u/MERTENS_GOAT

fbref.com data goes back to 1995/96, for 92/93 - 94/95 I used transfermarkt.de as source which also has complete data for these 5 leagues: Ligue 1, Serie A, Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga in these 3 seasons still.

Minutes	Player
54397	Gareth Barry
52925	Javier Zanetti
51035	Cristiano Ronaldo
50743	Claude Makélélé
49872	Sergio Ramos
49601	Raúl
49301	Raúl Albiol
48872	Frank Lampard
47362	Jesús Navas
47076	Lionel Messi
47019	Francesco Totti
46419	Ryan Giggs
46318	Gary Speed
45359	César Azpilicueta
45003	Joaquín
44674	Hilton
44063	Fabio Cannavaro
43325	Sol Campbell
43266	Jamie Carragher
42968	Sylvain Distin
42878	Rio Ferdinand
42757	Sylvain Armand
42527	Dani Parejo
42418	Lilian Thuram
41964	John Terry
41780	Antoine Griezmann
41714	Dante
41576	Daniel Congré
41270	Philipp Lahm
41260	Christian Panucci
41068	Steven Gerrard
41035	Emiliano Moretti
40981	Robert Lewandowski
40971	James Milner
40862	David Silva
40762	Moussa Sissoko
40523	Dani Alves
40067	Anthony Réveillère
39891	Phil Neville
39716	Luka Modrić
39470	Ashley Young
39395	Robert Pirès
39348	Clarence Seedorf
39168	Florent Balmont
39138	Xabi Alonso
39130	Koke
39082	Paolo Maldini
39063	Xavi

38k: Benzema, A. Hughes, Payet, Evra, B. André, K. Walker, Shearer, Matuidi, Wörns, Heskey, Carrick, Barzagli.

37k: Rooney, Raúl García, Southgate, Quagliarella, Micoud, Busquets, Pirlo, De Rossi, Rakitic, Bonucci, Godín.

36k: Aubameyang, Hummels, Gilardino, Dunne, P. Vieira, Ibrahimović, Dainelli, Candreva, Plašil, J. Morel, Chiellini, Capoue, Gallas, Zidane, Scholes, Acerbi.

35k: Malbranque, Riise, Fàbregas, Džeko, Xhaka, T. Müller, Piqué, I. Gueye, Coloccini, Kroos, Iñigo Martínez, Baines, Mavuba, Nesta, Cavani, Toulalan, Fernando Torres, Ginter, R. Carlos, P. Cannavaro.

34k: Didot, Thiago Silva, Cazorla, G. Cahill, Giuly, Kane, K. Davies, Monreal, F. Navarro, Lopo, Ashley Cole, Mexès, J. Henderson.

Ndukwe Will Not Be Allowed to Play for Liverpool This Year

Austria’s promising young talent, Ifeanyi Ndukwe, will not be allowed to play for Liverpool FC next season. The 18-year-old defender does not have the required points for a work visa in the United Kingdom. As a result, the Austrian will have to be loaned out by the top English club. One possible destination is his home club, Austria Vienna.

Ndukwe came on as a substitute early in Liverpool FC’s 4-2 friendly win over Sunderland on Saturday, making his debut with the “Reds” first team in Nashville (USA).

The 18-year-old defender replaced Joe Gomez, who had to leave the field due to injury just ten minutes into the game. The goals for the top English club were scored by Kieran Morisson (13'), Dominik Szoboszlai (56'), Federico Chiesa (72'), and Lewis Koumas (85').

Nduwke transferred from Austria Vienna to Liverpool this summer for a reported transfer fee of three million euros, where he is set to be integrated into the first team.

Didier Deschamps now coached the single-most World Cup games (26) overtaking Helmut Schön's 25; Parreira 23, Scolari 21, Zagallo 20.

Lamine Yamal is the 3rd youngest (19y 1d) player since at least 1966 to win a penalty in a WC game behind Michael Owen 1998 (18y 198d vs Argentina) and Dmitri Sychev 2002 (18y 222d vs Tunisia).

France's xG of 0.30 is their worst tally in a World Cup game since 1966. It's the lowest of a team in a WC semi-final since Sweden vs Brazil 1994 (0.1).

