CASE NO. 003

Defending champion curse

// verdict MOSTLY TRUE
CASE NO. 003Defending champion curse

The defending champion gets knocked out in the group stage.

France (2002), Italy (2010), Spain (2014), Germany (2018) and France (2022, until the final) were all hobbled by the burden of defending. The exceptions: Brazil (1962, retained) and Argentina (1990, lost final). The 'curse' framing oversells a real-but-not-universal pattern.

// sources1Defending-champion outcomes
Mostly true

5 / 7

Champions out in group

// verdictMOSTLY TRUE

Football lives in stories.
Some of them survive the data.

Most don't. We're building the longest fan-maintained record of folklore-versus-fact in the sport. New cases drop when the record changes. Old cases reopen when the data does.

← Myths
The defending champion gets knocked out in the group stage. — soccermyths