central Press\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n 16: 1950. Hosts: Brazil. \u2018Final\u2019: Uruguay 2-1 Brazil<\/strong><\/p>\n World Cups during this period were regularly hampered by strange formats. In a cynical bid to ensure the host nation remained in the competition for as many matches as possible, the first post-Second World War edition<\/a> was decided not by a knockout phase, but instead by a four-team second round of group play, which produced little drama.<\/p>\n Until, of course, the final game (which was not technically the final)\u2026 when Brazil contrived to lose a 1-0 lead, and Uruguay triumphed against all odds. That match has gone down in history. The United States\u2019 1-0 defeat of England in the first group stage is also among football\u2019s greatest shocks. But in a period before the World Cup was broadcast fully on television, the 1950 tournament overall still went slightly under the radar.<\/p>\n 15: 2002. Hosts: Japan and South Korea. Final: Brazil 2-0 Germany<\/strong><\/p>\n There were unquestionably some memorable elements to the first World Cup played in Asia: South Korea\u2019s somewhat fortunate run to the semi-finals, Senegal\u2019s storming performance in reaching the quarter-finals, and above all else, Ronaldo firing Brazil to glory<\/a> after his nightmare in the 1998 final and then four years of injury problems.<\/p>\n The issue with this World Cup was that most of the star players were exhausted for a tournament which started unusually early, in May, to try to avoid the worst of monsoon season. The two pre-tournament favourites, Argentina and France, then both exited at the group stage. That brought short-term drama, but ultimately there wasn\u2019t a single truly memorable game from the quarter-finals onwards, the closest thing being Brazil\u2019s 2-1 last-eight victory over England, courtesy of a Ronaldinho free-kick goal from miles out that nobody was sure was intentional.<\/p>\n 14: 1978. Hosts: Argentina. Final: Argentina 3-1 Netherlands (after extra time)<\/strong><\/p>\n A tournament controversially held during a period when a military dictatorship was in control of Argentina, this World Cup can basically be boiled down into two core memories involving the host nation. The ticker-tape welcome in the stadium at the start of the final, and the genius of Mario Kempes, an onrushing midfielder who provided the contributions of a centre-forward.<\/p>\n But there weren\u2019t a huge number of outstanding matches, in part because of it having a second group stage, which meant there was essentially only one true knockout match, the final itself. That was, at least, among the better ones in World Cup history, and a rare example of the best individual at the tournament, Kempes, being the match-winner in the final.<\/p>\n 13: 1994. Hosts: United States. Final: Brazil 0-0 Italy (3-2 on penalties)<\/strong><\/p>\n The United States\u2019 long-awaited first hosting of the World Cup<\/a> was an overall success, particularly in terms of attendances. The football was largely good, and there were some excellent matches: Brazil 3-2 Netherlands in the quarter-finals the pick of the bunch \u2014 and some heartwarming underdog stories, with Sweden and Bulgaria making the semi-finals. In fact, there wasn\u2019t a single goalless draw in the knockout stage until the final.<\/p>\n Of course, that turned out to be one of the flattest, most underwhelming World Cup finals on record. With Roberto Baggio and Romario, the two star men, both struggling through injury, neither Brazil nor Italy produced many chances at all.<\/p>\n The fact that the final was settled with Baggio missing a shootout penalty, a la Diana Ross during the opening ceremony weeks earlier, was a sad way for the tournament to end.<\/p>\n \n Roberto Baggio following his penalty miss in the 1994 final (Omar Torres\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n 12. 2010. Hosts: South Africa. Final: Spain 1-0 Netherlands (after extra time)<\/strong><\/p>\n The knockout phase in this edition<\/a> was actually pretty good: six of the seven matches from the quarter-finals onwards feel memorable in one way or another, featuring Luis Suarez\u2019s handball, a Brazil collapse in the second half against the Netherlands, Germany\u2019s 4-0 thrashing of Argentina, Giovanni van Bronckhorst\u2019s long-range belter against Uruguay, Carles Puyol\u2019s headed winner against Germany and lastly Andres Iniesta\u2019s memorable extra-time goal in the final against an overly physical Dutch side \u2014 who could actually have easily won the game.<\/p>\n But it took a very long time to reach that point, and play was compromised by a ball the players couldn\u2019t control and a wintry southern hemisphere climate that led to serious criticism of the competition\u2019s overall quality.