Spain is the 1st team to keep 6 clean sheets at one WC tournament.

In the 11th game that Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé have been on opposite sides in a match for club and country - Yamal has won for the 9th time. Out of interest I checked: The other 2 Mbappé won.

Since the begin of 2025 Mikel Oyarzabal scored or assisted 24 goals for Spain in 19 games (17G, 7A). 14 more than Mikel Merino who has the 2nd most G+A in this period (10).

According to 3 curses Spain is the designated winner of 2026 even before the semi-finals:

1. The reigning Ballon d'Or holder never won the World Cup (Dembélé -> France)

2. A foreign NT manager never won the World Cup (Tuchel -> England)

3. The number 1 of the FIFA ranking never won the World Cup ( -> Argentina).

No Spaniard scored more goals at one World Cup than Mikel Oyarzabal 2026 (5 goals).

12 - Lamine Yamal has started 12 games at the FIFA World Cup and UEFA EUROs combined ending on the winning side in all 12 – the best 100%-win rate of any European player across the two competitions when starting. Charm.

7/8 - Among European nations to contest at least two, Spain have the best progression rate in major tournament semi-final ties (World Cup/EURO), progressing from seven of their eight (88%). Dominance.

1 - Spain are the first ever European nation to win eight consecutive knockout stage matches at major tournaments (World Cup/EURO). Know-how.

France ended a run of 11 WC KO stage games without defeat in 120 minutes.

5 - The five European players with the most appearances at the FIFA World Cup/UEFA EUROs combined without ever suffering defeat all play for Spain: 22 - Aymeric Laporte, 20 - Mikel Oyarzabal, 16 - Fabián Ruiz, 14 - Mikel Merino and Lamine Yamal. Unbeaten.

Mbappé's 21st WC game makes him the player with the single-most WC games for France. But he lost the record of being the player with the most WC starts (he had 18) without ever losing (within 120 minutes).

The semi-final stays the only game of the WC KO stage in which Mbappé is goalless: RO32: 2 goals, RO16: 5, quarter-final 1, semi 0, final 4.

NOR 1-2 ENG:

England became the 1st team in World Cup history with 2 players with 6+ goals at one tournament (Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham 6 each).

Meanwhile, Real Madrid becomes the 2nd club to have 2 players with 6+ goals at one WC tournament (Mbappé 8, Bellingham 6) after Paris Saint-Germain 2022 (Mbappé 8, Messi 7).

In England's WC history as many players scored 5+ goals at a WC tournament than in 2026 alone: Lineker 1986 and Kane 2022 6 goals each.

Real Madrid players scored 19 goals at this WC, an absolute record overtaking the 18 from Honvéd Budapest (1954), FC Bayern (2014) and PSG (2022). Mbappé 8, Bellingham 6, Vinicius Jr 4, Arda Güler 1.

0.27 - England didn't have any shots on target in the second half against Norway. The combined 0.27 xG was the lowest in any second half at the 2026 FIFA World Cup so far. Muted.

Bellingham became the 7th player to score braces in consecutive WC KO stage games after Piola 1938, Kocsis 1954, Pelé 1958, Garrincha 1962, Maradona 1986, Mbappé 2022/26.

23 - Aged 23y 12d, Jude Bellingham is the second-youngest player to score 2+ goals in successive FIFA World Cup knockout stage games behind only Pelé in 1958 (17y 249d). Talisman.

23 - Most FIFA WC goals scored by players while aged 23 or younger: 12 - Kylian Mbappé, 7 - Jude Bellingham and Pelé. Fearless.

636 - England are the first team to keep Erling Haaland from scoring in a competitive international match since Austria on 13th October 2024 (636 days ago). Shackled.

Referees have been called to the monitor 28x in this WC, in 27 instances they changed their initial decision. Only Faghani kept his decision to not give a penalty to Mbappé.

Jude Bellingham scored the most goals of a midfielder in a WC tournament since at least 1966 tied with James Rodríguez 2014 (6 goals each).

4 - England have progressed to the semi-final in four major tournaments since 2018 (WC/Euro), as many as they had reached in their history prior to the 2018 World Cup (4). Roaring.

