Goals scored in the World Cup set a record

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — The 2026 World Cup is underway at a record scoring pace. This tournament became one of the highest scoring tournaments in history, with almost 25% more goals than in a similar period of the previous tournament. One of the reasons for this increase could be the design of the ball that FIFA is using in the tournament.

FIFA said the new ball was designed with deep seams to create "optimal stability in flight", and players and coaches said it was kicked at more speed towards goalkeepers. In addition, the ball also has better grip, making it easier to shoot and dribble in wet conditions. "This ball is as fast as a bullet. I think today and in recent days, you can see that if you shoot the ball in the right position, it is really difficult to stop," said Austria coach Ralf Rangnick.

Matches are also longer due to the increased extra time associated with the newly introduced refreshment seconds in this competition, allowing for more scoring opportunities. At the same time, this year's tournament has a greater talent gap thanks to the expansion to 48 participating teams. Colombia coach Néstor Lorenzo said he was not surprised with the number of goals scored, looking at the talent of the players participating in the World Cup. He also said attacking players are now more protected by referees than before.

"They weren't as protected 20, 30 years ago, when they were beaten more, when rough play was more frequent," he said. "Today, any team that defends well and uses counter-attacks can do well."

As a result, fans witnessed 121 goals in the first 40 matches of the tournament, and many of them came from famous players across the globe. More than half of the goals scored so far have been from players in the top three professional leagues in England, Germany and Spain, with the Premier League leading the way.

This trend was clearly shown in the match between the Netherlands and Sweden, with a 5-1 victory for the Netherlands. All six goals were scored by players who played in the Premier League during the 2025-26 season.


"I think the Premier League is more intense than this World Cup," said Gabriel Martinelli, a Brazilian player from Arsenal. "But this is certainly still a very beautiful World Cup, with high quality matches and great intensity."

Real Madrid, Inter Miami of Major League Soccer and Liverpool are the clubs with the most goalscorers. Miami, of course, is largely thanks to one man — Lionel Messi, who has scored five goals in two matches. In addition, nearly 30 goals came from English clubs, 16 goals from the German league, 11 goals from the Spanish league, 7 goals from the French league and 5 goals from the Italian league. MLS has 8 goals scored by its players.

Messi scored a hat-trick in Argentina's opening match and added two more on Monday. Other goals came from Petar Musa of FC Dallas (Croatia), Matías Galarza of Atlanta United (Paraguay) and Finn Surman of Portland Timbers (New Zealand). When FIFA announced the official squad list, there were 200 players playing in England, nearly double the 109 players playing in Germany.

Real Madrid and Liverpool top the scoring list. Real Madrid players scored seven goals — four from Kylian Mbappé, two from Vinícius Júnior and one from Jude Bellingham. Madrid did not have any players called up to the Spain squad this time, but did sign Marc Cucurella from Chelsea during the tournament, forming part of the World Cup with La Roja.

Liverpool got three goals from Dutch players — two from Cody Gapko and one from Virgil van Dijk. Another goal came from Alexander Isak (Sweden), and the other was scored by Mohamed Salah (Egypt), who was still considered a Liverpool player when the squads were announced.

Bayern Munich scored four goals — two from Harry Kane (England) and one from Jamal Musiala (Germany) and Luis Díaz (Colombia). Bayern is the team with the most players called up to the national team in the tournament with 18. Manchester City is top with 19 players, although only four goals at the World Cup so far have come from Erling Haaland (Norway).

So how many goals are we talking about? With 121 goals scored by 88 players in the first 40 matches of the tournament, an average of three goals per match. Only three matches ended 0-0, and eight of the goals were scored by players themselves. The tournament is on track to break the record of 172 goals from Qatar in 2022. Although the records are not completely comparable as the 2022 edition has only 64 matches compared to 104 this year, the scoring pace for 64 matches this year is at nearly 194 goals, far exceeding the record of four years ago. This scoring trend does not stop at the World Cup. The Champions League has set records in the past two seasons with 3.27 goals per match in the 2024-2025 season and 3.47 goals per match in the 2025-2026 season.

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