There have been 21 finals between 1930 and today. Twenty-two if we include 1950's Uruguay v Brazil decider which was, technically, the concluding match of a four-team final pool. This means that over almost a century of World Cup tournament football, there is a small and highly exclusive band of players who have played a decisive role in their national team grasping the game's greatest prize.
If some were already full-formed superstars, others fitted the category of unlikely hero. Ahead of Sunday's, FIFA revisits the record books to recall some of the individual performances which helped decide the outcome of finals down the decades.
Where else to start but with the only man who has scored a hat-trick in a World Cup final for the winning team? Entering the 1966 tournament, Geoff Hurst had only been an England player for five months. He had scored only one international goal. Yet an injury to star striker Jimmy Greaves in England's last group game gave him his opportunity and how he took it. First, by scoring the quarter-final winner against Argentina. Then, by securing his place in the World Cup pantheon in the final against West Germany.
Hurst's father-in-law told his wife, Judith, on the day of the game that he would score a hat-trick and that is precisely what unfolded at Wembley Stadium (though the striker himself insists Alan Ball was the man of the match). After Germany's opening goal from Helmut Haller, Hurst equalised from a Bobby Moore free-kick after 18 minutes, reading perfectly the flight of his West Ham United colleague's delivery and nodding in. A third West Ham player, Martin Peters, would have then won the game with his 79th-minute strike for only for Wolfgang Weber to equalise at the last and force extra-time – at which point Hurst took centre stage.
In the 101st minute he struck the most controversial final goal of all – his shot flew past Hans Tilkowski and struck the crossbar and bounced down … over the line, according to Tofiq Bahramov, the Azeri linesman. Then, in the dying moments, Hurst made sure after running clear on to a Moore pass. “I decided to hit the ball with every last ounce of strength I had," he said, and with the help of it striking a divot and bouncing up as he connected, he lashed it high into the net to complete his treble and England's triumph.
Tall and lean and trailing a mane of long, dark hair, the irrepressible Mario Kempes would become as synonymous with Argentina's coronation on home soil as the spectacle of those tickertape welcomes that the tournament hosts enjoyed. Twenty-three at the time, Kempes was already playing his club football in Spain with Valencia. Initially, though, he fired blanks, not finding the net until the second group phase. He fast made amends, with doubles in the wins over Poland and Peru.
Then came the final against the Netherlands, a contest that could easily have gone the way of the Dutch but for the brilliance of Argentina's No10. He opened the scoring in the first half when latching on to a ball on the edge of the box, taking a touch and defying Arie Haan's attentions to stretch out a long leg and steer it beyond goalkeeper Jan Jongbloed.
After Dirk Nanninga’s headed equaliser brought extra time, Kempes struck once more. In the 104th minute he surged into the Netherlands penalty area, riding two challenges and, after Jongbloed had saved his initial shot, beating two defenders to the loose ball: 2-1. Five minutes from time, he helped cement La Albiceleste's success by bursting through again to tee up Daniel Bertoni to make it three.
Even at La Scala, Milan's world-renowned theatre, you might struggle to find a depiction of joy fit to rival the look on Marco Tardelli's face as he ran away in arm-pumping celebration of the goal he scored to make it 2-0 in the 1982 final against West Germany.
That was not all that was vital about Tardelli's display on that evening at the Santiago Bernabeu. Italy were missing the injured attacking midfielder Giancarlo Antognoni. In his absence, Tardelli stepped up with a performance that led Brian Glanville, the acclaimed British writer, to describe him as “the motor in midfield” in his The Story of the World Cup. Tardelli was pivotal with his passing and ball carrying and in the 69th minute he delivered the Azzurri's second goal.
From Gaetano Scirea's ball across the face of the box, he took a touch then swept the ball into the bottom corner of the West Germany goal. Cue the unforgettable image of him wheeling away, the ecstasy of the moment etched on his face.
World Cup final heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Guido Buchwald did not score a goal in the 1990 final against Argentina at Rome's Stadio Olimpico. Nor did he make a goal-saving intervention at the other end. However, the 6ft 2in West Germany defender played a pivotal role in containing the threat of Diego Maradona.
Carlos Bilardo's defending champions had gone into the final hamstrung by the suspensions of four players, including Claudio Caniggia, their most dangerous attacker and goalscoring hero against both Brazil and Italy in earlier rounds. On the pitch, Franz Beckenbauer devised a plan to shackle Maradona and restrict Argentina’s threat further: “When Maradona has the ball we must put four players around him" was the message and central to this was Buchwald, handed the task of man-marking the Argentina No10.
Lothar Matthaus had attempted a similar job against him in the 1986 final. Maradona escaped his attention just once, but it was enough as he set up the winning goal in the process. This time there was no escape. Argentina's only attempt on target was from an overhit backpass by Andreas Brehme. Job done, Guido.
After his last-minute withdrawal from the 1998 final against France, Ronaldo went into the 2002 final against Germany as a man determined to grasp his second chance. His goal had settled the semi-final against Turkey and now he was decisive in the biggest game of all, making amends for missing out four years before by scoring Brazil's two unanswered goals at the Yokohama International Stadium.
Goalkeeper Oliver Kahn had excelled for Germany on their path to the final yet when he spilled Rivaldo’s shot, Ronaldo pounced to bury the loose ball. Twelve minutes later, the 25-year-old made it 2-0: Rivaldo let Kleberson’s pass run through his legs and Ronaldo took a touch before drilling a precise low shot past Kahn to set the seal on Brazil’s fifth world title. With it, he moved on to eight goals in a tournament which he ended with the adidas Golden Boot.
Hairdressers worldwide might have questioned that tuft of hair at the front of his otherwise shaven head, but otherwise this was 'The Phenomenon' living up to his nickname in magnificent fashion.
Mario Gotze had never needed long to make his mark. A Germany international at just 18, he had become the nation's joint-youngest post-war scorer when netting against Brazil aged 19 years and 68 days in 2011. The pattern continued when the 22-year-old travelled to the 2014 tournament and hit the ground running. He won the penalty for the first goal of Germany's opening win over Portugal and then scored the first goal of the 2-2 draw with Ghana that followed.
Yet after two subsequent substitute cameos, he found himself confined to the bench for the semi-final trouncing of Brazil. Come the final against Argentina, Gotze started on the bench again but would have the last word. After replacing Miroslav Klose in the 88th minute, he delivered the only goal in the 113th, collecting an Andre Schurrle cross on his chest then volleying home. In the process, the then 22-year-old became the youngest player to score in final since Wolfgang Weber in 1966, and the first substitute.
Gotze would never start another World Cup match, making just two substitute appearances eight years later in 2022, but he had already scaled the highest peak of all.
Sources: FIFA Official
