Winning a football World Cup is one of the most difficult feats to achieve, but managing to win it twice in a row is an even rarer feat: in the history of the World Cup only two national teams have achieved it. THE‘Italy Of Vittorio Pozzo won the editions of 1934 and of 1938while the Brazil won the title in 1958 and in 1962becoming the last team capable of confirming themselves as world champions for two championships in a row. From the 1962 no selection was able to defend the title in the following edition of the tournament. In the final of the 2026 World Cup theArgentina Of Lionel Scalonireigning world champion after the success in Qatar in 2022will have the opportunity to join the same small group 64 years old after the last national team capable of doing so. To do so he will have to beat the Spain in the final tonight at 9:00 pm (Italian time) at MetLife Stadium in New York.
Vittorio Pozzo’s Italy: the first national team to win two consecutive World Cups
The first case in the history of the World Cup dates back to‘Italy of the 1930s. After winning the tournament 1934 played at home, beating Czechoslovakia for 2-1 in the final, the national team led by Vittorio Pozzo arrived at the World Cup in France 1938 with the aim of defending the title, succeeding in the feat. The Azzurri got through the first round by beating Norway, eliminated hosts France in the quarter-finals and Brazil in the semi-finals, before winning the final againstHungary For 4-2 at the Yves-du-Manoir stadium in Colombes. With that success, Pozzo became the first and still is today the only coach capable of winning two World Cupsa record that Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni could equal in the 2026 World Cup final.
That success still retains a unique feature in the history of the World Cup: Italy’s 1938 it is the only national team to have won the World Cup without keeping a clean sheet even in one match. In fact, the Azzurri conceded at least one goal in all four matches played during the tournament.
The success of 1938 however, it was not the fruit of an isolated exploit, but the result of a cycle built over time. Vittorio Pozzo in fact managed to maintain a group very similar to the one that had triumphed four years earlier, based on players like Giuseppe Meazza and Giovanni Ferrari, creating a team with a precise tactical identity and great continuity of performance. Between the 1935 and the 1939 Italy remained undefeated for 30 consecutive gamesalso winning the gold medal at 1936 Olympic football tournament in Berlin and confirming itself as the dominant national team of that period. The outbreak of the Second World War then led to the cancellation of the 1942 and 1946 editions of the World Cup: when the tournament returned in 1950Italy was eliminated in the group stage, seeing their dream of winning a third consecutive world title ended.
From Pelé’s first triumph to his encore in 1962: how Brazil became World Champions twice in a row
After Vittorio Pozzo’s Italy, the Brazil became the second national team in the history of the World Cup capable of winning two consecutive editions. There Selection won his first world title in 1958 in Sweden, in a tournament that marked the definitive explosion of Pele on the international scene. In the quarter-finals against Wales, the young Santos striker scored the decisive goal of the 1-0, becoming, at 17 years old And 239 daysthe youngest goalscorer in the history of the World Cup, a record still unbeaten. A few days later he scored a hat-trick in the semi-final against France and he was also the protagonist in the last act of the tournament: in the final of June 29, 1958 against Sweden, won by Brazil for 5-2 at the Råsunda stadium in Solna, he scored two goals, becoming the youngest player to win a World Cup, just 17 years old And 249 days.
Four years later, Brazil presented itself to the Chile 1962 World Cup with the aim of defending the title. The encore, however, arrived in different conditions compared to Pozzo’s Italy: the Selection in fact he changed technical commissioner, moving from Vicente Feola to Aymoré Moreira. Despite the change in the bench, Brazil managed to maintain extraordinary continuity thanks to a player base that remained almost unchanged: 14 footballers they took part in both the winning expedition of 1958 and that of 1962, a fundamental element for understanding the solidity of that generation. Even today, Brazil of 1962 is the only national team to have successfully defended the world title after changed technical commissioner between one edition and another of the World Cup.
The path to a second consecutive title seemed to get complicated when Pelé was injured in the second match against Czechoslovakia in the group stage, forcing him to miss the rest of the tournament. Brazil still managed to confirm itself as world champion thanks above all to Garrincha, Vavá and Amarildo. In the final, played on June 17, 1962 at the National Stadium in Santiago, La Selection he tapped the Czechoslovakia For 3-1 and became the second national team in history, after Italy, to win two consecutive World Cups.
The national teams that came close to a second World Cup: three finals lost after the title
Winning a World Cup is difficult, but confirming it four years later is even more difficult. From the 1962 no national team was able to defend the title again won in the previous edition. During this period they disputed each other sixteen editions of the World Cup, but no national team managed to confirm itself as champion. After Italy and Brazil, the only teams capable of completing an encore, alone Argentina, Brazil And France they reached the final of the following edition as reigning world champions, but were unable to repeat the feat.
Argentina was the first to come close to achieving the feat after Brazil in 1962. After the triumph of 1986 with Diego Armando Maradonathe Albiceleste reached the final again Italy 1990but lost 1-0 against West Germany, who had been beaten four years earlier in the final by the South Americans.
Eight years later it was the Brazil one step away from an encore. There Selectionworld champion in 1994 in the United States, reached the final of France 1998, but was beaten by the hosts for 3-0 at the Stade de France. The last national team to come close to the record was the France. After the victory of 2018 in Russia, Les Bleus once again reached the final stage of the World Cup in Qatar 2022, where they lost against Argentina on penalties after the 3-3 accrued between regular and extra time.
The reason why a World Cup encore is so rare also emerges by observing the performance of the title-holding teams: in six occasions a winning national team from the previous tournament couldn’t even get past the group stage in the next edition. It also happened in recent times at France In the 2002to theItaly In the 2010at the Spain In the 2014 and to Germany In the 2018.
