'Time traveler's' World Cup winner prediction could still be right after correctly calling both finalists
A ‘time traveler’s’ viral 2026 World Cup prediction could still come true after England’s semi-final exit.
England’s hopes of bringing football home are officially over after the Three Lions suffered a 2-1 defeat to Argentina in a tense semi-final in Atlanta yesterday.
Following their controversial celebrations, Argentina will now face Spain in Sunday’s final as they chase a fourth World Cup title.
But could the outcome of this year's final have been predicted years ago?
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An anonymous X user, with the handle @actuallyimthe, posted a remarkably specific prediction back in 2021, writing: "Argentina just beat Spain at the 2026 World Cup final, 3-2."
At the time, it appeared to be nothing more than a random guess that anyone could make. But five years later, it has gone viral after correctly naming the two finalists.
Following Argentina’s win over England and Spain’s semi-final victory over France, social media users began resurfacing the old post.
One user wrote: “How is this even possible to predict? WOW!”
While another simply dubbed the mysterious poster a 'time traveler'.
Someone else commented: "You tweeted this before world cup 2022, who's your source please?"
The replies have since been flooded with reaction GIFs, including the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland and Dexter character Sgt James Doakes giving his trademark suspicious stare.
The account owner has only added to the viral mystery, responding with nothing more than an eye emoji and an hourglass after Argentina's win against England this week.
While this prediction has captured the internet’s attention, several other high-profile World Cup forecasts have already missed the mark.
German mathematician Joachim Klement, who has correctly predicted three World Cup winners by using an economics-based model, thought the Netherlands would lift the trophy for the first time this year.
Klement previously explained that his model factors in a country's population, climate, economic wealth and football infrastructure, as well as current FIFA rankings.
But, this year, his model failed to be correct.
Another viral prediction came from a woman on TikTok who claimed the World Cup 'script' had effectively been leaked through the tournament's branding.
She argued that while the World Cup logo is always black and white, each tournament has its own official color palette that supposedly matches the eventual winners.
According to her theory, this year's colors of green, red, blue and grey pointed to Portugal winning the competition.
However, that wild conspiracy theory quickly unravelled when Portugal were knocked out by Spain following a 1-0 defeat on July 6.
With only Argentina and Spain remaining, the mysterious X user's five-year-old prediction is suddenly looking a lot more believable.
We'll have to wait until the final on Sunday to see if the final result is just as shockingly accurate.
World Cup winners by year
2022 - Argentina
Perhaps one of the most dramatic finals in World Cup history was France vs Argentina at Qatar’s Lusail Stadium in 2022.
Following a tense 3-3 draw after extra time, Argentina were ultimately crowned the champions after beating Didier Deschamps' side 4-2 on penalties.
2018 - France
A stellar performance at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium in 2018 led to France bagging their second World Cup title, triumphing 4-2 over Croatia.
2014 - Germany
An extra-time goal from Germany’s Mario Götze sealed his team's 1-0 victory over Argentina at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2014.
2010 - Spain
Spain defeated the Netherlands 1-0 in 2010’s final at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was all thanks to a late extra-time goal from midfielder Andrés Iniesta.
2006 - Italy
Italy won the 2006 World Cup at Olympiastadion Berlin, Germany, after beating France 5-3 in a dramatic penalty shoot-out following a 1-1 draw at extra time.
- 2002 - Brazil
- 1998 - France
- 1994 - Brazil
- 1990 - West Germany
- 1986 - Argentina
- 1982 - Italy
- 1978 - Argentina
- 1974 - West Germany
- 1970 - Brazil
- 1966 - England
- 1962 - Brazil
- 1958 - Brazil
- 1954 - West Germany
- 1950 - Uruguay
- 1938 - Italy
- 1934 - Italy
- 1930 - Uruguay
Topics: Football, Social Media
Molly Lee