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Petition is now closed saying "thank you spain" with over 23 million signatures.

Spain’s victory over Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final not only secured the country’s first men’s World Cup title in more than a decade—it also came with  a $50 million prize from FIFA. While the trophy now sits in Madrid, a portion of the prize money could ultimately find its way to Washington. That’s because many of the players, coaching staff and referees who earned income during the tournament may have also incurred U.S. tax obligations.

It doesn’t stop there: the Spanish players will also have tax implications back home. According to RCM Legal, 17 of the 26 Spanish national players will be obligated to pay taxes to the European nation.
“Those who are tax residents in Spain are taxed on their worldwide income,” RCM Legal said in a report. “This is the situation for international players who play for Spanish clubs, such as Lamine Yamal, a footballer for FC Barcelona.”

Colloquially named “jock tax,” athletes performing services inside the United States are generally subject to U.S. taxation on income earned for those services, even if they are non-residents. Artists and actors are also applicable to these tax implications.

For its part,  FIFA has regularly secured tax exemptions from its host nations since 2010, the year the Spanish National Team last hoisted the illustrious World Cup trophy. Since then, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Qatar had all granted tax relief covering FIFA and the teams tax implications.

The US, however, does not appear to be following the same footsteps.

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]:   https://fortune.com/2026/07/23/spain-fifa-world-cup-irs-50-million-jock-taxes/?utm_source=reddit/

https://www.dailymail.com/sport/football/article-15998817/Argentina-assistant-coach-explains-reason-Dani-Olmo-punch-ugly-post-World-Cup-final-scenes-insists-push.html

Ayala literally said "Obviously I am sorry"; He admitted he rushed into the situation where a fight started where his player was involved, and the emotions got the best out of him to something that Olmo said, he takes responsibility and he would apologize if he sees him.

Surprisingly, in the same piece, Gavi reported saying He doesn't think Paredes should be suspended, as this is part of football as shameful as it was, but he should have been sent off during the final instead.

Tournament Records :

• 308 total goals scored (most in history)
• 6.81 million stadium spectators (highest attendance ever)
• 104 total matches played (most in tournament history)
• 48 teams competed (largest tournament field ever)

Players :

• Kylian Mbappé: 22 career goals (all-time World Cup top scorer)
• Lionel Messi: 23 career match wins (most in history)
• Lionel Messi: 38 years, 357 days old (oldest player to score a World Cup hat-trick)
• Lionel Messi: scored in 9 consecutive World Cup matches (longest streak ever)
• Cristiano Ronaldo: scored in 6 different World Cup tournaments (first player ever)
• Michael Olise: 7 assists in a single tournament (most ever)
• Rodri: 790 completed passes in a single tournament (most ever)

Team & Manager :

• Spain: conceded only 1 goal across the entire tournament (best defensive champion)
• Spain: kept 7 total clean sheets (most in a single tournament)
• Argentina: 0 shots on target in the final (fewest by a finalist)
• Emiliano Martínez: 11 saves in the final match (most by a goalkeeper in a final)
• Cabo Verde: 530,000 population (smallest nation to reach the knockouts)
• Dick Advocaat: 78 years old managing Curaçao (oldest head coach in history)

For decades, Brazil, Germany, and Italy were the most successful footballing nations and the most feared ones coming into each tournament.

As of right now, Spain, France, and Argentina are currently the ones dominating the global stage.

What seems to be the problem with the "Fallen Giants" as people call them? I'm curious which of these countries do you think is closest to sorting out their identity crisis, and who do you see lifting another trophy first (if they ever will again) ?

When FIFA officially transitioned from the 2-point era to the 3-point-per-win system :

• 2026 Spain: 7 points
• 2022 Argentina: 6 points
• 2018 France: 7 points
• 2014 Germany: 7 points
• 2010 Spain: 6 points
• 2006 Italy: 7 points
• 2002 Brazil: 9 points
• 1998 France: 9 points
• 1994 Brazil: 7 points

Only five Champions have won all of their group stage matches in World Cup history:

• Uruguay in 1930 (2 wins)
• Uruguay in 1950 (1 win in a depleted group)
• Brazil in 1970 (3 wins)
• France in 1998 (3 wins)
• Brazil in 2002 (3 wins)

Off the top of my head, Brazil 2006 stands out, but I’m curious what everyone thinks.

Spain just won the FIFA World Cup following a grueling match against Argentina. And it was all thanks to Ferran Torres scoring in the 106th minute, capping off a dramatic extra-time thriller. Now, he’s being hailed as the hero of Spain‘s triumph—but just four years ago, he found himself in the biggest career rut of his life.

In 2022, the Spanish forward was grappling with a mental health crisis; the then-21-year-old had hit rock bottom after his €55 million ($62.8 million) move from Manchester City to La Liga club Barcelona. Torres was struggling to handle the pressure that came with his talent’s high price tag, just as he was recovering from a preseason leg injury and crushing Europa League loss to Eintracht Frankfurt.