<\/p>\n 11: 2022. Hosts: Qatar. Winners: Argentina 3-3 France (4-2 on penalties)<\/strong><\/p>\n In the aftermath of a thrilling end to the final \u2014 Argentina\u2019s win over France on penalties after a six-goal draw (which was 2-0 to the South Americans after 80 minutes) with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe starring \u2014 there was a rush to consider Qatar 2022<\/a> the best World Cup yet. That now seems a little misguided.<\/p>\n There were some other good knockout-stage matches \u2014 Argentina progressing on penalties after drawing 2-2 with the Netherlands, France overcoming England 2-1 in an end-to-end quarter-final \u2014 and Morocco becoming the first African nation to reach the semis of a World Cup was also a significant achievement.<\/p>\n But this tournament was a bit too condensed, a little sluggish in the early knockout rounds, lost some of its glamour with a mid-November start to dodge the summer heat of the Gulf region and was overshadowed by the nature of the host country, who offered nothing on the pitch, losing all three games and only scoring one goal.<\/p>\n A good World Cup, but not a truly great one.<\/p>\n 10: 2026. Hosts: United States, Mexico and Canada. Final: Spain 1-0 Argentina (after extra time)<\/strong><\/p>\n Judging a tournament in the moment is difficult. It\u2019s also tricky to compare World Cup 2026 to any previous edition because of the expansion from 32 teams to 48; there were more group matches here than there were total matches at any previous edition. In basic terms, that means more opportunity for a great story, a great shock, a great goal, a great controversy. In an era where sport is increasingly consumed in short-form content, there was more scope for viral moments.<\/p>\n Has FIFA’s expanded World Cup format worked?<\/p>\n Adam Crafton<\/p>\n Adding 16 extra teams went better than anyone could reasonably expect. Even if the minnows didn\u2019t progress far in the competition, in general they held their own and provided some fun. The group stage, while arduous and compromised by eight of the 12 third-placed sides going through, was enjoyable. The style of football was open and favoured attacking players. The three co-hosts all picked up early momentum. The round of 32 and last 16 stages both produced some very entertaining matches.<\/p>\n From the quarter-finals, though, things slightly tailed off. There weren\u2019t any genuine epics. Even Argentina\u2019s 2-1 semi-final win over England, which featured a dramatic late turnaround, took 50 minutes to really get going.<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s the unavoidable reality that \u2014 just as at World Cup 1994 \u2014 the final was the worst match of the knockout phase. In his ranking of all 104 matches at the tournament<\/a>, Anantaajith Raghuraman placed it 101st. It\u2019s probably not the worst final in the tournament\u2019s 96-year history, but it was surely the most underwhelming, given how exciting it seemed on paper.<\/p>\n On the whole, this was a good World Cup. During the tournament, particularly with so much football every day, the crucial factor is not that there are great games; it\u2019s more that there aren\u2019t many terrible ones. The difference between staying up late (for fans in Europe) to watch a two-out-of-10 match and one that\u2019s a 6\/10 is enormous. In that respect, this World Cup delivered.<\/p>\n But in hindsight, you boil things down to the basics: great players (tick), a good winning side (tick)<\/a>, the number of great moments at key points (no more than OK), and the quality of the final (big miss).<\/p>\n Some are hailing this as the greatest World Cup ever. Others will say it was nothing compared to the editions from their childhood. A reasonable summary is that it was probably as good as could reasonably be expected for a 48-team tournament, but was hugely compromised by a terrible final.<\/p>\n 9: 2018. Hosts: Russia. Final: France 4-2 Croatia<\/strong><\/p>\n This tournament seems entirely unheralded in retrospect, possibly because the host nation is currently banned from playing in FIFA competitions following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. But at the time, this World Cup was, midway through, spoken about as one of the best the game had seen. There were a huge number of late goals and a decent number of shocks.<\/p>\n Its latter stages, though, were comprised of a lopsided draw. The top half (France, Uruguay, Brazil, Belgium) were probably all better than the bottom half (England, Sweden, Croatia, Russia). Even the final, despite featuring six goals, felt a bit loose, a bit unserious, almost like a pre-season friendly. Winners France were exciting<\/a> because of Mbappe\u2019s speed and Antoine Griezmann\u2019s invention, but they never played wonderful football and weren\u2019t hugely tested.