ESP 2-1 BEL:

The longest and the 2nd longest World Cup streak of Goalkeepers without conceding where both ended by Atalanta BC players:

In 2026 Unai Simón conceded after 650 minutes from Charles De Ketelaere

In 1990 Walter Zenga conceded after 517 minutes from Claudio Caniggia.

Mikel Merino is the only player to score 85'+ minute winners in multiple World Cup Knockout stage games.

Merino is the only player to score winning goals in multiple WC KO stage games as a substitute.

Spain are unbeaten in 36 games, a new record for them. They need to not lose within 120 minutes against France to tie Italy's world record (37-unbeaten-streak ended in 2021 by... precisely Spain (El Tiburón brace)).

Fabián Ruiz' was PSG's 9th different goalscorer this World Cup. Arsenal and Sunderland had 5.

6 - Lamine Yamal is making his sixth FIFA World Cup appearance, the outright most by a player aged 18 or younger in the competition. Stardom.

13 - Luis de la Fuente has now managed more games across the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship without ever losing than any other manager (W12 D1). Unsurpassed.

Other recent World Cup stats:

13 - William Saliba's last 13 games for France and Arsenal combined: 1,155 minutes played, 1 non-penalty goal conceded. Boss.

65% - Only 39 of the 60 penalties taken - including in shoot-outs - have been scored at the 2026 World Cup. That's the lowest conversion percentage in a single edition in the last 60 years (65%). Stutter.

85% - Kylian Mbappé has ended on the winning side in 17 of his 20 WC games, the best win percentage of any player to make 15+ WC appearances (85%). Winner.

29 - Cristiano Ronaldo scored 29 goals in 33 appearances under new Portugal manager Jorge Jesus last season for Al Nassr, playing an average of 87 minutes per game. Reunited.

Most shots on target per 90 minutes in a FIFA World Cup since 1966: 4.8 - Eusébio in 1966, 3.7 - Lionel Messi in 2026, 3.3 - Kylian Mbappé in 2026, 3.1 - Ronaldo in 2002.

10 oldest players all time:

Essam El Hadary 2018, 45 years

Faryd Mondragón 2014, 43y

Roger Milla 1994, 42y

Cristiano Ronaldo 2026, 41y 151d

Pat Jennings 1986, 41; 000

Guillermo Ochoa 2026, 40; 346

Luka Modrić 2026, 40; 296

Peter Shilton 1990, 40; 292

Dino Zoff 1982, 40; 133

Edin Dzeko 2026, 40; 106.

In Neuer, Vozinha, Muslera (40), Nagatomo and Galíndez (39) are there 5 more players from the Top-25.

Cape Verde (31y, 197d) and Colombia (30y, 344d) named the oldest and second-oldest starting XIs in recorded World Cup knockout games against Argentina and Ghana, respectively.

And Iran (32y, 181d) named the oldest World Cup starting XI since at least 1966 for their 0-0 group-stage draw with Belgium.

PAR 0-1 FRA:

0 - Today against France, Paraguay didn't pick up a single card in a FIFA World Cup match for the first time since 1998 against Nigeria. Gentlemanly.

16 - Matías Galarza has been dribbled past 16 times during this World Cup, which is more than any other player. Muted.

If Kylian Mbappé were a country, it would have scored the 4th most WC Knockout stage goals since 2018: 16 Argentina, 14 France (without its now independent Mbappé), 12 Croatia, 11 Mbappé, 10 Brazil, Belgium and England.

Mbappé scored the 3rd most KO stage goals against NTs from one particular confederation: Leónidas 8 vs UEFA, Pelé 7 vs UEFA, Mbappé 6 vs CONMEBOL, Nejedlý & Fontaine 6 vs UEFA.

Including group stages Mbappé scored 7 goals vs South American teams in World Cups, the single most of any player, leaving Klose on 2nd place.

This is the 3rd WC which sees two players score 7 goals after 1970 (Gerd Müller, Jairzinho) and 2022 (also Messi and Mbappé).

2006 - Paraguay-France is the first World Cup knockout stage match with no shots on target in the first half since France-Brazil in 2006. Gritty.

