Statisticians are scratching their heads. An infamous record could be broken at the 2026 FIFA World Cup

The record for the total number of own goals in a single World Cup is seriously under threat, with 67 matches still to be played in the tournament across North America.

Paraguay's Damián Bobadilla scored the first own goal at this year's World Cup in the match against the United States. The co-hosts later benefited again from a similar situation when Australia's Cameron Burgess became the next unfortunate player to put the ball into his own net.

The list of own-goal scorers also includes Egypt's Mohamed Hany, Iraq's Aymen Hussein, Jordan's Yazan Al-Arab, Qatar's Mohamed Al-Manai, and Switzerland's Miro Muheim. The latter was only added to the statistics after additional verification by FIFA, as Boualem Khoukhi was originally credited with the goal in the match report against Qatar.

Iraqi international Hussein has already made World Cup history. Only two players before him had managed to score an own goal and also find the net for their team in the same match. He achieved this feat in the game against Norway, which Iraq lost 1-4.

A total of 62 own goals have been scored at the FIFA World Cup to date, with almost 13 percent of those coming in the current tournament. The first-ever own goal at a World Cup was scored in 1930 by eighteen-year-old Manuel Rosas Sánchez of Mexico in a match against Chile, which his team lost 0-3. In the past, five tournaments concluded without a single own goal, most recently in 1990 on Italian soil.

The two own goals from which the United States benefited in this tournament equal France's tally from the 2014 and 2018 World Cups. Historically, "Les Bleus" have profited the most from such opponent errors, benefiting a total of six times.

Mexican players have scored the most own goals in these prestigious tournaments, with a total of four. The negative record of two own goals by one team in a single tournament belongs to Bulgaria in 1966 and Russia in 2018, when they were the host nation.