World Cup 2026 Statistics – Day 38 (July 18) – Match for the 3rd place
France vs England 4-6
*England’s bronze is their second-best success at the World Cup, behind their 1966 title on home soil.
*England lost all their previous 3 World Cup matches against a defending champion:
2-4 vs Uruguay in 1954,
1-3 vs Brazil in 1962,
1-2 vs France in 2022.
They finally broke the tradition with this win.
*France have suffered two consecutive World Cup defeats for the first time since 2010 (vs Mexico 0-2, vs South Africa 1-2).
*France have lost two consecutive matches in the World Cup by a margin of 2+ goals (also vs Spain 0-2 in semi-final) for the first time in history.
*France surpassed their maximum of the conceded goals in a single World Cup match that was 5 (against Brazil 2-5 in a semi-final on 24 June 1958).
*France have conceded 6 goals in any match for the first time since a friendly against Switzerland (2-6) on 12 October 1960.
*France have conceded at least six goals in an official match for only the second time in history, following the Olympic Games match against Denmark (1-17) on 22 October 1908.
*France had not trailed by a four-goal margin at halftime since a friendly against Belgium on 13 April 1930 (1-5).
*Last matches in which the French team conceded at least four goals in the first half over the last 90 years were:
vs Switzerland on 11 November 1953 (1-4 at the break, 2-4 final score)
vs Yugoslavia on 24 April 1968 (1-4 at the break, 1-5 final score)
*France had never before conceded four goals in the first half of a major tournament (World Cup or Euro).
*France is the nation that has conceded the most penalties in World Cup history (17, including one in this game).
*France have lost only 2nd of their last 10 matches against England across all competitions (6 wins, 2 draws); the previous defeat came in a friendly in November 2015 (0-2).
*France and England in 2026 (both 20 goals) are the first teams to score 20+ goals at a World Cup since France in 1958 (23).
The most scored by a team at one World Cup is Hungary with 27 in 1954.
*Didier Deschamps managed his 27th World Cup match, a record for a head coach in the competition, surpassing Helmut Schön (25).
*Deschamps took charge of his 290th and final match with the France, following 103 appearances as a player and 187 as head coach.
His very last appearance in both roles was against the same opponent: England.
*Deschamps is the first coach to hold his final match with France against England since Henri Guérin on 20 July 1966, at the World Cup (a 0-2 defeat).
*7 of France’s last 8 coaches lost their final match in charge of “Les Bleus” (the exception being Aimé Jacquet against Brazil in 1998).
The precedents:
Michel Platini: 1-2 vs Denmark in 1992
Gérard Houllier: 1-2 vs Bulgaria in 1993
Roger Lemerre: 0-2 vs Denmark in 2002
Jacques Santini: 0-1 vs Greece in 2004
Raymond Domenech: 1-2 vs South Africa in 2010
Laurent Blanc: 0-2 vs Spain in 2012
*Jude Bellingham’s 7 goals in the 2026 World Cup is the outright most ever by an England player at a single World Cup or Euro tournament.
*Bukayo Saka is the first player to score a World Cup hat-trick in the month of July since Paolo Rossi did so for Italy against Brazil in 1982.
*Saka is the second England player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup knockout stage match (after Geoff Hurst in the 1966 final) and the 4th England player to do so at any stage.
(Including 2 occasions at the group stage:
Gary Lineker vs Poland in 1986,
Harry Kane vs Panama in 2018).
*Saka is the first player to score a hat-trick against France (across all competitions) since Geoff Hurst did so for England on 12 March 1969 (in a friendly), and the second to achieve the feat against ”Les Bleus” at the World Cup, following Pelé (for Brazil) on 24 June 1958.
*Saka’s hat-trick is the 4th at the 2026 World Cup: joint-second most hat-tricks in an edition (4 also in 1938, 1982 and 1986).
The record was set in 1954: 8 hat-tricks.
*Declan Rice is the first England player to record two assists from corners at the same World Cup tournament since David Beckham in 2002.
*Ousmane Dembélé is now the joint-third top goal-scorer for France in the World Cup history (6), along with Thierry Henry, ahead of Mbappé (22) and Fontaine (13).
*For the first time in history, two substitute players have scored in a single World Cup match for France (Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé).
*Barcola is the first player in history to score two goals as a substitute for France at the World Cup.
*Michael Olise became the first player to provide 7 assists in a single World Cup tournament since Raymond Kopa in 1958 (also 7).
Five of those assists were for Kylian Mbappé: a repetition of record for assists from one player to another during that period. It had only happened once before in the hitory and also involving France: Kopa to Fontaine also 5 (in 1958).