Paraguay became the 3rd team on record (since 1966) to not get a single touch in the opponent's box in the 1st half of a WC KO stage game after France vs Argentina 2022 and Argentina vs Germany 1990 (both were Finals).

Edit: just new in: 54 - Since 1966, the two lowest passing accuracies by a team in a FIFA World Cup match have been... Paraguay vs Türkiye in 2026 (53.9%) and Paraguay vs France in 2026 (54.1%). Preoccupied.

CAN 0-3 MAR:

60% - Morocco scored with 60% of their shots today (3/5), the best shot conversion by a team in a FIFA World Cup knockout match on record since 1966. Precise.

-1 - The first half of Canada vs. Morocco featured fewer shots (5) than yellow cards (6), the first time that's happened in the first half of a FIFA World Cup match on record (since 1966). Chippy.

Brazil vs Ghana 2006 is the only precedent with 6 yellow cards in the 1st half in a WC KO match.

4 - Brahim Díaz now has the most assists of any African player in FIFA World Cup history (4). Record-breaker.

Hakimi (15), Ounahi (12) and Bono (11) are the African players with the most, 2nd most and tied 3rd most World Cup appearances. Omam-Biyik, Asamoah Gyan and Ismaila Sarr also have 11.

Morocco became the 1st team not from Europe or South America to win a WC KO stage game by 3 goals.

Azzedine Ounahi is the 1st Girona player to score at a World Cup and the 4th African to score a brace in the KO stage after Fawzi 1934, Milla 1990 and Henri Camara 2002.

Achraf Hakimi became the 8th player to assist goals against the same NT in different World Cups after Baltazar v MEX, Schnellinger v ENG, Lato v PER, T. Müller v GHA, Honda v COL, Tadic v SUI, Guerreiro v URU. All 8 did it in World Cups 4 years apart.

Bono is the 7th Goalkeeper to face the country of his birth at the WC, but the 1st to do it in multiple editions of the WC.

Morocco now account for 50% of all African knockout stage victories in FIFA World Cup history (4/8). CMR, GHA, SEN, EGY all have 1.

51 - CAF teams have now scored 51 goals at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. They are only the second confederation to see their national teams score 50+ goals in a single World Cup, along with UEFA (21 times). Collective.

15 - The last two teams to concede 15+ fouls in the first half of a FIFA World Cup match have done so under managers who've also managed Leeds: 15 - Canada v Morocco today (Jesse Marsch), 16 - Chile v Spain in 2010 (Marcelo Bielsa). Dirty.

Here the Top-5 of many categories:

High Speed Runs: Noor Alrawabdeh 635, Granit Xhaka 515, Andres Cuba 512, Aiden Oneill 502, Nasser Aldawsari 499.

Sprints: Ismael Saibari 220, Jordan Bos 189, Martin Experience 187, Elijah Just 178, Leroy Sané/Marcel Sabitzer 173.

Total Distance (m): Noor Alrawabdeh 38422, Lewis Ferguson 36575, Alistair Johnston 36472, Scott McTominay 36354, Andres Cubas 35977.

Assists: Alexander Isak, Michael Olise, Bruno Guimarães 3.

Fouls Against: Andres Cubas 11, Carlos Harvey, Aleksandar Pavlovic, Behruzjon Karimov, Eldo Shomurodov, Ermedin Demirovic 8.

Fouls For: Hannibal Mejbri 15, Martin Baturina 14, Tahith Chong 13, John McGinn 11, Richie Laryea, Achraf Hakimi, Arda Güler, Lewis Ferguson 10.

Offsides: Luis Diaz 7, Maxi Araujo 6, Nicolas Jackson, Alexander Isak 5, Chris Wood, Seol Youngwoo, Cedric Bakambu, Antoine Semenyo, Cristiano Ronaldo 4.

Saves: Eloy Room 21, Mohammed Alowais, Orlando Gill 17, Mahmoud Abunada 16, Alireza Beiranvand 15.

GK Actions inside the Penalty Area: Mahmoud Abunada 124, Max Crocombe 97, Vozinha 96, Orlando Gill 87, Mohammed Alowais 86.

GK Actions outside the Penalty Area: Mahmoud Abunada 103, Max Crocombe 88, Mohammed Alowais 78, Orlando Gill 77, Eloy Room 72.

