WC 2026 — Stats Dashboard

48 teams. Three hosts. 39 days.

The 2026 World Cup is the biggest ever played — 12 groups across the USA, Mexico and Canada, June 11 to July 19. Every dot below is a team. Scroll, and follow them from the group stage to the Round of 16.

Seven sets of brothers are at this tournament — only three pairs share a flag.

Having the ball ≠ using it

The higher a dot sits above the line, the more it scores beyond what its possession predicts. Spain hoarded 62% of the ball and still drew 0–0 with Cabo Verde. Croatia passed beautifully and scored almost nothing.

Cabo Verde (pop. ~525,000) held Spain — winners of Euro 2024 — to a 0–0 draw in their first ever World Cup match.

Finishing is the great separator

Shots on target predict goals better than anything else here (r = 0.97). England and Norway score more than any model says they should — Croatia, again, less.

Norway have never lost a match in which Haaland scores: 16 wins from 16.

Cards are noise

Fouling earns yellow cards, sure. But cards have essentially zero relationship with goals (r = −0.09). The aggressive pressing teams collect both cards and wins.

Belgium committed the most fouls of any team — and got zero red cards.

Goals, unevenly divided

The dots stack into a histogram of goals scored per team in the group stage. Germany, Argentina and Norway pile up at the high end; the debutants cluster near zero.

Türkiye took 62 shots without scoring — the most since 1966 — and went home.

Then the table did its work

The 32 who advanced rise. The other 16 fall out of the tournament — including two-time champions Uruguay, and Türkiye despite all those shots. Sixteen teams, three weeks, gone.

Uruguay — winners in 1930 and 1950 — went out in the group stage without ever leading a knockout push.

And now, the last 8

The knockouts have been brutal: all three hosts — USA, Mexico and Canada — are out, and Norway stunned Brazil. France and Spain are already into the semis (they meet in Dallas). Pick a flag in the Spotlight bar above to follow your team through every chart on every tab.

Cabo Verde pushed Argentina to extra time before losing 3–2 — the fairy tale ended a round later than anyone expected.

Explore the data yourself · drag any chart left/right to scrub all 48 teams · pick a flag above to spotlight

Where Teams Beat the Model

Sort

Columns

290

Total Goals

Through July 10

2.96

Goals/Match

98 matches played

Messi Goals

Golden Boot leader

Hosts Eliminated

USA, Mexico, Canada — all out in R16

Teams Left

France & Spain into the semis

Messi WC Total

All-time record

When Goals Are Scored

📈

Late Goals Surge

A massive 28 goals landed in the 76–90' window — 2.3× more than any other 15-minute slot. Teams push harder, gaps open, and fitness drops late.

🔁

Second Half Rules

Of the first 100 goals, 54 came in the second half vs 46 in the first — a 17% swing. Substitutes and fatigue shift the balance after 45 minutes.

⏱️

Slowest Quarter

The 46–60' window is the quietest — just 13 goals. Teams feel each other out again after half-time before the late push begins.

Goal Breakdown

Set Piece Goals (First 100)

🚩

Corner Kings

10 of 19 set-piece goals came from corner kicks — more than all other dead-ball situations combined. Aerial threats and zonal marking errors at corners are decisive.

🎯

Penalty Perfect Start

Penalties started 6-for-6 (100%) before Messi's miss against Austria broke the streak. Final rate: 85.7% (6/7). Still historically high.

🤷

Direct Free Kicks Rare

Only 1 direct free kick goal in the first 100 — wall-beating precision remains one of the hardest skills in football even at this level.

Own Goals — Tournament Leading "Scorer"

#	Scorer (Team)	Match	Minute	How it happened
1	🇮🇶 Aymen Hussein (Iraq)	Iraq vs Norway	34'	Mistimed aerial clearance from inswinging corner, deflected backward
2	🇶🇦 Mohammed Manai (Qatar)	Qatar vs Canada	58'	Low cross forced back-to-goal stance, awkward deflection past keeper
3	🇦🇺 Cameron Burgess (Australia)	Australia vs USA	67'	Deflected off the defender from USA's wide threat
OGs #4–7 details being verified · Updated daily as confirmed data arrives

😬

Own Goals "Lead" the Golden Boot

With 7 own goals across the group stage — scored by 7 different players on 7 different teams — they collectively outscore any individual player (Messi, David: 3 each). It is a collective stat misread as a single scorer. On pace to match the all-time record of 12 set in Russia 2018.

📐

Corners & Wide Play Drive OGs

All three confirmed own goals came from wide deliveries or set pieces — inswinging corners, low crosses. The expanded 48-team field means more mismatches in aerial duels.

