World Cup Finals History

Football · World Cup · Finals History

Sixty years of finals, one model

Every World Cup final since 1966 — 32 team-performances — scored on Opta event data by panna’s xG model, shots and goals included.

32 team-performances, one row per finalist. RT xG is expected goals in regulation time only; Total xG adds extra time (World Cups that went to extra time: 1966, 1974, 1978, 1990, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2022); xGOT is expected goals on target — shot quality and placement combined — also across regulation plus extra time. Shootout kicks are excluded from every column.

Argentina’s 2026 final is the first in this record where a team failed to manage a single shot in regulation time — both of their attempts, and every bit of their 0.121 total xG, came in extra time. Only three finalists have ever finished with zero expected goals on target: Argentina in 1990, 2014 and 2026.