Champion
Argentina
Final
Argentina 3–3 France (4–2 pens)
Semi-finals
Third place
Final
The 2022 World Cup broke the mould before a ball was kicked: the first finals in the Middle East, the first played in November–December to dodge the Gulf summer, and the most geographically compact edition of the modern era — all eight venues within commuting distance in and around Doha.
It ended with one of the greatest finals ever played. Argentina beat France 4–2 on penalties after a 3–3 draw in which Kylian Mbappé scored the first hat-trick in a World Cup final since 1966 and still finished on the losing side. Lionel Messi — twice a scorer in the final — lifted the trophy at the fifth attempt, won the Golden Ball for a record second time, and completed the last unticked box of his career. It was Argentina's third title, 36 years after Maradona's 1986 side.
The tournament had depth beyond the final: Morocco became the first African and first Arab nation to reach a World Cup semi-final, Saudi Arabia inflicted Argentina's only defeat in one of the great group-stage upsets, Japan topped a group containing both Germany and Spain, and the 64 matches produced a then-record 172 goals.
This hub holds the complete record of the tournament: all eight final group tables, the full knockout bracket with shoot-out scores, every one of the 64 results stage by stage, all 32 squads, and the stats page with the Golden Boot standings, official awards and edition records. Squad caps, goals and ages are approximate snapshots from the time of the tournament — a note on the Teams page flags this.
