The FIFA World Cup rolls on and with more telling numbers and records come tumbling along. France beating Norway 4-1 saw Ousmane Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé join rarefied air, while Senegal have created African football history with a 5-0 win over Iraq.
Spain knocked Uruguay out with a 1-0 win, while debutants Cape Verde qualified for the knockouts with a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia.
Belgium then topped Group H with a 5-1 win over New Zealand, while Egypt and Iran played out a thrilling 1-1 draw to finish second and third, respectively.
ESPN's By The Numbers brings you best stats from the World Cup action on June 26:
Norway 1 - 4 France
0.19
Ousmane Dembélé completed his hat trick despite just accumulating an xG total of 0.19. Since 1966, the only men's World Cup hat trick completed with a lower xG was Hungary's Laszlo Kiss in 1982 (0.17).
1/182
Of the 182 goals scored (until then) at this FIFA World Cup, Dembélé's hat trick goal was the first to see all 11 players involved in the move.
2
Dembélé 's hat trick (7', 20', 32') is the second earliest hat trick in men's World Cup history after Austria's Erich Probst vs Czechoslovakia in 1954 (24th minute). He is, in fact, just the 6th man with a first-half hat trick in a World Cup match and the first since Oleg Salenko for Russia in 1994 (Salenko hit 5 goals in that match).
2
With two assists today, Kylian Mbappé has joined Lionel Messi (26) and Miroslav Klose (20) as the only men with 20+ World Cup goal contributions (16 goals, 4 assists), since assist records started in 1966. What's curious is that he had two assists in his previous 16 World Cup games!
3
Dembélé is only the third Frenchman to score a World Cup hat trick, after Just Fontaine (2x) and Kylian Mbappé.
3
Stunningly, Dembélé is the first Reigning Ballon D'Or winner to score a World Cup hat trick since Cristiano Ronaldo vs Spain in 2018. He's only the fourth overall to do so (also Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1982 and Eusébio in 1966)
3
Mike Maignan is the third French goalkeeper to save a men's World Cup penalty after Alex Thepot in 1930 vs Chile and Joel Bats in 1986 vs Brazil (excluding shootouts). Maignan dived to his left to keep out Jorgen Strand Larsen's 50th minute penalty.
3 (or more)
France have scored 3 (or more) goals in each of their last four FIFA World Cup matches, the longest run by a team at a men's World Cup since Spain between 1998 and 2002 (4).
6
Norway, who made 10 changes to the starting XI from the previous match, are now winless in their last 6 competitive games without Erling Haaland in the starting XI (0-3-3).
20
This is the 20th instance of a Frenchmen having a multi-goal game at the World Cup. France join Brazil (39), Germany (35), and Argentina (27) as the only countries to have players who've had multi-goal games at least 20 times at the World Cup.
23
With Jens Petter Hauge substitution in, all 23 of Norway's outfield players have had minutes this tournament.
Senegal 5 - 0 Iraq
1
This is the first time any African team has scored five goals in a World Cup match, and it's the largest margin of victory in a World Cup match by an African team.
2
Pape Gueye is the second African player to score 2+ goals as a sub in a World Cup match, joining Cameroon's Roger Milla who did it twice in 1990.
3
Today, Ismaïla Sarr, Pape Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye all scored and assisted for Senegal vs Iraq: it is the first time a team had three players do so in a World Cup match since... Germany in their 7-1 win over Brazil in 2014 (Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira, Thomas Müller on that day).
1
Iliman Ndiaye is the first player in FIFA World Cup history to come on as a substitute and then score a goal, assist a goal, have five touches in the opposition box and make five dribbles.
4
Ismaïla Sarr is now Senegal's top World Cup scorer now with 4 goals, surpassing Papa Bouba Diop (3)
4
Iraq are one of only four teams that have played 6+ FIFA World Cup matches and has not won.
Uruguay 0 - 1 Spain
5/7
Spain have now finished first in their group in five of their last seven World Cup appearances.
3
Spain have advanced to the KO stage for the third consecutive World Cup and 6th time in the last 7 tournaments (eliminated in the group stage in 2014).
1
Spain did not concede a goal in the World Cup group stage for the first time in their history.
