The 2018 World Cup: France, Mbappé and the VAR Tournament

The 2018 World Cup: a brief history

The 2018 World Cup was the twenty-first edition of the FIFA tournament, held in Russia between 14 June and 15 July 2018. France beat Croatia 4-2 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on 15 July 2018 to win the country''s second World Cup, with Antoine Griezmann''s penalty, Paul Pogba''s long-range strike and Kylian Mbappé''s 65th-minute finish completing the result. The tournament marked the global emergence of Mbappé, the introduction of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), and produced one of the most-discussed group-stage exits in World Cup history: reigning champions Germany finishing bottom of their group.

The host context: Russia

FIFA awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia in 2010, in the same vote that produced the controversial 2022 award to Qatar. The 2010 vote produced sustained subsequent investigation; multiple FIFA executive committee members faced US Department of Justice indictments in 2015 over corruption charges. Russia retained the hosting rights through the 2018 tournament despite the broader political controversy of the post-2014 Crimea annexation period.

Twelve venues were used across 11 cities, the most-spread tournament since the 1994 finals in the United States. The Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow hosted the final and the opening match. The Saint Petersburg Stadium hosted the third-place playoff. The 2018 finals were the most expensive in World Cup history at the time, with infrastructure spending exceeding $14 billion.

VAR and the format

The 2018 finals were the first to use the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system. The technology had been trialled in domestic leagues across the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons and was introduced for full World Cup use after FIFA''s March 2018 vote. The 2018 tournament saw VAR overturn 17 on-field decisions across 64 matches, including the penalty awarded to France in the final after Croatian midfielder Ivan Perišić''s contested handball.

The 32-team format remained from 1998. Group stages produced eight groups of four; top two from each advanced to the round of 16. The format ran for the final time at this tournament before the 48-team expansion for 2026.

The Germany shock and the group stage

The most-discussed single group-stage storyline was Germany''s exit. The reigning champions, drawn in Group F with Mexico, South Korea and Sweden, lost their opening match 1-0 to Mexico at the Luzhniki Stadium on 17 June 2018 (Hirving Lozano''s 35th-minute strike). The second match against Sweden produced a 2-1 German win through Toni Kroos''s 95th-minute free-kick, but the third match against South Korea ended in a 2-0 South Korean win, with Kim Young-gwon and Son Heung-min scoring in stoppage time. Germany finished fourth in their group and exited the tournament without reaching the round of 16, the first time the country had failed to advance from a World Cup group since 1938.

Other group-stage moments: Iceland, in their first World Cup as the smallest nation by population to qualify (340,000), drew their opening match 1-1 with Argentina (Hannes Halldórsson saving Lionel Messi''s second-half penalty). Argentina exited at the round of 16. Russia, the host nation, reached the quarter-finals through a 4-3 round of 16 penalty shootout win over Spain at the Luzhniki Stadium.

Mbappé''s emergence

Kylian Mbappé arrived at the 2018 finals as a 19-year-old who had moved from Monaco to Paris Saint-Germain a year earlier. The forward''s round of 16 performance against Argentina at Kazan on 30 June 2018 has been replayed in countless retrospectives: Mbappé''s 60-yard sprint led to a 13th-minute penalty (converted by Griezmann); his close-range strike in the 64th minute and a tap-in in the 68th minute completed his first World Cup brace. France won 4-3 in a match the BBC subsequently named the World Cup Match of the Tournament. Argentina exited and Lionel Messi''s post-match expression of resignation has been described as the start of his 2018-2022 redemption arc.

Mbappé''s four goals across the tournament won him the FIFA Young Player of the Tournament award, making him the first teenager since Pelé in 1958 to score in a World Cup final. He has been the senior figure in French football for the seven years since.

The knockout stages and Croatia''s run

The quarter-finals produced an England win over Sweden (2-0, with Harry Maguire and Dele Alli on the scoresheet, England''s first World Cup quarter-final win since 2002), a Croatian win over Russia on penalties, a French win over Uruguay (2-0 with goals from Raphaël Varane and Antoine Griezmann), and a Belgian win over Brazil (2-1 at Kazan, with Fernandinho scoring an own goal and Kevin De Bruyne adding the second).

The semi-finals produced a French win over Belgium (1-0, Samuel Umtiti header) and a Croatian win over England (2-1 after extra time at the Luzhniki, with Mario Mandžukić scoring the 109th-minute winner). The "It''s coming home" English summer collapsed after Mandžukić''s strike. Croatia became the smallest nation by population to reach a World Cup final.

The final

The final, played at the Luzhniki Stadium on 15 July 2018 in front of 78,011 spectators, ended in a 4-2 French win, the highest-scoring final since the 1958 5-2 result. Mario Mandžukić scored an 18th-minute own goal from a Griezmann free-kick. Ivan Perišić equalised in the 28th minute. The 38th-minute penalty awarded to France after a contested Perišić handball, the first VAR review in a World Cup final, was converted by Griezmann. Paul Pogba added a long-range strike in the 59th minute. Kylian Mbappé scored a low long-range finish in the 65th minute. Hugo Lloris''s 69th-minute attempted dribble error allowed Mandžukić to score Croatia''s second.

France lifted the trophy as the second nation (after Brazil 1958) to win the World Cup with a 19-year-old in the final-scoring lineup. Didier Deschamps became the third man, after Mário Zagallo (Brazil) and Franz Beckenbauer (West Germany), to win the World Cup as both player and coach.

Lasting figures

Kylian Mbappé''s 2018 emergence has shaped the post-Messi-Ronaldo era of football. He has won six Ligue 1 titles with Paris Saint-Germain, scored a hat-trick in the 2022 World Cup final, and continues to be one of the principal figures in the global game.

Didier Deschamps, the French head coach, played for the country at the 1998 World Cup-winning side as captain. The 2018 trophy made him the third Player-Coach World Cup winner. He continues as France''s head coach through the 2026 cycle.

Luka Modrić, the Croatian captain, won the 2018 Golden Ball as Player of the Tournament. The Real Madrid midfielder also won the Ballon d''Or later in 2018, ending the decade-long Messi-Ronaldo duopoly. Modrić was 32 entering the 2018 finals and continued to lead Croatia to the 2022 third-place playoff at age 36.

Hirving "Chucharito" Lozano''s 35th-minute goal against Germany has been the most-celebrated single Mexican goal of the modern era. Mexico City reportedly recorded a small earthquake from the collective celebration of the goal.

France's second World Cup and youthful dominance

France's 2018 victory was built on the performances of young players. Kylian Mbappé, at age 19, became only the second teenage player to score in a World Cup final (after Pelé in 1958). His pace, power and technical ability established him as one of the world's outstanding forwards. Mbappé finished the tournament with four goals and was widely regarded as the most exciting attacking talent of the next generation.

Antoine Griezmann's performances complemented Mbappé's, and the midfield organisation under Didier Drogba's era meant that France possessed the personnel to compete across all areas of the pitch. The victory represented France's second World Cup (their first since 1998).

Luka Modrić's revival and Croatia's shock run to the final

Croatia's run to the final was unexpected and represented the peak of the country's football for the period. Luka Modrić, despite playing for Real Madrid at club level, had not been widely regarded as a World Cup candidate before the tournament began. However, his performances in the knockout stages established him as one of the outstanding midfielders of the era, and he would go on to win the Ballon d'Or in 2018 (the first non-Messi/Ronaldo winner since 2015).

Reading on

For more on France''s broader World Cup record, see our team-history piece on France at the World Cup. The World Cup history hub covers every tournament from 1930 to 2026.