May 19 – Conmebol and UEFA met on the sidelines of the FIFA Congress in Paraguay last week to discuss the staging of the second edition of the men’s Finalissima, the single match intercontinental championship between the winners of the 2024 Copa America and the 2024 Euro.
The match will feature Argentina and Spain with dicussions focussed on finding the best dates in the international calendar between the two teams that are currently ranked first and second in the World Rankings. In many ways the match is a truer test of who is the best team in the world currently than an elongated FIFA World Cup.
President of the Argentine FA, Claudio Tapia, and the president of Spain’s RFEF, Rafael Louzán, were both present alongside admin teams from Conmebol and UEFA.
UEFA said “key issues such as institutional objectives, organisational responsibilities, logistical planning, competition schedules for both teams and tentative dates for the match were discussed.”
With the World Cup looming ever closer in 2026, the big question is whether the Finalissima is played before that event or after, when it would likely lose some of its cache.
The venue is also key, both in terms of the politics of the co-operation between the two confederations – Conmebol has cosied up close to FIFA and president Gianni Infantino in their bid to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams, UEFA has been opposed to the proposal.
In June 2022 the final was played at a sold-out Wembley Stadium in London with Argentina beating Italy 3-0 with goals from Lautaro Martinez, Angel de Maria and Paulo Dybala.
On current form a Finalissima played between these two outstanding nations in June 2026 could be repeated a month later at the World Cup, though 2026 on the pitch will likely be more of a marathon of football endurance rather than a celebration of the sport at its highest technical and peak performance level.
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