World Cup 2026 - Part 6 Trivia Quiz

Answer: If they won their divisions, they would not meet until the semi-finals

The 48 teams were divided into four groups based on their world rankings. The draw was made into a TV spectacular, was televised and featured the host countries' head of state or Government with the FIFA President.

Pot one consisted of the three host countries, Mexico, Canada and the USA, along with the top nine qualified teams in the FIFA rankings. Pot two consisted of the countries occupying world rankings 13 to 24; Pot three consisted of the 25th to 36th best-ranked qualifiers; and Pot four consisted of the qualified teams in positions 37 to 42 plus six positions that had not been decided yet: two from the winners of the inter-confederation playoffs and four from the winners of the European playoffs. These positions were allocated to Iraq and DR Congo (via the ICC), and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Turkey from the European play-offs.

Answer: Yes

The world rankings used for the draw were those rankings in place on 19 November 2025, two weeks before the draw. Spain was ranked number 1; Argentina 2, France 3 and England 4. The draw was constructed so that the top four seeds would not meet each other until the semi-finals, as long as the four seeds won their group stage. All four teams achieved this, but only Argentina and France managed to win all three of their group matches; Spain and England won two matches, drawing their third.

This was the first time that the top four teams in the FIFA Men's World Ranking have all qualified for the semifinals. Besides 1970 and 1990, it was only the third time that all four semifinalists were previous champions.

Answer: Argentina

The World Cup competition commenced in 1930 and has been run every four years, except 1942 and 1946 due to the impacts of WWII. Prior to the 2026 tournament, only eight national teams have won the FIFA Men's World Cup: Brazil (5), Germany (including West Germany) (4), Italy (4), Argentina (3), France (2), Uruguay (2), England (1) and Spain (1).

Argentina won the World Cup in 1978, 1986 and 2022 and were runners-up in 1930,1990 and 2014. France won in 1998 and 2018 and were runners-up in 2006 and 2022. England won their only appearance in the final when they were the host country in 1996. Likewise, Spain won their only appearance when they won in 2010.

Answer: Spain 2, France 0

Despite Spain being ranked number one in the 2026 tournament, France started as favourites in their semi-final. However, Spain surprised their opponents by scoring a goal in both halves: A penalty to Oyarzabal in the 22nd minute (his fifth goal of the tournament), and Porro scored in the 58th minute to win 2-0, eliminating France.

This was the first match (of seven played) of the tournament in which France had not scored a goal, the first one in which they had conceded two goals and the first one they had lost.

Answer: Argentina 2, England 1

Argentina and England had met 14 times, with England winning six and Argentina four. In World Cup matches, England held a 3-2 lead. It was a scoreless first half, but when England potted one in the back of the net in the 55th minute, just for a few minutes, thirty in fact, they dared to dream. Just like their last two matches, though, Argentina came roaring back from behind and equalised in the 85th minute before Lautaro Martínez banged home the winner in the second minute of stoppage time. Since winning the competition in 1966, England extended its period without a World Cup championship to 15 consecutive tournament appearances.

The top two ranked teams, Spain (1) and Argentina (2), the defending champions, would play off in the final.

Answer: 6

The style of play for the playoffs was quite conservative compared with the group stage. (In the 72 matches of the group stage, 230 goals @3.12 goals per match were scored. In the knockout rounds, 78 goals were scored @2.43 goals per match). There was some criticism about the need for the third-place playoff match, stating it was something of a dead rubber, yet this was arguably the most entertaining match of the tournament.

England roared, scoring four unexpected goals in the first half. However, the half-time break invigorated the French. Mbeppe scored within three minutes of the second half resumption, Barcola added another in the 54th minute before Mbeppe added his second (and the tenth for the tournament) in the 66th Minute. Game on. When Saka scored his third via a penalty in the 87th minute, most thought that was enough for England to win. However, no one told the French, as they pulled back another in the sixth minute of stoppage time. It was only when Bellingham, who had come on as a substitute in the 79th minute) scored England's sixth in the eighth minute of stoppage time that they knew they had won. Final score: England 6, France 4.

Answer: Spain

The key to Spain's winning form was their defence. They only conceded one goal in their seven matches before the final. As such, they did not have to score prolifically to win matches. They only scored five goals in their three group stage matches, and they scored eight in their four knockout matches before the final. They only scored three or more goals in two matches: In their group match against Saudi Arabia, Oyarzabal scored two, but in the 3-0 win over Austria in the Round of 32, there were three individual scorers.

