The victory at MetLife stadium in New York, My, made Spain the first national team to go 38 consecutive matches without defeat since 2024. The previous record was 37 matches, held by Italy from 2018 to 2021.

Spain's most recent defeat was in march 2024, a 0-1 loss to Colombia in a friendly match. Since then, they have won 29 matches and drawn 9, including an undefeated Euro 2024 campaign and a World Cup run of seven wins and one draw, all under coach Luis de la Fuente.

Statistical agencies Squawka and FIFA define an unbeaten run as not losing during regular time and extra time. Penalty shootout results are not included, so Spain's loss to Portugal in the 2025 Nations League final is not counted. In that match, Luis de la Fuente's squad drew 2-2 before losing 3-5 in the penalty shootout.

Spain conceded the fewest goals in a World Cup. Belgian forward Charles De Ketelaere was the only player to score against Unai Simon in Spain's 2-1 quarter-final victory.

The previous record was two goals conceded, held by France in 1998, Italy in 2002, and Spain themselves in 2010.

The final victory also marked the seventh clean sheet for Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon at World Cup 2026. The second best performance is five clean sheets, achieved by Dutch goalkeeper Jan Jongbloed in 1974, Walter Zenga (Italy, 1990), Claudio Taffarel (Brazil, 1994), Fabien Barthez (France, 1998), Oliver Kahn (Germany, 2002), Gianluigi Buffon (Italy, 2006), and Iker Casillas (Spain, 2010).

Simon, born in 1997, also holds the record for the longest time without conceding a goal at a World Cup, with 650 minutes until De Ketelaere scored against him in the quarter-final. Walter Zenga of Italy ranks second with 517 minutes.

Rodri completed 790 passes at World Cup 2026, surpassing his own previous record of 638 from the 2022 tournament. Breaking this record was partly due to the expansion of this year's tournament from 32 to 48 teams, which included an additional round of 16.

Before Rodri, the record belonged to another Spanish midfielder, Xavi, in 2010. However, Rodri's tally this year was surpassed by two Spanish center-backs, Pau Cubarsi (668) and Aymeric Laporte (618).

Rodri's excellent and consistent performance contributed significantly to Spain's second World Cup title. He also became the third midfielder to win the World Cup golden ball, following Zinedine Zidane of France in 2006 and Luka Modric (Croatia, 2018). The midfielder, born in 1996, is also the second player to win the award without scoring any goals, after German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn in 2002.

At 19 years and six days old, Lamine Yamal also became the youngest Spanish player and the fourth youngest globally to win the World Cup. Yamal's statistic matches that of Coutinho of Brazil, who won in 1962.

Younger champions include Italian defender Giuseppe Bergomi in 1982 (18 years, 174 days), Brazilian forward Ronaldo Nazario in 1994 (17 years, 298 days), and Pele in 1958 (17 years, 249 days).

Spain has now won seven consecutive matches at the World Cup. If they win four more matches in 2030, they will equal Brazil's record set from 2002 to 2006.

Meanwhile, Mikel Oyarzabal (pictured), with five goals, equalled the Spanish record held by Emilio Butragueno in 1986 and David Villa in 2010.

The World Cup 2026 final also marked several unfortunate records for Argentina and Lionel Messi. The South American champions became the first team not to register a single shot in regular time and no shots on target in a final. They also joined Germany as the two teams with the most runner-up finishes in the tournament. Argentina finished second in 1930, 1990, 2014, and 2022, while Germany did so in 1966, 1982, 1986, and 2002.

Messi also played his first World Cup match without creating any chances for his teammates. In the first 15 minutes against Spain, Messi's only touch was the kickoff at midfield. However, the Argentine superstar is the second player to participate in three World Cup finals, alongside Cafu of Brazil (1994, 1998, 2002), and Messi is also the oldest player to feature in the final match of the tournament.

Longest unbeaten runs by national teams:

Order Team Period Matches

1 Spain 2024 - present 38

2 Italy 2018 - 2021 37

Argentina 2019 - 2022 36

3 Algeria 2018 - 2021 35

Spain 2007 - 2009 35

Brazil 1993 - 1996 35

Photos: AFP, AP, Reuters