The 2018 FIFA World Cup Final was the last game of the tournament. It happened on July 15, 2018, at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia. The teams playing were France and Croatia. In 2018, the tournament was the 21st edition organized by FIFA, which is in charge of football competitions worldwide. A total of 32 teams took part. The winners of the World Cup would have qualified for the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup (however FIFA got rid of the Confederations Cup later on). Russia, where the tournament was held, was automatically included, and the other 31 teams were selected through qualifying matches organized by FIFA's six groups. The teams were divided into groups for the initial matches. From these groups, 16 teams moved forward to the knockout stage.
Before reaching the final, France won their group by beating two teams and drawing one. They went on to beat Argentina, Uruguay, and Belgium in the later rounds. Croatia also won their group by winning all three matches. They then won against Denmark and Russia through penalty shootouts and England in the semi-final. The final match was watched by many people both at the stadium and on TV. The referee for the match was Néstor Pitana from Argentina.
France scored the first goal through a free kick that turned into an own goal by Mario Mandžukić. Croatia later equalized with a goal from Ivan Perišić. France was awarded a penalty after the referee consulted a video review. Antoine Griezmann scored from the penalty. France continued to score more goals, winning the match 4-2. This victory was France's second World Cup win. They previously won in 1998. The best player of the match was Antoine Griezmann from France, and Luka Modrić from Croatia received the Golden Ball award for being the best player of the tournament. The final was the highest-scoring one since 1966. The coach of the French team, Didier Deschamps, spoke about how his experience as a player in the 1998 World Cup was connected to the current team's success. The Croatian coach, Zlatko Dalić, congratulated France but criticized the penalty decision. In the Euro 2020 tournament that took place in 2021, both France and Croatia reached the round of 16 but were eliminated in the later stages.
Where it all started
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st time they had the World Cup. It's a big football competition for teams from different countries. They held it in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018. Russia didn't have to qualify because they were the hosts. Other 208 teams tried to qualify in matches organized by FIFA between June 2015 and November 2017. They split into six groups. In the main games, they put the teams into eight groups of four. Each team played against the others once. Then, the best two teams from each group went on to another stage where if they lost, they were out.
In the last World Cup in 2014, Germany won. But this time, they didn't do well. They were kicked out in the group games in 2018. France had won before in 1998 when they beat Brazil. They had also come second in 2006 when Italy beat them. They reached the quarter-finals in the World Cup before this one, and they got second place in the Euro 2016. Croatia had never been in a final before. They had a good team with players like Luka Modrić, Ivan Rakitić, and Mario Mandžukić. People said this was a special generation for them. The final was the sixth time France and Croatia played against each other. France had won three times and two times they drew.
The ball they used in the final game was called the Telstar Mechta. It was red and based on the Telstar 18, the ball they used in the knockout stage. The Telstar family of balls is like the 1970 Telstar one. It looks like the Brazuca ball from 2014 but a bit different.