=== The first hat trick scored in the 2026 competition was by Jonathan David from Canada, who scored three of their six goals in a 6.0 heavy defeat of Saudi Arabia.
=== Lionel Messi scored all three of his team's goals in Argentina's Group Stage 3-0 win against Algeria.
=== France, with Mbappe in the team, may have been expected to score a hat trick, but it was his teammate Ousmane Dembele who scored three first-half goals against Norway in the Group Stage, winning 4-1 overall.
=== Saka scored two of England's four first-half goals against France. When the game was in the balance at 4-3 at the 87th-minute mark, Saka was the first-choice penalty taker with Harry Kane not playing. Jude Bellingham had come on as a substitute in the 79th minute and might have been expected to take the penalty, but he handed the ball to Saka, who did not miss.

Answer: Kylian Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe scored ten goals in the 2026 World Cup. In France's eight matches, he scored ten goals in six matches (he only played in seven). He scored two in France's first two Group Stage games (against Iraq and Senegal). He did not play against Norway in the final Group Stage. He scored at least one goal in the first three games in the knockout phase: Two against Sweden; the only goal scored against Paraguay; and one of France's two goals against Morocco. He did not score in France's 2-0 defeat against Spain but scored two of France's four goals in the third-place playoff game.

His 22 total goals in the World Cup competition (2018, 2022 and 2026) gave him the record for most goals in World Cup history (22 against Messi's 21, which stood at the end of the same tournament). He also had four goal assists. He won the Golden Boot for most goals scored in a World Cup tournament. His 22 goals were achieved in only 22 matches - another record.
The image depicts a French rugby player scoring a try. The number on his back, "10", is the same number Mbappe has on his French uniform.

Messi was not far behind. He scored eight goals with four assists in this competition. He scored six of these goals in the three Group Stage matches. He only scored two further goals in the knockout phase: One against Cape Verde in the Round of 32 and one against Egypt in the Round of sixteen. He did not score in the quarter-final vs Switzerland or in the semi-final vs England - 0 goals, (2 assists) or the final against Spain.

Norway's Haaling scored seven goals before Norway was knocked out at the quarter-final stage. Harry Kane scored six for England, but his teammate Jude Bellingham scored seven in the same competition.

Answer: 0

So it came down to this. The team ranked number one played the team ranked number two in the final. The other 46 teams below them on the rankings had been eliminated. The two teams played differently. Spain played to win; Argentina played not to lose. Both teams played with absolute resolute defence. Spain had 20 shots at goal, with 12 being saved by Emiliano Martinez, the rgentine 'keeper, though only three of those were shots made in the first half. Argentina only had two shots at the goal, and they did not eventuate until deep into extra time.

At half-time it was 0-0, with plenty of fouls; the match was dour, and there was an expectation that the match would be low scoring. At least the half-time entertainment was just that.

Answer: Scored in extra time

Three key events in the second half shaped the game outcome:
The first of these was a substitute rotation to ensure fresh attacking energy. Spain's midfield had pressed all game relentlessly to starve Messi of the ball. The price of such a strategy was that Oyazabal was replaced by Torres in the 62nd minute. A total of four substitutions were made between the 62-75th minute and a further two halfway through extra time. Some onlookers and commentators were puzzled by this as Oyazabal was Spain's leading goalscorer, but he had run himself into the ground. This turned out to be a brilliant tactic.

The second item was Enzo Fernandez being shown a red card after collecting two yellow cards. Argentina's defence was already tiring from the relentless pressing by Spain. As a result, Argentina replaced most of their forwards except Messi in an all-out defensive effort and tried to hang on, holding out for a penalty shootout. However, as they had done all match, Spain's right flank of Yabal and Yamal repeatedly created overloads against a weakening defence.

And then in the106th minute, everything rolled into a single moment: Yamal down the right flank, short pass to Porro who crossed into the box, Williams (another late match substitution) headed the ball from the left post, back into the centre of the box, in came Torres at speed and smashed the ball into the back of the net. Argentina, now desperate and a man down, started taking shots, but the Spain defence was impenetrable. Spain held on and won the World Cup, 1-0, for 2026.

A few fun facts to wrap up the tournament:
=== Spain's Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi were both 19 when they played in the final. Only three other teenagers have played in a World Cup final - Pele (aged 17 in 1958), Giuseppe Bergomi (18 in 1982) and Kylian Mbappe (19 in 2018). All five were on the winning side.
=== Spain only conceded one goal (against Belgium in the quarter-final) in the entire tournament. This is the lowest for a World Cup-winning team in a single tournament. A corollary to this was that the Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon, had seven clean sheets - A record in a World Cup tournament. Spain at the time were the first team to be reigning champions of both the men's and women's World Cups at the same time,
The Spanish team were now undefeated in 38 games, eclipsing the 37 by Italy (2018-21), which was ended by Spain in the UEFA Nations League match on 6 October 2021 when Spain won 2-1.