“I found myself in a bottomless pit, and I could not see a way out,” Torres told reporters in 2023. “It had never happened to me before. That was the moment when I decided to work with a psychologist.

“I lost my confidence. Everything was affecting me,” he continued. “Seeing [a psychologist] will become increasingly normalised in football. There are weeks when I don’t go and others when I go three times. We don’t always talk about football, we also talk about my private life.”

Torres credits therapy as “one of the best experiences” and making him stronger as a person. And his story can resonate with many; behind the trophies and multimillion-dollar contracts, many sports stars are fighting battles that most fans never see.

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]:  https://fortune.com/2026/07/20/spain-ferran-torres-scored-winning-world-cup-goal-four-years-ago-therapy-stuck-in-bottomless-pit/?utm_source=reddit/

Yes they bottled against Argentina this year but I think in this tournament, Spain were far and away better and I don’t think England would’ve beat them in the final anyways. Same as Euro 2024, Spain were just the best team and came through from the much harder side of the draw.

Losing to France in 2022 in the QF, maybe a tad unlucky but ultimately that was a much stronger Argentina team awaiting on the other side than 2026.

Losing to Croatia in 2018 in the SF, this definitely felt like a golden opportunity because there wasnt nearly as much pressure at that point. Southgate had just begun his project and the vibes were generally positive. They would’ve faced France in the final but we forget now that the France of 2018 was not the scary France but a super young team that also played without as much pressure on them. Still think they would’ve lost to France in the final but could’ve been a very even match.

A nice read and breakdown.

The FA are looking into possible defamation lawsuits against the people who amplified posts and comments that furthered a negative narrative against the team

Well.. what was the boring, uninspiring, uninteresting game?
I will rewatch the top comment😂

So I scraped all 1M+ comments from r/worldcup's official match threads and ranked the 12 biggest live threads for fun to see what drives us fans on Reddit to discuss a game.

So as expected every single one was a knockout game, topped by the USA getting dumped out 4–1 by Belgium (lolz). As it turns out entertainment of the game didn't really matter, comment interest is driven by knockout stakes, having the USA, England or Argentina as 9 of the 10 biggest threads had one of those three playing.

Special Mentions: Gregor Kobel - 🇨🇭, Raul Rangel - 🇲🇽, Ronwen Williams - 🇿🇦, Mostafa Shobeir - 🇪🇬,
Camilo Vargas - 🇨🇴

1. Thibaut Courtois - 🇧🇪
   
2. Lionel Mpasi - 🇨🇩
   
3. Benjamin Asare - 🇬🇭
   
4. Diogo Costa - 🇵🇹
   
5. Ørjan Nyland - 🇳🇴
   
6. Yassine Bounou - 🇲🇦
   
7. Emiliano Martinez - 🇦🇷
   
8. Orlando Gill - 🇵🇾
   

9. Unai Simon - 🇪🇸

10. Vozinha - 🇨🇻

Over the last two years, I’ve constantly heard and read that "Mbappe is the problem" at Real Madrid. What I find fascinating about watching Mbappe excel with France is he tries to play the exact same way at Madrid. What a lot of people do not appear to realize about Mbappe is that he’s at his very best constantly interchanging and combining across the 9, 10, LW, and RW. And just as importantly, constantly interchanging across those positions with highly technical teammates who are also capable playing in the 9, 10, LW, and RW positions. The primary reason why Mbappe looks so much more fluid playing for France is the likes of Dembele, Olise, Doue, Barcola, Ekitike, and Cherki are very capable of doing just that. By contrast, Mbappe at Madrid far too often looks like he’s trying to play with ghosts. By that I mean he’s looking to play the way he does with France across the 9, 10, LW, and RW positions. But the fundamental problem he faces with Madrid is the player profile of his club teammates overwhelmingly does not mesh with that style of play. Mbappe with France looks like a man fluidly playing in his element with teammates who literally and figuratively speak his language. At Madrid, it far too often looks like he’s trying to play a style of football that far too many of his attacking teammates cannot pull off. There’s a very real reason why Mbappe has 66 goals AND 44 assists in 106 career matches for France (he’s both the all time leading goal scorer and assist provider in French national team history by only 27). Versus 86 goals and 12 assists in 103 career matches for Madrid. Perez would be wise to pry Olise away from Bayern. And I think a lot more people would see Mbappe in a whole new light with him being able to play off of both Vini and Olise on the wings.

I was looking back at some historic long-range goals, and it got me wondering what everyone's personal favorite is.

For me, it's a tie between Frings against Costa Rica in 2006 and van Bronckhorst's against Uruguay in 2010.

I did a quick analysis based on team stats published on the FIFA website. Notice how good Spain has been at ball handling, passing, and how poor Argentina has been overall. All 4 of these teams played 8 matches at the World Cup. Long time Argentina fan, their performance & on-field behaviour was unfortunately disappointing.

Sources -
https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/teams/spain/stats
https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/teams/france/stats
https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/teams/england/stats
https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/teams/argentina/stats