Winning the World Cup twice is elite: Who is the only player to win it three times?

Were Argentina to beat Spain in today’s men’s World Cup final, the South Americans would become the first team since 1962 to win the trophy twice in a row. And, given that Lionel Scaloni’s current squad features so many survivors from Argentina’s title triumph in 2022, a raft of Albiceleste stars would join the select roll-call of men who boast two World Cup winners’ medals.

To be precise, the tournament’s two-time champions’ club would have 17 new members: Thiago Almada, Julián Álvarez, Enzo Fernández, Alexis Mac Allister, Emiliano Martínez, Lautaro Martínez, Lisandro Martínez, Lionel Messi, Nahuel Molina, Gonzalo Montiel, Nicolás Otamendi, Leandro Paredes, Exequiel Palacios, Rodrigo de Paul, Cristian Romero, Gerónimo Rulli and Nicolás Tagliafico. At a stroke, Argentina would almost double a 20-man list that has not grown for nearly a quarter of a century, and has welcomed just three new additions in the last 64 years.

But whatever happens at MetLife Stadium this afternoon, there’s one multiple World Cup winner who will remain in a category of his own, firmly out of reach - for the time being, at least.

Can anyone ever catch Pelé?

Until the 2030 tournament at the very earliest, nobody can catch the competition’s most decorated player, the legendary Brazil striker Pelé, who is the only man who has won three men’s World Cups. The scorer of 12 World Cup goals, ‘O Rei’ - ‘the King’ - was part of Brazil’s tournament triumphs in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

As a 17-year-old breakout star in ’58, Pelé became the youngest player to hit a World Cup hat-trick - a record that still stands. He also scored one of the competition’s most iconic solo goals: in a 5-2 final demolition of hosts Sweden, Pelé bamboozled defender Bengt Gustavsson, lifting the ball over the Swede’s head before walloping a volley into the net.

In Chile four years on, when Brazil became the last team to lift back-to-back men’s World Cups, injury deprived Pelé of such a central role. He netted in the Seleção’s opener, a 2-0 win over Mexico, but a left-leg issue sustained in the team’s second group game, a 0-0 draw with Czechoslovakia, sidelined him for the rest of the finals.

In England in 1966, Pelé and Brazil then suffered a shock first-round elimination - an exit that prompted the forward, furious at the rough treatment he had received from opposition defenders, to threaten to quit international soccer. “Football stopped being an art, stopped drawing the crowds by its skills,” he later complained. “Instead it became an actual war.”

But Pelé did not end his Brazil career. And in 1970, he marked his final World Cup with victory in Mexico, spearheading a team widely viewed as the greatest in the tournament’s history.

Pelé’s four goals at the ’70 finals included an imperious header in the title decider, a strike that set up a 4-1 shellacking of Italy. What’s more, after opening the scoring in Mexico City, he played a pivotal role in the sublime team goal that completed the rout. With just four minutes to go at the Estadio Azteca, a mesmerising Brazilian move culminated in the coolest, most precise of layoffs from Pelé, who teed up captain Carlos Alberto to thunder in a first-time finish.

Having won the third global title in both Pelé’s career and the country’s history, Brazil were given permanent ownership of the tournament’s Jules Rimet Trophy, leading to the creation of the World Cup’s current winners’ gong.

“Brazil had the best team of all time, without a doubt [...],” Pelé has said of his third tournament triumph. “The importance of keeping the trophy for good was also an object of our attention. We used to say, ‘Let us not lose this one, because it is definite.’ The supporters would tell us, ‘You have to win and the trophy has to be ours.’”

As it stands - every multiple men’s World Cup winner:

Three:

• Pele, Brazil: 1958, 1962, 1970

Two:

• Bellini, Brazil: 1958, 1962
• Cafú, Brazil: 1994, 2002
• Castilho, Brazil: 1958, 1962
• Didi, Brazil: 1958, 1962
• Djalma Santos, Brazil: 1958, 1962
• Giovanni Ferrari, Italy: 1934, 1938
• Garrincha, Brazil: 1958, 1962
• Gilmar, Brazil: 1958, 1962
• Guido Masetti, Italy: 1934, 1938
• Mauro, Brazil: 1958, 1962
• Giuseppe Meazza, Italy: 1934, 1938
• Eraldo Monzeglio, Italy: 1934, 1938
• Nilton Santos, Brazil: 1958, 1962
• Daniel Passarella, Argentina: 1978, 1986
• Pepe, Brazil: 1958, 1962
• Vavá, Brazil: 1958, 1962
• Mário Zagallo, Brazil: 1958, 1962
• Zito, Brazil: 1958, 1962
• Zozimo, Brazil: 1958, 1962
• Ronaldo, Brazil: 1994, 2002

Spain vs Argentina: 2026 World Cup final kickoff times, how to watch and stream in the U.S.

The 2026 World Cup final kicks off today, Sunday, July 19, at 3:00 p.m. ET/12 noon. PT. U.S. viewers can watch the game live on Fox, Telemundo, Fox One, Peacock and fubo. You can also follow live-text commentary right here at AS USA.

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