Three finals. Three generations. Three arguments. Which one truly stands alone as the greatest match in soccer history?
The World Cup final is the most watched soccer match on the planet. Every four years, billions of people stop whatever they are doing and gather around a screen to watch two nations fight for the ultimate prize in the sport. Most finals are tense, cautious affairs where the fear of losing outweighs the desire to entertain. Occasionally, something different happens. Occasionally, a final transcends sport entirely and becomes a piece of shared human history.
Three finals stand above all the others in that regard. Italy versus Brazil in 1970. Argentina versus West Germany in 1986. And Argentina versus France in 2022. Each one has its passionate defenders. Each one made a generation of soccer fans feel something they had never felt before.
So which one was truly the greatest? Let us break them down.
1970 : Brazil vs Italy — The beautiful game at its peak
The 1970 World Cup final in Mexico City is the oldest of our three contenders, and for a generation of soccer historians and purists, it remains completely untouchable. Brazil defeated Italy 4 to 1 at the Estadio Azteca in a match that is still routinely cited as the finest exhibition of attacking soccer ever played at the highest level.
This was the Brazil of Pele, Jairzinho, Rivellino, Tostao, and Carlos Alberto — a team so gifted that their starting eleven reads like a fantasy roster assembled by a god who particularly loved soccer. Italy were no pushovers either. They had a strong, organized, defensively disciplined side that had ground their way to the final by conceding almost nothing.
For the first twenty minutes, Italy held firm. Then Brazil began to play. Pele headed the opening goal with the kind of imperious authority that only he could manage, and from that point the match became one of the great spectacles in sports history. Jairzinho scored, making him the only player in World Cup history to score in every single match of a tournament. And then came the fourth goal.
Carlos Alberto’s finish in the 86th minute — a thunderous right footed strike into the bottom corner after a sweeping move that involved virtually the entire Brazilian team — is widely considered the greatest team goal ever scored. The combination of passes, the movement, the timing, and the sheer joy on the faces of the Brazilian players as the ball hit the net captured everything that soccer at its finest is supposed to look like.
The 1970 final was not just a great match. It was a statement about what the sport could be when the most talented players in the world were given the freedom to express themselves completely.
1986 : Argentina vs West Germany — The Maradona final
Sixteen years later in Mexico City, another final entered the conversation. Argentina versus West Germany in 1986 is remembered primarily as Diego Maradona’s coronation as the greatest soccer player on the planet, and that framing is entirely justified.
Maradona had already produced the two most iconic moments in World Cup history earlier in the tournament against England — the Hand of God goal and the solo run that has been voted the Goal of the Century in virtually every poll ever conducted. By the time the final arrived, the entire world understood that they were watching something genuinely historic.
Argentina took a 2 to 0 lead through Jose Luis Brown and Jorge Valdano, with Maradona orchestrating everything from midfield with a level of control and vision that made the West German defense look like they were playing in a different sport. The match seemed over.
Then West Germany did something remarkable. They came back. Karl Heinz Rummenigge pulled one back, and Rudi Voller equalized with just eight minutes remaining to make it 2 to 2. The comeback was extraordinary and the stadium was in chaos.
And then Maradona, because of course it was Maradona, won it. He drove at the West German defense in the 83rd minute and slipped a perfectly weighted pass through to Jorge Burruchaga, who ran through and finished coolly past the goalkeeper. Argentina won 3 to 2 in a final that had everything — dominance, drama, a comeback, and a moment of pure genius that decided it all.
The 1986 final is the greatest individual performance in World Cup final history. Whether that makes it the greatest final is the question.
2022 : Argentina vs France — The modern classic
For those lucky enough to watch it live, the 2022 World Cup final in Lusail felt like something that could not possibly be real. Argentina versus France produced 120 minutes of drama so relentless, so swinging, and so emotionally exhausting that many who watched it immediately declared it the greatest sporting event they had ever witnessed.
Argentina led 2 to 0 with 79 minutes played and the match appeared completely over. Messi had been magnificent, Angel Di Maria had scored a wonderful goal, and France looked dead on their feet. Then Kylian Mbappe happened.
Two goals in 97 seconds — a penalty and a stunning volley — leveled the match at 2 to 2 and sent the stadium into delirium. Extra time came and Messi scored again to make it 3 to 2. Then Mbappe scored again, another penalty, to make it 3 to 3. Three goals each. One of the greatest players in history against the man many believe will be the next greatest player in history, trading blows in a World Cup final with the entire planet watching.
The penalty shootout that followed was almost anticlimactic by comparison. Argentina won. Messi lifted the trophy. The image of him finally holding the World Cup is one of the most emotional moments in the history of sport.
The 2022 final had more goals, more swings, more pure drama than either of its rivals for this title. But it also lacked the sustained, flowing quality of 1970 and the singular genius narrative of 1986.
The verdict
Choosing between these three finals ultimately comes down to what you value most in a soccer match.
If you value beauty, artistry, and the sport at its most purely expressive, 1970 is your answer. Brazil in that final was soccer perfection.
If you value the intersection of individual genius and collective drama, 1986 is your answer. Maradona in that final was the sport’s greatest ever protagonist.
And if you value sheer relentless drama, emotional weight, and the feeling of watching history being made in real time, 2022 is your answer. Nothing in the sport’s history has ever swung so wildly or felt so completely unbelievable from minute to minute.
The honest answer is that all three are correct. The world is lucky to have had any one of them. Having all three is almost unfair.
Which World Cup final do you think was the greatest ever? Let us know in the comments.