This article is part of our Greatest Of All Time series. We will be looking back at previous World Cup tournaments and identifying the GOATs within a number of different categories.Part one: Greatest goals.
Part two: World Cup exits.
Part three: Best campaigns by winning players.
Part four: Best tournaments by players who never won the trophy.This time, less than a week after the 2026 clash between Spain and Argentina in New Jersey, we’re looking at the five greatest finals.1954: West Germany 3-2 HungaryThis came four years after a major surprise in the final game of World Cup 1950, when Uruguay defeated Brazil 2-1 at the newly built Maracana. But that technically wasn’t a final — just the last game of a group stage — and therefore this 1954 result, which became known as the ‘miracle of Bern’, must be considered the greatest shock in a World Cup final. In the group stage, Olympic champions Hungary had beaten (an admittedly second-string) West Germany 8-3, although they’d lost their star man Ferenc Puskas to injury in that game.Puskas was back here, and prodded home the opener. Zoltan Czibor quickly doubled the lead. Hungary were 2-0 up after eight minutes, and seemingly heading for something equivalent to the 8-3. But then West Germany inside-right Max Morlock got one back, before Helmut Rahn converted at a corner to make it 2-2 after 20 minutes. The quality of play, in truth, left much to be desired. But this was unarguably a thriller.