Attempts at Goal: Kylian Mbappé, Kevin De Bruyne 16, Lionel Messi 15, Kenan Yildiz, Jonathan David 14.

Attempts on Target: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé 9, Vinicius Jr 8, Jonathan David 7, Enner Valencia, Cristiano Ronaldo, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane 6.

Attempts Outside the Penalty Area: Gustavo Puerta, Arda Güler, Hakan Calhanoglu 9, Kevin De Bruyne, Lionel Messi 8.

Headed Attempts at Goal: Nico Oreilly, Ladislav Krejci, Federico Vinas 5, Derek Cornelius, Mikel Oyarzabal, Kai Havertz 4.

Forced Turnovers: John Yeboah 43, Pedri 34, Khuliso Mudau 33, Bruno Guimarães 32, Jonathan David 31.

Defensive Pressures Applied: Noor Alrawabdeh 182, Jordan Ayew 172, Ali Owan 154, Elijah Just 152, Feras Albrikan 150.

Defensive Pressures Directly Applied: Andres Cubas 37, Mohanad Lashin 31, Ao Tanaka, Matias Galarza 30, Diego Gomez 29.

Passes: Rodri 344, Aissa Mandi 309, Ramy Bensebaini 305, Aymeric Laporte 301, Jan Paul van Hecke 297.

Passing Accuracy (%): Pau Cubarsí 99, Kim Minjae, Marc Guehi, Chris Richards, William Saliba, Ruben Dias, Shogo Taniguchi, Houssem Aouar 98 (at least 50 passes).

Crosses: Stephen Eustaquio 31, Marcel Sabitzer 23, Achraf Hakimi, Alistair Johnston 21, Lee Kangin, Vladimir Coufal, Declan Rice 20.

Crossing Accuracy (%): Moises Caicedo 64, Ivan Basic 58, Maxi Araujo 44, James Rodríguez 42, Tijjani Reijnders, Julian Ryerson, Nathaniel Brown 40 (at least 10 crosses).

Defensive Linebreaks Attempted: Cody Gakpo 17, Ricardo Rodríguez, Bilal El Khannouss 16, Weston McKennie 15, Marcel Sabitzer 14.

Defensive Linebreaks Accuracy (%): Kylian Mbappé 91, Rodri 90, Marco Pasalic 89, Pedri 88, Maxi Araujo, Francisco Conceicao, Lionel Messi 86 (at least 7 attempted).

Offers in Behind: Ismael Saibari 95, Cedric Bakambi 91, Kylian Mbappé, Luis Diaz 87, Julian Quinones, Agustin Canobbio 76.

Receptions in Behind: Kylian Mbappé, Sadio Mané, Vinicius Jr. 13, Ali Olwan 12, Marc Cucurella, Folarin Balogun, Denzel Dumfries 11.

disclosure: I wrote this as the RSA-CAN game was running. It looks like they update live, in that case it would not be strictly only group stage

MisterChip:

Rebin Sulaka got the 4th earliest red card in World Cup history. 1' - Batista (1986 vs Scotland), 3' - Carlos Sánchez (2018 vs Japan), 8' - Ferrini (1962 vs Chile), 13' - Rebin Sulaka (2026 vs Senegal).

Ousmane Dembélé scored the 4th WC hat-trick by a Ballon d'Or holder: Eusébio - 1966 vs North Korea (poker), Rummenigge - 1982 vs Chile, Cristiano Ronaldo - 2018 vs España.

For the 1st time in WC history a player assisted 2 goals for a team-mate within the first 20 minutes of a game. (Kylian Mbappé to Ousmane Dembélé)

Pape Gueye is the only player in WC history to record 2 goals and 1 assist after coming off the bench.

Romelu Lukaku is the only player in WC history who came on 85' or later and still scored AND assisted a goal (when excluding games that went to extra time).

Senegal are the first ever African team to score five goals in a FIFA World Cup match.

Senegal are the first ever African team to score 8 group stage goals, the previous record was 6, held by Nigeria 1994, Algeria 2014 and Morocco 2026.

