Ahead of the 2026 World Cup, The Action Network has collected a list of records that could be broken at the tournament.
To highlight a few of the records that could be broken:
- Lionel Messi (Argentina) or Kylian Mbappé (France) could tie or break the record for the most overall goals scored at the World Cup. The current record holder is Miroslav Klose (Germany), who scored 16 goals throughout his career; Messi has scored 13 goals while Mbappé has scored 12 goals.
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) could become the first player to score a goal in 6 different World Cup editions (he is currently the only player to score in 5 editions having scored in every edition since 2006).
- Kylian Mbappé (France) could become the first player to ever score in 3 World Cup finals (he scored in both 2018 and 2022 so not only would he become the first player to score in 3 separate finals but also the first player to ever score in 3 consecutive finals).
- Argentina could become only the third nation to win consecutive World Cup titles following their 2022 victory (and the first one to do so in 64 years), joining Italy (consecutive wins in 1934 & 1938) and Brazil (consecutive wins in 1958 & 1962).
- Brazil could extend its record as the nation with the most World Cup titles – they have won the competition 5 times, so a win in 2026 would be their record-extending 6th victory. Having said that, their current record of 5 wins could be tied by Germany.
- England or Uruguay could break Italy’s record for the longest gap between successive titles at the World Cup – Italy’s current record is 44 years (between their 1938 & 1982 titles) and if England were to win, it would be 60 years since their last title in 1966 while for Uruguay it would be even longer – 76 years since their last title in 1950.
- France could become only the third nation to ever appear in 3 consecutive World Cup finals following their 2018 victory and their 2022 runner-up finish – the only nations to have achieved this are Germany (1982-1990) and Brazil (1994-2002).
- Brazil, France or Germany have a chance to break out of their tie and become the sole holder of the record as the top-scoring nation in the most World Cup editions – they currently share the record, all of them being the top-scoring nation 4 times (Brazil: 1950, 1962, 1970, 2002 & France: 1958, 1982, 1998, 2022 & Germany: 1990, 2006, 2010, 2014)
- Germany could extend their record as the nation with the most appearances in the World Cup final – 2026 could be their record-extending 9th final appearance (Germany’s final appearances: 1954, 1966, 1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2002, 2014). On the other hand, if Brazil makes it to the final and Germany does not, Brazil will tie their record (Brazil’s final appearances: 1950, 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 1998 & 2002)
- For the first time in 28 years, a host nation could become the World Cup champion and in 2026, there is a triple chance of it happening due to the hosting duties being split between Mexico, Canada and the United States – the last time a host nation also won the tournament was in 1998 when France won during its hosting year.
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