2026 World Cup Group Stage by the Numbers (Part II)
In the second matchday of the 2026 FIFA World Cup group stage, players, coaches, match officials and supporters made history in many ways, from match appearances to goalscoring to match attendances. Below includes a number of figures representing interesting facts and historical achievements from the first matchday of the tournament.
1.00: The average number of goals per match that France forward Kylian Mbappé has scored in World Cup tournaments (2018, 2022 and 2026). The Real Madrid marksman has scored 16 goals in 16 matches throughout the last three World Cup tournaments, including four goals in the current one. Since 2000, only former Brazil forward Ronaldo and England forward Harry Kane come close to that rate, averaging 0.92 and 0.83 goals per match, respectively.
6: Number of World Cup tournaments in which Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo (CR7) has scored at least one goal. CR7 has scored at least one goal in every World Cup tournament since 2006, with the breakdown by tournament as the following: one goal in 2006; one goal in 2010; one goal in 2014; three goals in 2018; one goal in 2022; and two goals (so far) in 2026. On June 23, CR7 scored a brace during Portugal’s 5-0 victory against World Cup debutants Uzbekistan.
18: Goals that Messi has scored at the World Cup after scoring a brace against Austria. In that match, the Argentine eclipsed Miroslav Klose’s record 16 goals scored in the men’s World Cup. Messi also surpassed the Women’s World Cup scoring record (17), which is held by Brazilian forward Marta. Also on matchday 2, becoming the joint-second-highest World Cup scorer, scoring 15th and 16th World Cup goals against Iraq. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Frenchman is expected to become the all-time scorer at the World Cup. It could happen in this tournament!
32 (years), 181 (days): The average age of Iran’s players who featured in the starting lineup in their match against Belgium. The match ended in a 0-0 draw, with Belgium having to play the match with one less player after defender Nathan Ngoy received a red card at the 67th minute. Earlier in that match, Iranian forward and captain Mehdi Taremi appeared to have scored a goal, but was later rescinded due to his buttocks (no joke) being offside.
63.71: The average distance of Switzerland‘s own goal to the players’ pressing of opponents (in other words: the intensity of pressure applied by Swiss players to their opponents away from their own goal). Throughout the first two matchdays, Switzerland rank first in this category, which means that they apply the most intensity on their opponents on average throughout the match. Spain rank second in this category, at 63.48 metres; Swiss group rivals Canada rank third, at 62.95 metres. Rounding out the top five in this category are Uruguay and Türkiye, at 62.29 metres and 61.53 metres, respectively.
66: Goals scored throughout the second matchday of the World Cup group stage. Canada led the 48 nations with six goals scored against Qatar during its 6-0 victory. The Netherlands and Portgual each scored five goals during their 5-1 and 5-0 victories against Sweden and Uzbekistan, respectively. Canada’s 6-0 victory and The Netherlands’ 5-1 victory were the highest scoring matches of matchday 2, with six goals each. Despite the flurry of goals, the total number of goals scored on the second matchday amounts to nine less goals than the figure from matchday 1.
288,007: Total number of supporters who attended the World Cup matches on June 22, 2026. The matches that took place were the following: Argentina v. Austria (2-0); France v. Iraq (3-0); Norway v. Senegal (3-2); and Jordan v. Algeria (1-2). Those involving Norway and Senegal, and Argentina and Austria had the majority share of that attendance figure: the former had a match attendance of 80,663 in East Rutherford, New Jerseu; the latter had an attendance of 70,649 in Arlington, Texas.