France became the 7th team to finish a WC group with 9 points and 10+ Goals scored, only 1 of the previous 6 went on to win the cup: Argentina 1930, Alemania 1970, Polonia 1974, Brasil 1982, Brasil 2002 (CAMPEÓN), Holanda 2014.

For the 2nd time in WC history a goal was assisted and scored by Atlético Madrid players (M. Llorente, Baena) after David Villa + Juanfran (vs Australia, 2014).

Muslera's substitution was the 1st of a GK in the half-time of a WC game for non-injury reasons since 1994 (Bulgaria subbed vs Sweden).

Uruguay has been eliminated in the group stage consecutively (2022, 2026) for the 1st time.

Spain is the only team that won a game in its group. It's the 4th time in WC history this happened in a group: Poland, 1982 (Grupo A); England, 1990 (Grupo F); Italy, 1998 (Grupo B).

Szymon Marciniak now gave the tied most penalties by a referee in WC history: 5 like Edgardo Codesal and Arthur Ellis.

Iran became the 2nd side to draw all 3 group games with 3 different scorelines after Belgium 1998. Both played 0-0, 1-1 and 2-2.

KDB becomes the 1st Belgian to score in 3 WCs (2014, 2018, 2026) and Lukaku becomes their all time WC top scorer overtaking Marc Wilmots who had scored 5. Belgium won by 4 goals, celebrating their single highest win in WC history.

Cape Verde became the 6th team in WC history to qualify for the KO stage with 3 draws. With Iran possibly to follow as 7th.

Spain didn't concede a goal in the group stage for the 1st time in the World Cup. If Unai Simón doesn't concede a goal in the RO32 he breaks Walter Zenga's record for minutes without conceding.

Opta:

Dembélé scored the 1st 1st half hat-trick in the WC since Oleg Salenko 1994 vs Cameroon.

Dembélé scored the 2nd earliest hat-trick (32 minutes) in FIFA World Cup history behind Erich Probst in 1954 for Austria against Czechoslovakia (24 minutes).

Kylian Mbappé tied Mirolav Klose as the player with the 2nd most WC G+A since 1966 (20 each).

Mbappé started his 15th WC game, he is already 4th among French behind only Varane (17) and Griezmann, L. Thuram (16).

Ismaïla Sarr is the first Senegal player to both score and assist in a FIFA World Cup match.

3 - Ismaïla Sarr, Pape Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye all scored and assisted for Senegal vs Iraq. It is the first time a team had three players do so in a FIFA World Cup match since Germany in their 7-1 win over Brazil in 2014 (Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira, Thomas Müller). Memories.

3 - Fernando Muslera has become the 1st goalkeeper to commit 3 errors that led to an opponent's goal in a single World Cup edition from 1966 onwards – the goalkeeper also counts a total of 5 in his career in the competition, another record. Deleterious.

10 - Norway are just the fourth side to make 10+ starting XI changes for a FIFA World Cup match in the same edition, after Spain in 2006 (11 v Saudi Arabia), Belgium in 2018 (10 v Japan), Brazil in 2022 (10 v Korea Republic). Wholesale.

3 - France have scored 3+ goals in each of their last four FIFA World Cup matches, the longest run by a team since Spain between 1998 and 2002 (4). Menacing.

2 - Vozinha is the third goalkeeper to record multiple FIFA World Cup clean sheets after turning 40 years old, joining Peter Shilton (3) and Dino Zoff (2). Legendary.

5 - There have been five goalkeeper substitutions in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the joint-most in a single edition of the competition with 2014. Hands.

Romelu Lukaku both scored and assisted against New Zealand despite touching the ball just five times. He is the first player with 2+ goal involvements and as few as 5 touches in a World Cup game in Opta's record books (since 1966).

4 - Maxence Lacroix tonight becomes just the fourth player with the letter x in both his first name and surname to play at the FIFA World Cup, after Greece's Alexios Alexandris, Alexandros Alexiou and Alexandros Alexoudis in 1994. X.

I also posted one for the games on 25.06, 24.06 and 22.06.

MisterChip:

Tunisia became the 1st team in World Cup history to concede a goal within the first 10 minutes in each of their 3 group games (min 7 vs SWE, min 4 vs JAP, min 3 vs NED).