Disallowed Goals & VAR Interventions

~18

Goals disallowed

~14

By offside

By foul in build-up

Overturned → goal given

~6.8%

Goals disallowed / total attempts

Player (Team)	Match	Min	Reason	VAR Outcome	Details
🇦🇷 Lionel Messi	Argentina vs Algeria	4'	Offside	✗ Confirmed disallowed	Marginal offside call. Messi went on to score a hat-trick anyway
🇮🇷 Mehdi Taremi	Iran vs Belgium	11'	Offside	✗ Confirmed disallowed	Backside marginally over the line on free-kick routine. Took several minutes to confirm
🇨🇴 Daniel Munoz	Colombia vs DR Congo	~28'	Offside	✗ Confirmed disallowed	Header in the box, confirmed offside by VAR
🇨🇴 Luis Díaz (×2)	Colombia vs DR Congo	~55', ~58'	Offside	✗ Both confirmed	Two disallowed goals in quick succession — both ruled offside despite clean finishes
🇸🇪 Mattias Svanberg	Netherlands vs Sweden	84'	Offside (on-field)	✓ Overturned — GOAL	Initially ruled offside. VAR used Connected Ball Technology to detect Isak's touch, resetting offside line. Goal stood — fastest-ever WC substitute goal (12 sec after coming on)
🇺🇸 Alex Freeman	USA vs Australia	43'	Offside (flag)	✓ Overturned — GOAL	Flag raised immediately. Semi-automated offside confirmed Freeman onside. Goal given
Various	Multiple matches	—	Offside	✗ Confirmed disallowed	~8–10 additional offside disallowances across group stage matches

📐

Tighter Offside Tech = More Disallowed Goals

The 2026 SAOT system flags players down to ~10 cm offside (vs 50 cm in Qatar 2022), catching marginal calls the old system missed. Taremi's disallowed goal was his backside — the very definition of a centimetre call.

🔄

Connected Ball Tech Saves Goals Too

Svanberg's goal (Sweden vs Netherlands) was only given because the Adidas ball's sensor detected Isak's touch. Without that data, the fastest-ever WC substitute goal would have been disallowed.

😤

~6.8% of Goals Don't Count

Roughly 1 in 15 goals scored is ruled out — overwhelmingly for offside (~78% of disallowances). Fouls in the build-up and handballs account for the rest. VAR overturns favour the attacking team about 20% of the time.

Penalty Kicks

Taker	Team	Match	Min	Result
Kai Havertz	🇩🇪 Germany	vs Curaçao	45+2'	✓ Scored
Marko Arnautović	🇦🇹 Austria	vs Jordan	90+4'	✓ Scored
Granit Xhaka	🇨🇭 Switzerland	vs Bosnia	90+2'	✓ Scored
Harry Kane	🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England	vs Croatia	62'	✓ Scored (retake)
Cristiano Ronaldo	🇵🇹 Portugal	vs Uzbekistan	54'	✓ Scored
Christian Pulisic	🇺🇸 United States	vs Paraguay	38'	✓ Scored
Lionel Messi	🇦🇷 Argentina	vs Austria	71'	✗ Missed — broke 100% streak

🟢

6-for-6 Start, Then Messi

The tournament opened with a perfect penalty record across 6 kicks before Messi's miss against Austria ended the streak. His 57% WC penalty rate is his worst in any competition.

📉

Lower Frequency Than Expected

At 0.15 penalties per game, the group stage is tracking well below the ~0.31 historical average in VAR-era tournaments — suggesting more conservative refereeing or fewer box fouls.

Golden Boot Race

Through the Round of 32 · July 4, 2026

Rank	Player	Team	Goals	Notes
🥇 1st	Messi	🇦🇷 Argentina	7	Retook the outright lead with his extra-time goal vs Cabo Verde. All-time WC record 18 goals.
🥈 2nd	Mbappé	🇫🇷 France	6	Scored in the QF vs Morocco (his 20th career WC goal). France all-time WC scorer.
🥈 2nd	Kane	🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England	5	Two past DR Congo in the R32. England all-time leading WC scorer.
🥈 2nd	Haaland	🇳🇴 Norway	5	Scored again vs Ivory Coast. Faces Brazil next.
5th	Vinícius Jr	🇧🇷 Brazil	4	Carrying Brazil’s attack into the last 16.
5th	Oyarzabal	🇪🇸 Spain	4	On the scoresheet again in Spain’s 3-0 R32 win over Austria.
4th	Dembélé	🇫🇷 France	5	Scored again in the QF vs Morocco — level with Kane and Haaland.

The race: Messi leads on 7, with Mbappé, Kane and Haaland one behind on 5 — three of the four still alive in the Round of 16 (Kane’s England face Mexico; Haaland’s Norway face Brazil; Mbappé’s France face Paraguay). Golden Boot ties are broken first by assists, then by fewest minutes played.