2018 FIFA World Cup final
The 2018 FIFA World Cup final was the final match of the 2018 World Cup, the 21st edition of FIFA's competition for national football teams. The match was played at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia, on 15 July 2018, and was contested by France and Croatia. The tournament comprised hosts Russia and 31 other teams who emerged from the qualification phase, organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 32 teams competed in a group stage, from which 16 teams qualified for the knockout stage. En route to the final, France finished first in Group C, with two wins and a draw, after which they defeated Argentina in the round of 16, Uruguay in the quarter-final and Belgium in the semi-final. Croatia finished first in Group D with three wins, before defeating Denmark in the round of 16 and Russia in the quarter-final – both through a penalty shoot-out – and then England in the semi-final. The final took place in front of 78,011 supporters, with more than 1.1 billion watching on television, and was refereed by Néstor Pitana from Argentina.
France took the lead through a controversial free kick that led to an own goal by Mario Mandžukić in the 18th minute – the first own goal in a World Cup final – before Ivan Perišić equalised 10 minutes later with a low shot into the corner of the goal. Shortly afterwards, France were awarded a penalty when Pitana ruled that Perišić had deliberately handled the ball. The decision resulted from a consultation with the video assistant referee, which was in use for the first time in a World Cup at the 2018 tournament. The decision was criticised by some pundits such as Alan Shearer, who labelled it "ridiculous", while others such as Chris Waddle thought it was correct. Antoine Griezmann scored to give France a 2–1 half-time lead. They extended that lead in the 59th minute, when Paul Pogba scored at the second attempt after Croatia defender Dejan Lovren had blocked his initial shot. Kylian Mbappé scored from outside the penalty area to make it 4–1, becoming the second teenager to score in a World Cup final. In the 69th minute, Mandžukić capitalized on a Hugo Lloris error to score a second for Croatia. The final score was 4–2 to France.
France's win was their second World Cup title, following their victory in 1998, which they hosted. Griezmann was named the man of the match, while Croatia's Luka Modrić was awarded the Golden Ball as FIFA's outstanding player of the tournament. The final was the highest-scoring World Cup final since 1966. France's manager, Didier Deschamps, reflected on his own experience as captain of the 1998 French team, saying "that adventure is linked to these players' adventure. I had the immense privilege to live through this 20 years ago, and in France, but what the players have just done is just as beautiful, just as powerful." His Croatian counterpart, Zlatko Dalić, congratulated France on their win, but was critical of the penalty decision, saying "you don't give a penalty like that in a World Cup final".
The 2018 FIFA World Cup final was the first final since 2002 not to go into extra time or penalties.
Background
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st edition of the World Cup, FIFA's football competition for national teams, held in Russia between 14 June and 15 July 2018. Russia qualified for the finals automatically as tournament hosts, while 208 teams competed for the remaining 31 spots through qualifying rounds organised by the six FIFA confederations and held between June 2015 and November 2017. In the finals, the teams were divided into eight groups of four with each team playing each other once in a round-robin format. The two top teams from each group advanced to a knock-out phase. The defending champions from the 2014 World Cup were Germany. They were eliminated in the group phase at the 2018 event, however, finishing bottom of their group behind Sweden, Mexico and South Korea.France had won the World Cup once before as hosts, beating Brazil in the 1998 final at the Stade de France. They had also finished in second place once before, losing to Italy in the 2006 final via penalties. The team had reached the quarter-final of the previous World Cup, and then finished as runners-up to Portugal as hosts at Euro 2016.
The 2018 final was the first for Croatia in their fifth World Cup appearance. They became the tenth European country and thirteenth overall to reach a World Cup final. Their previous best performance was at the 1998 World Cup, where they reached the semi-final before losing to France. Croatia had been eliminated in the group stage at the 2014 tournament, before reaching the round of 16 at Euro 2016, where they lost to eventual-winners Portugal. The final was the sixth meeting between the two teams, with France undefeated in the previous fixtures with three wins and two draws. Croatia's team at the time was described by many pundits as a golden generation, with Luka Modrić, Ivan Rakitić and Mario Mandžukić as the key players, although with many members of the team having passed the age of thirty, the 2018 World Cup was described as "surely a last quest towards making an impact on the greatest stage" by The Guardian Shaun Walker. The final was the ninth all-European World Cup final, the most recent having been in 2010 when Spain won 1–0 against the Netherlands.