33
Spain extended their unbeaten streak in all competitions to 33 games; which is their longest unbeaten run since 35 games in 2007-2009.
1
Uruguay failed to advance past the group stage in back-to-back FIFA World Cups for the first time.
1
Fernando Muslera became the first goalkeeper on record since 1966 to commit three errors leading to goals in a single FIFA World Cup tournament.
10
Agustín Canobbio became the tenth player from Uruguay to be sent off in a World Cup match. Uruguay joined Brazil (11) and Argentina (10) as the only counties to have 10 players sent off at World Cups.
Cape Verde 0 - 0 Saudi Arabia
525000
Cape Verde became the smallest nation by population to reach the World Cup knockout stage (525,000). For context, all 50 states in the U.S. have larger populations than Cape Verde's 525,000 people (Wyoming has 576k in latest census and is the smallest by population).
1
Cape Verde became the first team to reach the knockout stage in their World Cup debut since 2010, when Slovakia reached the KO Stage in its debut as an independent nation.
7
Cape Verde became the seventh team and first since 1998 to advance to the World Cup knockout stage without winning a single match in the Group Stage (excludes Second Groups and Final Groups).
1
Cape Verde will be the first debutant nation to face the defending World Cup champions in the knockout stage since Ghana in 2006 vs Brazil (L 3-0).
3/4
With Argentina as its opponent in the KO stage, three of Cape Verde's four opponents in this World Cup will have been former WC champions (Spain, Uruguay). They were already the first debutant to face past World Cup champions in its first two WC matches (tied 0-0 with Spain and 2-2 with Uruguay).
3
Cape Verde became only the third African team to avoid defeat in team's first three World Cup games after Senegal (1-2-0, W-D-L) in 2002 and Cameroon (0-3-0) in 1982.
3
Cape Verde became the first debutant to go unbeaten in their three group-stage matches at the FIFA World Cup since Senegal in 2002 (1-2-0).
10
Cape Verde and Egypt advanced to the knockout round, becoming the ninth and tenth African nation to advance from the group stage at a FIFA World Cup and the third and fourth to do so for the first time in 2026 (Ivory Coast, South Africa).
3
Vozinha joined Dino Zoff and Peter Shilton as the only goalkeepers aged 40 and above to keep multiple clean sheets at the FIFA World Cup.
Egypt 1 - 1 Iran
1
Egypt advanced past the first round in the FIFA World Cup for the first time (qualified for 1934 Round of 16 defeating Palestine in a knockout qualification format, no group stage was played).
0
Iran have never qualified to World Cup KO Stage and need results to go their way tomorrow.
4:26
Mahmoud Saber scored a goal at 4:26, the fastest goal by an Egyptian player in FIFA World Cup history.
5
Mohamed Salah played his fifth FIFA World Cup game, the most in Egypt WC history.
13:13
Ramin Rezaeian scored his goal at 13:13, the fastest goal by an Iranian player in FIFA World Cup history.
2
Mehdi Taremi missed a penalty, only his second failed PK attempt for Iran (all comps, 12 attempts), first since Nov. 2024 in Asian World Cup Qualifiers.
New Zealand 1 - 5 Belgium
6
Romelu Lukaku now has 6 career FIFA World Cup goals, going past Marc Wilmots for most by a Belgian.
91
Romelu Lukaku scored his 91st goal for Belgium - he's currently the third-highest scorer among active men's internationals, behind Cristiano Ronaldo (145) and Lionel Messi (122). (India's Sunil Chhetri has 95 goals but announced his retirement in November 2025)
3/3
Kevin De Bruyne became the first Belgian to score in three different FIFA World Cups (2014, 2018, 2026).
433
Leandro Trossard became the first Belgium player to score in a World Cup since 2022 (Michy Batshuayi vs Canada) That ended a streak of 433 minutes without a goal by a Belgium player in World Cups as their only prior goal this tournament was an own goal by Egypt's Mohamed Hany.
6
Trossard's brace saw him become the sixth Belgian with a multi-goal game at the FIFA World Cup.
9
New Zealand have failed to win in nine FIFA World Cup games (0-4-5 W-D-L). They are tied with Honduras for the most World Cup games without a win.