In 10 short days, the 2026 World Cup has become something of a display of defensive woe with eight own goals, and Russia 2018’s unenviable 12 is in our sights. We are already at the second-highest total in the tournament’s history, and with the size of this year’s event, it may only get higher.
A spike that could topple Russia 2018
This run of own goals has come on hard and early, in every group you look at. The stats will tell you 2018 is the only one to top us with 12, but with a bigger slate of games, we could see more in the weeks to come.
Spain’s 4-0 over Saudi Arabia on Sunday was a case in point. You had Hassan Al Tambakti of the Saudis send the ball into his own goal, and the drumbeat of them keeps up in a way you don’t often see.
USA’s rare run of luck and a slice of history
The co-hosts have been on the right side of it twice now, in a 4-1 and a 2-0. That puts them in a spot in the record books no one has been before: the first in men’s World Cup play to have an own goal work in their favor in two straight.
They came quick and without much of a contest. Damian Bobadilla of Paraguay gave one up in the opening seven minutes of the 4-1, and then Australia’s Cameron Burgess did the same in a 2-0 loss to the Americans.
Who found the wrong net so far
It’s been a worldwide affair. Miro Muheim of Switzerland put one in for Qatar in stoppage time to make it even. Not long after, Mohamed Manai of the Qatari side had one of his own in a 6-0 drubbing by Canada.
You also have Egypt’s Mohamed Hany, Jordan’s Yazan Al-Arab and Iraq’s Aymen Hussein. Hussein even left his mark the other way, scoring for Iraq against Norway in the very same game. He is in the company of a few to have done that in one match.
Why 2026 invites more
When you have 48 teams and 104 fixtures, you have more room for error when the pressure is on in a heaving penalty box. What we are seeing isn’t an anomaly; it’s just the nature of the volume and intensity of the tournament.
Records within reach and the long view
To have one team be the beneficiary of two in a single World Cup is the standard. The U.S. has done it. France did as well in 2014 and 2018, which is how you know it doesn’t happen all the time.
There is a limit to how many times a side can do it to itself. Two is the most in a single cup, and that is a record Bulgaria in 1966 and Russia in 2018 can claim.
Here are the numbers to put it in perspective:
– Eight in the first 10 days
– 12 is what 2018 set as the high water mark
– 48 sides, 104 matches for 2026
A century of mishaps, and counting
All told, 62 own goals have been put in the ledger in the history of the thing. Almost 12 per cent of those have come in this tournament, and you can see where the 2026 surge has been.
Go back to 1930 and you’ll find Mexico’s 18-year-old Manuel Rosas in a 3-0 to Chile, the first of its kind. Some years, like 1990, they didn’t have any at all. It goes to show how things can change from one edition to the next.
What this means for the weeks ahead
Momentum is the word. With eight in the column and the group stage still in full swing, we are in a race with 2018. It’s a pattern that will exploit any hesitation on the back line, or the sheer force of an attack in a tight space.
So it is a matter of when, not if, another one comes. How many more will we have before the knockout rounds put a lid on it? For some, a touch in the wrong place is what separates making it out of here and heading home.
