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2018 FIFA World Cup Final
Championship match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.[4] 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.
![]() The France team holds the World Cup trophy | |||||||
Event | 2018 FIFA World Cup | ||||||
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Date | 15 July 2018 (2018-07-15) | ||||||
Venue | Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow | ||||||
Man of the Match | Antoine Griezmann (France)[1] | ||||||
Referee | Néstor Pitana (Argentina) | ||||||
Attendance | 78,011[2] | ||||||
Weather | Partly cloudy 27 °C (81 °F) 51% humidity[3] | ||||||
← 2014 2022 → |
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.[5] 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.