For FIFA, the tournament represented far more than football. The governing body is expected to end its current four-year commercial cycle with revenues approaching $15 billion, nearly double the $7.6 billion generated from the Qatar World Cup in 2022.

The 48-year-old was appointed manager after Argentina crashed out of the 2018 World Cup in the round of 16 amid skepticism about his lack of head coaching experience and only brief time as an assistant.

The 19-year-old Lamine learned to play football on the streets of Rocafonda, a working-class, multi-ethnic area of Mataro, a coastal city about 30 km (19 miles) north of Barcelona.

"I feel especially proud of this generation of footballers who have grown with this idea... giving us an example of a group, of a family," an emotional Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni intervened to cool tempers down at the end of a fierce encounter.

Ferran's extra-time winner downs toothless Argentina

Rodrigo De Paul returns in midfield, Gonzalo Montiel starts at right back and Nicolas Gonzalez comes in on the wing for Argentina.

After nearly six weeks of heroics and heartache, thrills and spills, heat, rain and rowing, New York New Jersey stadium was preparing tonight to host the crowning event of the World Cup tournament — the final between coolly confident Spain, aiming for their second world title, and fiery Argentina, defending their crown in what they hope will be the bow on the gift of Lionel Messi's glittering career.

The World Cup final offers football's grandest stage a deliciously odd pairing: Argentina, all pulse, fire and Lionel Messi, against Spain, the European champions who appear to treat chaos as an administrative error and have turned control into something close to an art form.

As football grows faster and more physically demanding, one opponent continues to test even the world's best athletes: heat. 

The South Americans are striving to become the first team since Brazil in 1962 to win back-to-back World Cups, while Spain are eyeing a second title after their maiden victory in 2010.

The tennis legend, who retired from professional tennis in 2024 after a glittering career that saw him win 22 Grand Slam titles, remains deeply passionate about football and will be watching from home as two footballing giants battle for global glory.

Mikel Oyarzabal has scored in the six finals he has played as a professional.

If Argentina are to retain the trophy they won in Qatar in 2022, they must first break down a Spanish defence that has been virtually impenetrable throughout the competition. Luis de la Fuente's side has conceded just one goal in seven matches, making defensive discipline the cornerstone of its run to the final.

The Arsenal dynamo became just the fourth Englishman to score a hat-trick at the global finals, after Geoff Hurst in 1966, Gary Lineker 20 years later and then Harry Kane at Russia 2018.

The two nations will battle for the title on Monday [1am, Bangladesh Time] at the East Rutherford, N.J.

Rodri, the 2024 Ballon D'Or winner who has excelled at the heart of Spain's midfield during the World Cup, said he expects the final to be unlike any other game the European champions have faced.

Messi, accompanied by Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni and goalkeeper Emiliano "Dibu" Martínez, spoke at an event ahead of Monday's World Cup final against Spain in New York/New Jersey (1:00am Bangladesh Time).

The shirt had previously sold at auction in 2004 for 70,505 pounds ($105,600), according to Sotheby's.

The French, world champions in 2018 and finalists four years ago, were one of the main title contenders and were hoping for a third straight final before being knocked out by European champions Spain in the semifinal.