Spain’s players dominated the individual honours at the 2026 World Cup, collecting three of the tournament’s four major awards after their 1-0 extra time win over Argentina in Monday’s final at MetLife Stadium.
Young Player of the Tournament
Pau Cubarsi (Spain)
Pau Cubarsi, 19, became the first Spaniard to win the Young Player award, recognising the best player born on or after 1 January 2005. The Barcelona defender played every minute of Spain’s campaign, forming a composed central defensive partnership with the more experienced Aymeric Laporte after replacing Robin Le Normand, who had featured throughout Spain’s Euro 2024 win, and being preferred to Real Madrid’s Dean Huijsen.
Composed well beyond his years, Cubarsi anchored Spain’s back four with a series of mature, commanding displays built on sharp positioning, calm distribution and an intelligent reading of the game. His performances were central to Spain’s remarkable defensive record, with the European champions conceding just one goal across the entire tournament on their way to the trophy.
This was Cubarsi’s first major international tournament, having missed out on Euro 2024 selection, though he was part of Spain’s gold medal winning squad at the Paris Olympics that year. His rapid emergence, from fringe consideration to indispensable starter across a title winning campaign, marked one of the breakout stories of the tournament.
Cubarsi’s award was collected to a guard of honour from his Spain teammates as he stepped up to receive the prize, a gesture reflecting the esteem in which he is held within the squad despite his age. In the immediate aftermath of the final, he was seen sitting on the pitch pointing to the crest on his shirt and gesturing for a second star to be added, a nod to Spain’s second World Cup title, underlining just how central he had become to Luis de la Fuente’s side by the end of the campaign, not merely as a promising young defender but as one of the team’s most reliable performers under the highest pressure.
Golden Ball
Rodri (Spain)
Rodri was named winner of the Golden Ball, awarded to the tournament’s best player, ahead of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, who took the Silver and Bronze Balls respectively. The award, decided by FIFA’s Technical Study Group of former players, coaches and analysts, capped a remarkable summer for the Manchester City midfielder, who dictated the tempo of Spain’s play throughout, breaking up attacks, recycling possession and driving the team forward from deep. He started all eight of Spain’s matches, winning every one but the opening goalless draw with Cape Verde, and neither scored nor assisted, but his passing numbers underpinned Spain’s control. In the final alone he completed 101 passes, with only Brazil’s Dunga, who managed 130 in the 1994 final, and teammate Pau Cubarsi, who completed 121, having ever passed more in a World Cup final since records began in 1966.
The award follows a similarly influential campaign at Euro 2024, where Rodri was also named player of the tournament en route to winning his first Ballon d’Or. His path back to top form has not been straightforward. Since rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in September 2024, he has made just 38 appearances for Manchester City, with his 2025-26 club season disrupted further by hamstring and groin injuries that limited him to only six international appearances between Euro 2024 and this summer’s tournament.
Golden Glove
Unai Simon (Spain)
Unai Simon won the Golden Glove as the tournament’s best goalkeeper, becoming only the second Spanish goalkeeper to do so after Iker Casillas in 2010, the last time Spain won the World Cup. Simon kept seven clean sheets across the tournament, a new record for a single World Cup, conceding just once all summer, to Belgium in the quarter finals. He set a further record along the way, going 650 consecutive minutes without conceding, and had little to do in the final itself as Argentina managed only two shots across 120 minutes, neither testing him seriously. His tally of nine career World Cup clean sheets leaves him just one behind the all time record of ten, shared by Peter Shilton and Fabian Barthez.
Golden Boot
Kylian Mbappe (France)
Kylian Mbappe collected the Golden Boot after finishing as the tournament’s leading scorer with 10 goals and four assists, becoming the first player in history to win the award in consecutive editions, having also topped the charts in Qatar in 2022. Mbappe went two goals clear of Messi with a second half brace in France’s 6-4 third place playoff defeat by England on Saturday, taking his career World Cup tally to a record 22 goals, surpassing Miroslav Klose’s previous mark of 16. Messi also passed Klose’s record during the tournament, finishing on 21 himself, but managed only a single blocked effort in the final as Spain’s defence restricted him throughout. Mbappe scored or assisted in each of France’s matches on their way to the semi finals, where they were beaten 2-0 by Spain, contributing to half of France’s 20 goals across the tournament, more than double his output from their triumphant 2018 campaign.
