10 Tournament Facts
This summer’s World Cup tournament was already set to break records with the extended format seeing more teams and more games than ever before. With the 48 team tournament offering a huge amount of football to enjoy, we’ve put together 10 of the most interesting and unique facts from this summer tournament.
As always, if you have any thoughts on this summer’s World Cup tournament, or have any of your own facts to share, get in touch with us across all of our social channels, and keep checking back with us for some more content on this tournament and looking ahead to the new season.
Cabo Verde became the smallest country ever to appear at a World Cup. An incredible first ever campaign as they not only enjoyed their summer experience but laid down a real marker as they reached the knockout rounds and put up a solid effort against some major nations.
The four debutants all scored at their first World Cup. With an extended format to the tournament, opportunities were given to several nations for the first ever time on the biggest stage. All 4 of the debut nations bagged a goal and some impressed even further. Curaçao, Cabo Verde, Jordan and Uzbekistan all found the net in their tournament debuts.
It produced the most goals per game at a World Cup since 1970. Across 104 matches we saw a huge 308 goals, an average of 2.96 per game. While England vs France in the 3rd place game made up a decent amount of this, the extended format also brought plenty more action.
The tournament’s 1,000th World Cup match was played in 2026. In their clash on 20th June 2026, Tunisia vs Japan played out a record 1000th World Cup game in a clash that will go down in history.
There were 104 matches (40 more than in 2022). With the bigger setup to this tournament, we saw much more football as the route to success added an additional round of action, with the eventual winners needing to get through 8 games rather than the previous 7.
Enzo Fernández score the 3,000th goal in FIFA World Cup history. In the game between Argentina and Egypt, Enzo Fernandez also scored a historic goal as he bagged the 3000th goal in the history of World Cups.
Dallas hosted the most matches. Dallas Stadium hosted the most games of any stadium and City, with 9 games including a semi-final being played on their turf.
Spain also became the first country to simultaneously hold both FIFA World Cups. With their women’s team holding the World Cup prior to this tournament, the men’s side added their trophy to the cabinet as both sides proved Spain are the outright dominant force across the entire sport.
Jude Bellingham became the youngest player ever to make 10 World Cup appearances. With his second World Cup tournament this summer, Bellingham is showing a huge maturity for his age, and still only 23 years of age, he could be featuring at many more to come.
Algeria completed 109 consecutive passes before scoring. In their 3-3 draw with Austria, Algeria put together a huge 109 passes before they bagged their goal. In a game that provided plenty of action, this stat really drew the eye.