World Cup Results & Notre Dame Team Rankings
Stadiums in Qatar were filled with dedicated fans from all over the world supporting their favorite teams during the 2022 Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup, the biggest sports tournament in the world. 32 teams worldwide that qualified earlier in the year showed up to the fields with spirit and determination. For some teams and players, this was a historic new beginning because they made it incredibly far. For others, it was a disappointing event as they were eliminated earlier than expected.
At the end of the tournament, the overall winner was Argentina. Coming in a close second was France, with Croatia in third place. Winning a World Cup is an extraordinary achievement for the country and the players. This year, the “Cinderella team” of the tournament was Morocco, which means that nobody expected them to get very far in the tournament, but they ended up achieving greater success than the more popular teams. The teams that viewers expected to win but were eliminated earlier on were Brazil, Spain, Portugal, South Korea, and the Netherlands. Spain and Portugal were originally playing incredibly in their games, but they were later beaten by Morocco.
Within Notre Dame, the United States team was an overall favorite across all grades, but some other teams that students were rooting for included South Korea, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. FIFA ranked Brazil as the number one national soccer team on October 6, and while Brazil was not the top favorite at Notre Dame, it did have some dedicated fans. While some students didn’t have a particular favorite player, most did have someone they looked forward to seeing on the field. Some of their preferred players were Messi, Neymar Jr, Cho Gue-Sung, Robert Lewandowski, Christian Pulisic, Guillermo Ochoa (Memo), and more. One student even said all of them!
The World Cup only happens every four years, which made this school year memorable for many students. In 2026, the World Cup will be hosted in the United States, in our very own Levi’s Stadium! This sport connected so many people this season, and it will connect so many more in 2026.
