IFFHS NEWS - THE HANGOVER SYNDROME


Picture : Argentina and his heroes last night !


The “hangover syndrome” of world champions is over!

Argentina, by beating Panama 2-0 in their first match since winning the world champions’ title, have finally broken a strange tradition that had been going on for a quarter of a century.
Since Brazil won the World Cup in 1994 and beat Yugoslavia (2-0 on 23 December 1994) in their first match as champions, none of its successors have been able to do so for 6 cycles in a row (see the table).


NON-WINNINGSERIESOF WORLDCHAMPIONS
    
WC EditionChampion1st Game after WCDate
    
1998FranceAustria 2-219/08/1998
2002BrazilParaguay 0-121/08/2006
2006ItalyCroatia 0-216/08/2006
2010SpainMexico 1-111/08/2010
2014GermanyArgentina 2-403/09/2014
2018FranceGermany 0-006/09/2018
2022ArgentinaPanama 2-023/03/2023