I recently had an unexpectedly controversial convo with some friends trying to rank not only this WC but all of the ones held in this century from worst to best.

There might be a lot of nostalgia involved because of how different people´s opinions are, and it also proves how hard this sport is to judge/evaluate with some many different criteria to rate entertainment.

Let me know your ranking for the past few WCs and let us know your criteria.

1. 2018
2. 2006
3. 2014
4. 2022
5. 2010

Can't remember much about 2002.

Criteria: parity, teams playing at their best, unexpectedness, overall hype and atmosphere. Storylines.

2010 was a snoozefest for me tbh. and this current world cup wasn't far behind, you can compare easily watching the top goals from each WC. But I've heard people saying the current 2022 WC is the best they remember so I don't even know how to evaluate these anymore.

Let me know what you think.

Best World Cup of the 21st Century

Worst Word Cup of the 21st Century

But I've heard people saying the current 2022 WC is the best they remember so I don't even know how to evaluate these anymore.

4 years a long time so everytime a new WC happen, its normal for it to feel more amazing than those that you had years to forget.

That said, I do think sport wise, this world cup was epic. Tons of underdog realizing amazing performance and runs, epic clash in the knockout phase, large upset by certain teams (Morocco and Croatia for example) and propably the most wild final we had in a long time.

I seen 3 world cups completely, 2014, 2018 and 2022. Each have had some great games, some unexpected surprise that left an impact.

Honestly though, I cannot rate 2018 all that high for I feel that despite having some great group stage games, one of the bracket leading to the final was much less interesting than the other. We had Argentina, Spain and Portugal eliminated on the first knockout games and the 3 best teams after that (Brazil, Belgium and France) were on the same bracket. The bracket with Croatia, Spain and England didn't really interest me all that much tbh and I think the only games I did watch were those from England. Honestly, what worse for me was that the final wasn't all that impressive. Croatia played their heart out but with all the fatigue they gathered from playing 90 more minutes of football, it never felt like they could make it...

Tbf Tuanis, I think you might be influenced a bit because you are a english fan and this tournament marked a turnover for the England NT where they finally started performing as they should and have since then, been seriously considered like contender. And honestly, there wouldn't be anything wrong if that were true, I do think I'd be more pleased with WC 2018 if I had been a England fan for example.

Personally, I think I will stick with WC 2014, maybe because of nostalgia of watching it as my first world cup but for me it was amazing, so many crazy scenario. Netherland getting its revenge against Spain, Costa Rica eliminating Italy and England, Portugal and Ronaldo eliminated in group stage, penalty shoot-outs drama, Neymar injury, Brazil 7-1 lose to Germany and finally, the tense final where nobody can seem to find the opening goal. For me, it really opened the door to something completely new and amazing.

I'll have to do some homework to really be able to give a solid answer on my part. Once I have that, I will return and give my fair pennies.

I will say though, this 2022 cup was very good on the field, and the final might be the best ever. Off the pitch is where this cup will be most remembered, and the fact that a lot of traveling fans just couldn't, or didn't go to this version. It was very expensive, it had a ton of politics, and you have the human treatment factor. All will easily mask on field product. In fact, if I was not as nutty as I am for footy, I might not have even really considered this edition with all the outside noise. I am sure many did not watch because of any of the above reasons.