<\/p>\n Basically, this edition hasn\u2019t aged particularly well, but those who watched, say, France\u2019s 4-3 round of 16 win over Argentina, or Belgium\u2019s 3-2 comeback victory against Japan at that same stage and then their 2-1 defeat of Brazil in the quarter-finals, will have very fond memories of 2018.<\/p>\n \n Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring his team\u2019s fourth goal against Argentina (Catherine Ivill\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n 8: 1974. Hosts: West Germany. Final: West Germany 2-1 Netherlands<\/strong><\/p>\n A tournament that was dominated by security concerns in the early stages, and then slightly ruined later on by a sustained period of rainy weather which left the pitches unfit for quality football. Zaire\u2019s apparent inability to understand how to defend free kicks was one of the main talking points.<\/p>\n Apart, of course, from Johan Cruyff\u2019s famous turn against Sweden. He and his Dutch team-mates would dominate this tournament and become the neutrals\u2019 favourites. While it\u2019s sometimes depicted as West Germany spoiling the party<\/a>, a la 1954, by beating the best footballing side in the final, they too were an excellent side, and the two were considered to jointly represent the new-found concept of Total Football.<\/p>\n The final, which featured the Dutch going ahead without the Germans touching the ball and was a showdown between Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer, slightly rescued the competition \u2014 even if most would have preferred a Netherlands victory.<\/p>\n 7: 2014. Hosts: Brazil. Final: Germany 1-0 Argentina (after extra time)<\/strong><\/p>\n Brazil is unarguably a fantastic host country for a World Cup, and while their 2014 team was one of the least impressive iterations of the most successful nation in the tournament\u2019s history, they played a part in its two most memorable matches, albeit not necessarily for the right reasons. They practically kicked a hugely likeable Colombia team off the park in the quarter-finals, then endured a shocking collapse against Germany in the next round, losing 7-1.<\/p>\n But the other five matches from the quarter-finals onwards \u2014 which included three extra-time periods \u2014 featured only three goals between them, which rather overshadowed an enjoyable, open and attack-minded group stage, where the likes of Costa Rica and Algeria punched above their weight.<\/p>\n Still, there were enough moments \u2014 great goals from Robin van Persie, James Rodriguez and, in the final<\/a>, Mario Gotze \u2014 for 2014 to rank highly. And the 7-1 remains the most remarkable result in World Cup history.<\/p>\n 6: 1958. Hosts: Sweden. Final: Brazil 5-2 Sweden<\/strong><\/p>\n A tournament that feels almost magical to read about<\/a> today. The 16 participating countries loved the experience of being based in Sweden for a month. Brazil finally won a first World Cup, inspired by 17-year-old Pele, a player who would do more than anyone else to promote the competition by his final, again victorious, bash at it 12 years later. Just Fontaine\u2019s 13 goals in a single World Cup is a record that may never be beaten \u2014 even in the era of 48-team fields \u2014 while his team-mate Raymond Kopa also established himself as one of the true greats.<\/p>\n The hosts\u2019 fairytale run through to the final was also of note, and the triumphant Brazil side honoured them by parading the Swedish flag, rather than their own, at full time of their victory. But above all else, as Rob Fielder points out in his history of the tournament, this was \u201cthe birth of the modern World Cup\u201d, in that it was the first edition where every serious footballing nation entered.<\/p>\n The only thing that prevents 1958 from being placed higher on this list is that the World Cup was not yet formatted to be a televised spectacle. All four quarter-finals, and then both semi-finals, kicked off at the same time.<\/p>\n The football was, by all accounts, very good. But people around the world didn\u2019t experience it like they would future editions.<\/p>\n 5: 2006. Hosts: Germany. Final: Italy 1-1 France (5-3 on penalties)<\/strong><\/p>\n Germany proved a fantastic host country and their team\u2019s run to the semi-finals was better than most locals expected.<\/p>\n This was a very backloaded tournament: almost nothing of any serious consequence happened in the group stage, although that set up a brilliant knockout phase<\/a> that featured Argentina\u2019s 2-1 extra-time win over Mexico in a truly superb encounter, Zidane turning on the magic against both Spain and Brazil, the infamous Battle of Nuremberg as Portugal overcame the Netherlands and Italy\u2019s last-gasp semi-final triumph, thanks to Fabio Grosso\u2019s curler to eliminate the hosts.<\/p>\n Then came an incredibly intense final, dominated by Zidane and Marco Materazzi, with the game\u2019s two goalscorers also involved in the third major incident of the night.