GOAL looks back on a tournament staged in the tiny but wealthy Gulf state of Qatar that provided quality and controversy in equal measure.

And breathe… The 2022 World Cup has just come to a close after four frenetic weeks of 64 games in eight stadiums located in and around Doha.

The drama was relentless. The group stage alone was remarkable, producing one upset after another, while the Moroccan miracle continued all the way to the semi-finals.

In the end, Lionel Messi finally got his hands on the trophy that appeared destined to elude him, with Kylian Mbappe having to content himself with the Golden Boot after becoming only the second man after Geoff Hurst to hit a hat-trick in the World Cup final.

That game alone produced countless talking points, so trying to pick out the winners and losers from the tournament overall was a thankless task.

Below, though, GOAL has tried to pick out the most memorable moments from a tournament that was truly unforgettable, and not always for the right reasons…

Getty ImagesLoser: The 2026 group stage

Gianni Infantino talked a lot of rubbish in Qatar. He was arguably right about one thing, though: the 2022 World Cup boasted the greatest group stage in the tournament's history.

Matchday three generated an unprecedented level of drama, with nearly every single set of fixtures producing late twists and turns. That is not always the case, of course, but the 32-team group stage just works. It reduces the risk of dead rubbers and increases the likelihood of exciting finales. It also makes for a convenient way to reduce the field to 16 teams.

The only trouble is that FIFA have only realised this now. In their infinite wisdom, they've already decided to increase the World Cup to 48 qualifiers in 2026, so they've now got a problem to solve. The plan was to have 16 groups of three but even Infantino has realised that they need to revise that plan because four-team groups is what makes the first round great.

However, the most obvious solution as it stands is the re-introduction of the dreadful format which allows some of the 'best' third-place finishers to progress to the knockout stage. And even that won't address the issue of more meaningless matches on matchday three. It's a mess. And one all of FIFA's making.

AdvertisementGettyWinner: Kylian Mbappe

The kid is a freak of nature, a natural-born phenomenon, a heaven-sent talent destined to rewrite the record books. When Didier Deschamps says the World Cup is Mbappe's competition, he means it.

This is the game's grandest stage and yet he's completely at ease in the spotlight. He just doesn't fluff his lines. Ever.

Think about it, at any point did you think he was going to miss any of the three penalties he took against Argentina? What's more, when that ball dropped for him 95 seconds after his first spot-kick, you just knew that he was going to volley it home.

Mbappe is inevitable. If he stays fit, he will go down as one of the greatest players in history.

GettyLoser: Ronaldo's reputation

Well, at least Fernando Santos has been sacked. That's the one positive to come out of the 2022 World Cup for Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, there's no guarantee that the next coach won't come to the same conclusion as the man who benched him him in Qatar (and Erik ten Hag before him at Old Trafford) – that a team trying to play a modern brand of football is better off without a player who can't/won't press.

This tournament was meant to be about redemption for Ronaldo. It was supposed to remind everyone of what he still has to offer at the very highest level. Instead, it provided evidence of his dramatic decline. But it didn't have to be this way.

Ronaldo didn't arrive in Qatar match fit because he had long since burned his bridges at Manchester United. He then promptly set fire to his relationship with Santos and his whole reputation as a great sportsman went up in smoke.

For a man who talks a lot about respect, it was interesting that he didn't afford anybody any in Qatar – not his coach, not his team-mates, not his opponents and not even his own supporters. Some GOAT…

GettyWinners: Argentina fans

The best fans at the World Cup? The tidiest were definitely Japan's, who even helped volunteers clean up after games. We should probably given a special mention to England's supporters. Not one arrest is a historic achievement for the Three Lions' followers.

Meanwhile, anyone who attended a Morocco match will tell you that there was a ringing in their ears for hours afterwards. They whistled in unison for every single second their team didn't have the ball, which added up to a fair bit of time given Walid Regragui's players revelled in their counter-attacking approach.

In terms of support, though, this tournament belonged to Argentina. They not only didn't just take over stadiums for 90 minutes; they occupied them until long after full-time. Argentina's tournament triumph really was as much theirs' as it was the players'. They visibly inspired one another.