England’s bronze medal against France breaks 5 records in World Cup history

The confrontation between England and France in the third-place match, which was decided by the English team at dawn yesterday with a score of (6-4), rewrote the history of third-place matches in World Cup tournaments, after witnessing the breaking of five records and entering the golden records of the World Cup.

Based on international media networks, Emirates Today monitors the most prominent records witnessed in the third-place match in the 2026 World Cup.

Highest scoring tally
The American network ESPN revealed that England’s victory (6-4), in a match that saw 10 goals scored, made it the highest scorer in the history of World Cup third-place matches, surpassing the previous record recorded in the 1958 World Cup, when France beat West Germany (6-3) in a match that saw nine goals.

However, the match did not break the record for the largest goal difference in a match for third place, which is still held by Sweden after its victory over Bulgaria (4-0) in the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

Saka follows in Fontaine’s footsteps
The British Sky Sports network highlighted the brilliance of Bukayo Saka, after he became the first English player to score a hat-trick in the history of third-place matches in the World Cup.

Saka also became the second highest-scoring player in these matches, behind French legend Just Fontaine, who remains the only player to score four goals (super hat-tricks) in the third-place match, when he led France to victory over West Germany (6-3) in the 1958 World Cup.

Bellingham achieves a new English record

The BBC confirmed that Jude Bellingham set a new record with the England national team, after raising his tally to seven goals in one edition of the World Cup.

Thus, he surpassed the previous record for the most English players scored in a single edition, which was shared by Gary Lineker (six goals in the 1986 World Cup) and Harry Kane (six goals in the 2018 edition).

Matched in passing accuracy
Sky Sports analysts explained that for the first time in the history of third-place matches in the World Cup, the accuracy of passing between the two teams is identical, after the success rate of passes for both England and France reached 92%.

The English team achieved this percentage out of 515 passes, and defender Ezri Konsa was the most accurate with a rate of 95.9% through 39 successful passes, while the French team completed 442 successful passes, and left back Malo Gusteau was its most prominent player with 38 successful passes and an accuracy of 90%.

Negative number for France
The American network ESPN indicated that the French team was subjected to an unprecedented negative record in its history in the World Cup, after falling behind by two goals within the first 18 minutes, which is the fastest time it has found itself behind by two goals in the tournament.

The network added that this number was an extension of a previous negative record against England, as the fastest goal France has conceded in the history of its World Cup participation is still signed by Englishman Bryan Robson, who scored after only 28 seconds in the two teams’ match in the group stage of the 1982 World Cup, which ended with England’s victory (3-1).