Tunisia set a new WC record for most minutes trailed during the group stage with 256 minutes, overtaking Mexico 1930 who trailed for 240 minutes.

Tunisian's goalkeeper Chamakh conceded 5 goals, Dahmen 7. Since 1960, only Cameroon 1994 also saw 2 of their GKs concede 5+ goals: J. Bell 5, Songo'o 6. It happened to 5 countries across 1954 and 1958.

Tunisia scored 2 headed goals, only Japan and Egypt also managed to do that at the current World Cup.

Scotland is about to extend its record of most WC participations without a KO stage entry to 9 times.

Sweden is the 3rd team in WC history to survive the group stage despite 7 goals conceded after France 1958 and Uruguay 1986.

Netherlands became the 6th team in WC history to score twice within the first 7 minutes: 1954: Austria vs Czechoslovakia (3' y 4'), 1954: Hungría vs Brasil (4' y 7'), 1962: Hungría vs Bulgaria (1' y 6'), 1986: USSR vs Hungría (2' y 4'), 2002: Poland vs USA (3' y 5').

Clubs whose players scored the most World Cup goals without any of them scoring for the club's country: 12 Sevilla, 11 Villarreal (+2 by Nicolas Pépé), 10 Parma & Stade Rennais.

Gonzalo PLATA (Ag) became the 3rd scorer in WC history with a 1st or last name of a chemical element (in Spanish) after Fernando HIERRO (Ag) and HELIO Varela (He).

Yuto Nagatomo became the 10th player to play in (at least) 5 World Cups but the 1st Asian to do it.

4 CONMEBOL teams have defeated UEFA teams (ARG, BRA, ECU, PAR) at this WC, only in 2014 have there been more with 5 (ARG, BRA, CHI, COL, URU). Uruguay will still face Spain and Colombia Portugal. The 4 has else only been tied 1930 when ARG, CHI, PAR, URU defeated UEFA teams.

Ellyes Skhiri missed out on scoring the fastest own-goal in WC history by 12 seconds. He scored after 141 seconds, Kolasinac 2014 vs Argentina after 129.

Ecuador became the 4th American team to defeat Germany in a WC game after Argentina, Brazil, Mexico (all of them defeated Germany exactly once).

Nicolas Pepe scored the 2nd brace of a Cote d'Ivoire player and of a Villarreal player at the WC after Aruna Dindane 2006 and Denis Cheryshev 2018.

Panama is the only team left in this WC that hasn't scored a goal.

Sebastian Berhalter became the 2nd USMNT player to score AND assist in a WC game after Bertram Patenaude back in 1930 vs Belgium.

Turkey faced host countries 3 times and won 3x (also Japan and South Korea 2002).

Opta:

In the last 9 Euros and World Cups (since 2008) France never won its 3rd group game.

Germany had 0.6 xG vs Ecuador. Their 2nd lowest value in the 11 World Cups since 1986 they have had less than that in just 1 game: 0.5 xG vs Spain 2010 semi-final.

15 - In his 15th game at a big event (Euro, WC) Leroy Sané scored his 1st goal with his 15th shot attempt.

4 - Sweden's four goals from outside the box are the most by any team in the group stage of a single FIFA World Cup since Brazil in 2006 (also 4). Placement.

173 - Auston Trusty's goal was the 173rd scored in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the most in any edition of the competition. Party. (Note: in the 60th game, the last format had 64 games)

Paraguay vs Australia finished with 0.83 expected Goals across both teams, the 6th lowest of a WC game since 1966.

6 - There have been six goals scored from throw-ins so far at the 2026 World Cup, as many as the previous four editions of the tournament combined. Touchdown.

10/10 - Yan Diomande is the only player this century to complete 10+ dribbles and create 10+ chances across his first three FIFA World Cup games. Rising.

4 - Following Nilson Angulo's strike for Ecuador vs Germany, four different Sunderland players have now scored at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with only PSG having more individual scorers at the tournament (6). Ha'way.

Squawka:

Tunisia are the 10th team to exit the WC with -10 or worse GD, but the 1st since New Zealand 1982.

I made a similar post yesterday about the games of 24.06