Argentina’s Lionel Messi is the leading goalscorer in the history of World Cups with 19 goals. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
The group stages of the FIFA World Cup 2026, which began on June 12, 2026, have come to a scintillating end. The final picture of the knockouts gained clarity only after the final whistle of the last group stage match between Algeria and Austria.
Now that the group stages have concluded, let us take a look at the stats round up:
6 — Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player in history to score in six different editions of the World Cup.
8 — There were only eight matches in which no cards were issued by the referee to the players.
8 — A total of 8 red cards were issued across all the matches in the group stage. The opening match between co-hosts Mexico and South Africa saw three red cards.
11 — 11 penalties were awarded in this year’s World Cup of which 8 were converted. Incidentally, Lionel Messi was the first player to miss a penalty in this edition.
19 — Including 6 goals in this year’s edition, Lionel Messi is the leading goalscorer in the history of World Cups after he surpassed Miroslav Klose of Germany during Argentina’s Group J match against Austria.
48 — 48 nations had qualified for the group stage of this edition of the World Cup.
64 — The earliest goal of the group stage was scored by Matias Galarza after just 64 seconds in the Group D match between Türkiye and Paraguay.
72 — 72 matches were played across the 12 groups in 15 days
98 — The latest goal of the group stages was scored by Jaminton Campaz in the 98th minute of Colombia’s 3-1 victory over Uzbekistan in Group K.
169 — 169 yellow cards were given by the referees to different players across all the matches
215 — 215 goals were scored in the group stages, which overtook the previous record of 136 goals across 48 matches in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
1,000 — The Group F match between Japan and Tunisia was the 1,000th match in the history of World Cups.
Published – June 29, 2026 12:14 am IST