<\/p>\n It took a while to get going, but this World Cup eventually provided as many great moments as any.<\/p>\n \n Zinedine Zidane walks past the World Cup trophy after his red card (Roberto Schmidt\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n 4: 1998. Hosts: France. Final: France 3-0 Brazil<\/strong><\/p>\n It was once relatively routine for the host country to win that World Cup \u2014 Uruguay, Italy, England, West Germany \u2014 but France in 1998 are still the most recent example of it occurring, and this edition<\/a> is remembered as much for the subsequent celebrations around Paris as for the overall event itself, inevitably painting the tournament as a jubilant, happy celebration of football.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not entirely inaccurate. The level of attacking in 1998 was superior to the prior few World Cups, and the knockout stage provided some of the great goals in World Cup history \u2014 Michael Owen and Dennis Bergkamp for England and the Netherlands, both against Argentina \u2014 and some hugely significant matches.<\/p>\n Debutants Croatia memorably thrashed Germany 3-0 and then led against the hosts, before two goals from Lilian Thuram put France into a final which was dominated by fitness concerns over Ronaldo and then essentially won with two headers from Zidane.<\/p>\n It\u2019s difficult to have any major reservations about this tournament.<\/p>\n 3: 1986. Hosts: Mexico. Final: Argentina 3-2 West Germany<\/strong><\/p>\n No World Cup before or since has been as dominated by a single player<\/a>.<\/p>\n Diego Maradona\u2019s 1986 campaign remains the greatest in the tournament\u2019s history. In Argentina\u2019s four knockout games, his performance in a 1-0 win over neighbours Uruguay was his personal favourite and his two goals against England in a legendary quarter-final remain the most (in)famous, but his best probably came in the 2-0 semi-final defeat of Belgium. In the final he was quieter, but Argentina still prevailed.<\/p>\n There were several good sides at this tournament, with relative outsiders such as Denmark and the USSR becoming hugely popular for their positive football. The likes of Preben Elkjaer, Gary Lineker and Michel Platini all had excellent individual tournaments.<\/p>\n And, much as it might seem strange today, people around the world were very taken with the \u2018Mexican wave\u2019, which seemed to encapsulate a joyful tournament<\/a>.<\/p>\n 2: 1982. Hosts: Spain. Final: Italy 3-1 West Germany<\/strong><\/p>\n It might seem a strange thing to say about one of the World Cup\u2019s most successful nations, but this Italy side are probably the biggest outsiders to have ended up winning the tournament. They were 18\/1 seventh-favourites beforehand, started the competition slowly, and their sudden evolution into champions<\/a> was completely unexpected.<\/p>\n The first 24-team World Cup (up from 16) was structured strangely: a second group stage featuring four pools of three, with only those finishing top progressing to the semi-finals. But this produced some of the most thrilling football in the history of the World Cup, with the group consisting of Argentina, Italy and Brazil particularly memorable.<\/p>\n Paolo Rossi\u2019s hat-trick against Brazil, who played wonderful football but were hamstrung by the erratic finishing of striker Serginho, would become particularly famous. Marco Tardelli\u2019s celebration after scoring in the final provided raw emotion at the end of a tournament which also featured the Disgrace of Gijon, Harald Schumacher\u2019s grisly foul on Patrick Battiston, and the hosts getting beaten 1-0 by Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n 1: 1970. Hosts: Mexico. Final: Brazil 4-1 Italy<\/strong><\/p>\n The first edition to be broadcast in colour, the most celebrated World Cup winners and some truly thrilling knockout matches. West Germany\u2019s 3-2 victory over defending champions England in the quarter-finals, and then their subsequent 4-3 loss to Italy \u2014 both matches going to extra time \u2014 stand out as particularly famous matches in tournament history.<\/p>\n Even small innovations helped. This was the first World Cup to feature substitutions \u2014 to guard against the energy-sapping weather conditions and altitude in Mexico \u2014 and the first where referees showed yellow and red cards to communicate their decisions to viewers, as much as the players themselves.<\/p>\n Ultimately, this tournament is remembered for Brazil, who used five superstar No 10s \u2014 Gerson, Jairzinho, Tostao, Pele and Rivelino \u2014 squeezed into their legendary 4-2-4 system.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2249560496-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ROBERTO-BAGGIO-PENALTY-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-987939632.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-71404752-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n