Argentina and France are vying to win football’s most cherished trophy in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final. If they succeed, they would both become the fourth-most successful nation in the championship, behind Brazil (five victories), Germany, and Italy (both four).
Argentina is participating in its sixth FIFA World Cup final. They were runners-up in 1930, 1990, and 2014 despite winning in 1978 and 1986. France is competing in its fourth final, sandwiching victories in 1998 and 2018 between a loss (on penalties) in 2006.
Argentina has had two victories and two losses in finals against teams from Europe, while France has only ever defeated a South American team in a 3-0 victory in 1998.
While France is playing against South American opponents for the first time in this tournament, Argentina has defeated three European teams in Qatar: Poland, the Netherlands (on penalties), and Croatia.
At the FIFA World Cup, Les Bleus have a ten-match winning streak against South American opponents. In order to achieve their victory in 2018, they defeated three of them, including Argentina 4-3 in the round of 16 at Kazan, where they rallied from behind to win thanks to two goals from Kylian Mbappé.
While France’s previous loss against South American competition at the FIFA World Cup was against Argentina back in 1978, when they were defeated 2-1 in the group stage by the eventual champions in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s most recent FIFA World Cup loss to a European team.
Argentina faced off against England in their first-ever finals matchup in the inaugural 1930 World Cup, which they won 1-0. This was the first of the countries’ three FIFA World Cup matches.
Argentina and France have split the victories in their head-to-head competition, including friendly games, with three games ending in draws. Since the game in Russia in 2018, the teams have not met.
South American and European sides have faced off in ten previous FIFA World Cup finals. Although South America currently leads the series 7-3, alternate teams have won the last six such championships. Europe most recently did it in 2014 when Germany defeated Argentina 1-0 in overtime.
