Spain Picked To Beat Portugal As Who Won The Last World Cup Turns To 2026
Multiple Guardian writers picked Spain to win World Cup 2026, and the clearest answer to who won the last world cup in their predictions was a Spain side beating Portugal in the final. That choice appeared repeatedly across the bracket picks, with several writers putting Spain at the center of the tournament’s decisive match.
Alexander Abnos had Spain beating Portugal in the final, while Jeff Rueter made the same call. Paul MacInnes went one step further and had Spain beating England in the final, and Ella Brockway and Jacob Steinberg both picked Spain to beat Argentina in the final.
Spain's Final Route
Those Spain picks gave the prediction piece its strongest through line: Spain were not just advancing deep, they were being placed in the last match by multiple writers. Abnos, Rueter, Brockway and Steinberg all landed on Spain as finalists, with Portugal, England and Argentina appearing as the opponents most often assigned to stand in the way.
AA also added a more specific Spain note, picking Mikel Oyarzabal to score goals against Cape Verde in the group stage. That detail sat outside the final forecast, but it showed Spain showing up in more than one part of the tournament picture.
France Kept Reappearing
France was the other team that showed up over and over in the bracket picks. Nick Ames had France beating Argentina in a rematch, Ben Fisher chose France over Portugal in the final, Barry Glendenning had France beating Spain in the final, David Hytner picked France over Argentina, Leander Schaerlaeckens also went with France against Argentina, and Ewan Murray said France would take the trophy against Argentina.
Osasu Obayiuwana went even farther, predicting France would win a third title. Bryan Armen Graham was the outlier in the France-heavy field, picking England to beat France. Jonathan Wilson went the other direction from the Spain contingent, choosing France to beat Spain in the final.
Twenty Paths, One Tournament
The prediction set mapped out 20 different paths through World Cup 2026, but the repeated Spanish and French picks made the shortlist of likely winners clear. Spain and France dominated the final-round thinking, while England and Argentina appeared as the main challengers in the bracket choices.
For readers tracking the tournament debate, the practical takeaway is simple: the writers split across 20 different paths, but Spain drew enough support to stand out as the most common champion pick, with Portugal, England and Argentina serving as the most frequent final opponents. That leaves the tournament forecast leaning toward a Spain-France axis before the competition even begins.
