Argentina, led by arguably the best player ever to play the game of football, Lionel Messi, had just gone to do the unthinkable: Winning the World Cup crown, and doing it at a special occasion, in the first World Cup ever to be held in a Middle-East State and during the winter season. That was La Albiceleste’s first world title since they last did it 36 years ago, bringing their total of World Cups to three overall.
Now that you already know about the milestone Lionel Scaloni’s men had just achieved, we take a look at how Argentina ranks among nations which have brought home the elusive trophy in the history of the World Cup.
5 Titles (Brazil)
With o jogo bonito spread across generations of its footballers, Seleção Canarinho is well ahead of other countries in terms of the number of World Cups won with five. Furthermore, Brazil is the only nation on Earth to be able to keep the original trophy when it took home the Jules Rimet Trophy as back then FIFA had a rule that favoured countries which won a hat-trick of World Cups to retain the original trophy. A new trophy was introduced in 1974 and two nations had won it three times since, namely Germany and Argentina, but the new FIFA regulation does not permit them to win the cup outright.
4 Titles (Italy and Germany)
Die Mannschaft and gli Azzurri may have had their disappointments in this year’s World Cup (One bowing out from the tournament during the group stage while the other did not make it into the Finals), they had each won the World Cup four times. Germany in particular, currently holds the record for most finals participated with eight as well as the most Top Four finishes with 13 whereas their European counterpart, Italy had been runner-up for two times, with a famous penalty shoot-out loss against Brazil in 1994 that saw Roberto Baggio missing the final spot kick.
3 Titles (Argentina)
The newly-crowned world champion won their three titles after the current trophy was launched, hence Lionel Messi will not be able to bring home the real trophy due to the revised rule of FIFA’s. But La Pulga’s Argentina will have much to celebrate as their captain has collected the final missing piece of silverware in his trophy cabinet whereas the team has won three international trophies within the span of two years as a whole, which also include the 2021 Copa América and 2022 CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions. What’s more, Lionel Messi’s first picture holding the trophy on his Instagram account had become the most-liked sports image of all-time.
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2 Titles (Uruguay and France)
Uruguay is the birthplace of the World Cup, and the inaugural host nation won the competition in 1930 and its second two decades later. Coincidentally, the duration separating Les Bleus’ first and second World Cups is also 20 years, in which France had qualified for the World Cup final the most time during that span (Four). Considering France’s injury list and illness problems, they had only did themselves proud in this year’s competition, despite agonisingly losing the final on penalties.
1 Title (England and Spain)
England winning the World Cup seems like a distant memory now, with more than half a century having passed since the Three Lions bagged home the trophy as the host nation. The squad led by Gareth Southgate came close to major silverware in recent years, with a fourth place finish in the 2018 FIFA World Cup and a runner-up finish in the 2020 UEFA European Championship. Its next shot at the World Cup trophy would be the 2026 edition, six decades after their one and only win.
As for La Roja, irs Golden Generation won all three major silverwares available from 2008 to 2012, including the two UEFA European Championships and one FIFA World Cup. With a young generation eager to emulate the successes their predecessors had, we would not need to wait long to witness Spanish glories once again.
(Photo Credits: Reuters)
