Spain favoured by AI supercomputer to win FIFA World Cup Final against Argentina

The world's biggest sporting event, the FIFA World Cup, will conclude with a final between Spain and Argentina.

The match is scheduled to begin at 12:00 a.m. Pakistan Standard Time (PST), with football fans around the world expected to support their respective teams.

Ahead of the final in New York, Argentina secured its place by defeating England in the semi-finals, while Spain advanced after overcoming France.

This marks Spain's first appearance in a FIFA World Cup final since winning the tournament in 2010 and only its second World Cup final overall.

In contrast, Argentina has reached the World Cup final for the seventh time. Of its previous six appearances, it won the title on three occasions—in 1978, 1986, and 2022.

The final could also be Lionel Messi's last World Cup match. Fans are hopeful that he can lead Argentina to a second consecutive World Cup triumph.

However, an AI-powered supercomputer has predicted a different outcome.

According to the Opta Supercomputer, Spain is the favourite to win the 2026 FIFA World Cup, potentially securing its second World Cup title.

The Opta Supercomputer is not a traditional physical computer but an artificial intelligence (AI)-based predictive model designed to forecast the outcomes of sporting events.

The model performs thousands of digital simulations of a match using extensive statistical data before estimating each team's probability of victory.

Based on 25,000 simulations, the Opta Supercomputer predicts that Spain will win the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

According to the simulations, Spain has a 59.6% chance of victory, while Argentina's chances stand at 40.4%.

The model further estimates a 45% probability that Spain will win within the regulation 90 minutes, while there is a 29% chance that the match will be level after regulation time and proceed to extra time.

Argentina's probability of winning within the regulation 90 minutes is estimated at 26%.