France and Croatia had played each other twice at major tournaments before. Their first such meeting was the 1998 World Cup semifinal at the Stade de France, where Davor Šuker opened the scoring for Croatia but France came back to win 2–1 courtesy of Lilian Thuram's only two goals for France in his international career. It also featured the only red card of Laurent Blanc's career. The second such meeting was in Group B of UEFA Euro 2004, and the two nations tied 2–2 in Leiria.
The official match ball for the final was the Telstar Mechta, a red-coloured variant of the Adidas Telstar 18 introduced for the knockout stage. The Telstar family, a homage to the original 1970 Telstar, was designed similarly to 2014's Brazuca, but with longer seams and additional panels.
Venue
The final was played at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, located in the Khamovniki District of the Central Administrative Okrug. An expanded version of the stadium was named as the provisional final venue in Russia's World Cup bid, which was selected by FIFA on 2 December 2010. Luzhniki Stadium was confirmed as the final venue on 14 December 2012, following a meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee held in Tokyo, Japan. The stadium also hosted six other matches, including the opening match on 14 June, three group stage matches, a round of 16 match, and the second semi-final match.The Luzhniki Stadium, previously known as the Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium until 1992, originally opened in 1956 as part of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex to host the USSR Summer Spartakiade. It served as the national stadium of the country, hosting many matches for the Russia national team and its predecessor, the Soviet Union national team. In the past, it was the home ground at various times for CSKA Moscow, Torpedo Moscow, and Spartak Moscow. However, as of 2017, there are currently no clubs based at the stadium.
Rated as a category 4 stadium by UEFA, the Luzhniki Stadium was the largest at the 2018 World Cup; it usually had a maximum capacity of 81,006, but was reduced to 78,011 for the World Cup. This also makes the stadium the largest in Eastern Europe, and among the largest in Europe. To prepare for the World Cup, the stadium was closed for extensive renovations in August 2013. The spectator stands were moved closer to the pitch, which was converted from artificial turf to natural grass, after the removal of the athletic track. The historic facade of the stadium was preserved due to its architectural value, while the roof was upgraded using a new polycarbonate skin with exterior lighting. The Luzhniki did not host any matches at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup due to the ongoing project. The renovation project cost €341 million, and the stadium officially reopened with an international friendly between Russia and Argentina on 11 November 2017.
Route to the final
France
| Opponent | Result | |
| 2–1 | ||
| 1–0 | ||
| 0–0 | ||
| 4–3 | ||
| 2–0 | ||
| 1–0 |
France entered the 2018 World Cup as the bookmakers' favourites to win the tournament, and qualified for the tournament by finishing first in their qualification group, ahead of Sweden and the Netherlands. In the finals, they were drawn in Group C alongside Australia, Denmark, and Peru. Their opening match was against Australia at Kazan Arena in Kazan on 16 June. France won the game 2–1 with Antoine Griezmann scoring the first goal from a penalty called by the video assistant referee. This was followed by a penalty for Australia which was scored by Mile Jedinak, before France scored the winner through an own goal deflected in by Australian defender Aziz Behich. France's second match was against Peru at Central Stadium in Yekaterinburg. France won 1–0 through a goal scored by 19-year-old Kylian Mbappé, who became the country's youngest goalscorer at a major tournament. The victory qualified France for the knockout stage, allowing Didier Deschamps, the French manager, to rest several starting players for the final group stage match against Denmark. That game, which took place at the Luzhniki Stadium, finished in a scoreless draw and was enough for France to win the group.
In the round of 16, France faced Group D runners-up Argentina, on 30 June at Kazan Stadium. In a match dubbed by writers for The Week as "the classic of Kazan", France won 4–3. Griezmann gave France the lead early in the game with a penalty, after Marcos Rojo had fouled Mbappé as he ran with the ball into the penalty area. Argentina then scored on either side of half-time through Ángel Di María and Gabriel Mercado to take the lead. However, in the 57th minute, Benjamin Pavard shot a half-volley from outside the penalty area of 21 yards; to the top-left corner to brought France level again. Pavard's goal was then later voted as the best goal of the tournament. Mbappé then scored twice in four minutes and 40 seconds in the 64th and 68th minute to put them 4–2 up before Sergio Agüero scored a late third for Argentina in stoppage time. Patrick Jennings of BBC Sport described Mbappé's contribution as a "brilliant performance that will linger long in the memory". France's quarter-final was against Uruguay at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium on 6 July. They won 2–0, with goals from Raphaël Varane and Griezmann. The team advanced to a semi-final match against Belgium at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg on 10 July. The game ended in a 1–0 win for the French, the winner headed into the goal by defender Samuel Umtiti following a corner kick.