You know how punters get lost in too much data or bet blindly? I break down the stats and trends so you can feel confident you’re betting with more than just gut instinct.
2026 World Cup Preview
The 2026 World Cup will be the 23rd edition and, for only the second time, not hosted by a single nation. This will be the first time it is jointly hosted by three countries, following the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan.
This year it will be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, with the tournament taking place between the 11th of June and the 19th of July.
The United States hosted the 1994 World Cup, where they made it out of the group stages but were knocked out by Brazil in the round of 16. It will be Canada’s first time hosting.
Mexico have hosted the World Cup twice in the past, first in 1970, when they made it to the quarter-finals before losing 4-1 to Italy and then again in 1986, where they again made the quarter-finals, this time losing to West Germany on penalties after a 0-0 draw.
Format changes
The biggest change to this World Cup is the expansion; we have gone from 32 teams to 48 teams for the first time ever, and that will carry over to future competitions too.
With the additional sixteen teams, the group stages have changed; they will remain four teams in a group, but there will be an additional four groups, going from eight to twelve.
This also has a knock-on effect on the knockout stages, and for the first time, we will have 32 teams advancing, meaning 16 will be eliminated from the group stages and an additional round in the knockouts.
Defending champions
Argentina will come to the 2026 World Cup as the defending champions, having defeated France on penalties in 2022. Argentina seemed in control at 2-0, but France pulled it back to 2-2 to take it to extra-time, which finished with it 3-3 and included a Kylian Mbappé hat-trick for France. It was Argentina who won 4-2 on penalties.
That was Argentina’s third World Cup win, their first since 1986, and history says they may struggle to retain it! Only two teams in the history of the World Cup have won back-to-back, and that was Italy (1934 & 1938) and Brazil (1958 & 1962).
That just highlights the mammoth task ahead of Argentina for them to retain their title. You have to go back to 1998 to find the last defending champions to even make the final, and that was Brazil, who lost to France in that final, having won it four years earlier.
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World Cup Tipster Competition
We will be running a tipster competition that is dedicated to the 2026 World Cup. This competition will carry a £1,000 cash prize fund and is completely free to enter! Tips on the outright markets will count as well as tips on all of the individual matches (Except Correct Score & HT/FT markets)
The winner of the tipster competition will receive a £200 cash prize, the runner-up will get £100, and those in third or fourth place will get £25 each. Then each of the next 130 tipsters who fulfil the criteria will each receive a £5 prize.
The criteria is that each tip must include a comment of 20 or more words of reasoning for your selection, you must place 15 or more tips over the duration of the World Cup, with 10 of those being profitable tips. Then, as long as you finish in profit, you will be in with a chance of winning a cash prize depending on your final ranking, which will be updated each day, and you can keep track here.
You don’t need to do anything different in terms of placing tips; just place them as normal on the Make a Tip page, and they will be picked up in the tipster competition.
If you have not yet joined the tipster competition, now would be the perfect time for you to get involved, sign up on OLBG and then apply to become a tipster. It is that simple!
World Cup Fixtures & Key Dates
Opening Match
The opening match of the 2026 World Cup will take place on the 11th June with a 20:00 (GMT) kick-off time and will feature the joint-hosts, Mexico. They will start their campaign at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City against South Africa. The pair played out a 1-1 when they last met at the World Cup, which was back in 2010.
| Mexico v South Africa 11 Jun @ 20:00 - Full Time Result | ||
|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 1.53 | |
| Draw | 4.20 | |
| South Africa | 7.00 | |
Group Stage Timetable
After kicking off on the 11th June, the first of seventy-two matches that will be played in the group stages, which will run through until the 27th June.
Like with most tournaments, the first four matches in the group stages will be staggered, but the final two matches will be played at the same time, making sure none of the four teams has an advantage of knowing what they need to do to advance.
Last 32
There is no rest for the teams, with the day after the group stages being completed, the knockout stages get underway, with the teams from groups which finished earlier taking part.
These matches start on the 28th of June, there will be sixteen games which will run through until the 3rd of July, when 32 will become 16 and teams will know they are four wins away from being crowned champions!
Last 16
The final sixteen teams will compete in eight matches over four days, with two matches being played each day starting on the 4th of July until the 7th of July.
The majority of these matches will be played in the US, six of the eight to be exact, with Mexico and Canada each hosting one game.
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Quarter-Finals
And then there were eight! Things are getting serious; fans are dreaming of their team becoming World Cup winners! These take place over three days on the 9th, 10th & 11th of July.
The Gillette Stadium in Boston, SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami and the Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City will play host to the quarters.
Semi-Finals
The four remaining teams get a bit of a break before their semi-final matches, with the first being played on the 14th July at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas and then the second on the 15th July at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Third-Place Playoff
Before the final is played, the third-place playoff takes place on the 18th July, which features the two losing semi-finalists and will be played at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
Final
The MetLife Stadium in New Jersey is the destination for the 2026 World Cup Final, where two teams come to battle it out to decide who will be lifting the cup. The final will take place on the 19th July.
World Cup Groups & Draw Guide
As we have touched on previously, the 2026 World Cup has been expanded to 48, which means that this year and going forward, we will now have twelve groups of four teams with 32 of the 48 teams advancing.
The top two from each group will advance to the knockout stages, and then the best eight third-placed teams will also advance, which means we will lose 16 teams in total after the group stage.
In terms of seeding for the group draws, the three hosts were 1-3 based on their world rankings, and then the teams were simply seeded by their world rankings into four pots, each containing 12 teams. Each group was then drawn with one entry from each pot.
Group favourites
At the time of posting, 10 of the 12 groups contain an odds-on favourite to win the group, the shortest of those being Brazil (Group C) and Spain (Group H), who are both 1/5 to win their groups. Mexico are in Group A and one of the two not to have an odds-on favourite, they are favourites at evens.
The most open group of the lot is Group D, which contains the USA (11/8), Turkiye (7/4), Paraguay (15/4) and Australia (7/1). As you can see by the odds, the bookies are struggling to split three of the four, with the USA not really strong favourites.
Potential “Group of Death”
Every tournament, we get that ‘Group of Death’, the group that you are praying your team is not drawn in because it is so competitive, there is a good chance of one of the big boys going out in the group stages.
Obviously, it comes down to personal opinion, but this year, it looks to be Group F. Could the Netherlands be at risk this year? Of the World Cup finals that they have qualified for, they have never failed to get out of the group stages, but could 2026 be the year they struggle?
They will face Japan, who recently beat England 1-0 in a friendly and come into this World Cup having gone unbeaten in qualification with 12 wins from 14. Sweden were third when the last World Cup was held in the US and made the quarters in 2018, whilst Tunisia have never got out of the group stages but come into this World Cup on the back of their best ever qualification with 9 wins in 10 games and unbeaten.
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World Cup Knockout Stages
World Cup Venues & Host Cities
There will be a total of sixteen stadiums that will host games at the 2026 World Cup. Eleven of those will be in the United States, three in Mexico, and the other two will be in Canada. The stadiums will range from 94,000 capacities, down to 45,000, four of which are ‘Indoor’ stadiums with retractable roofs.
The stadiums will be used throughout the group stages and the early stages of the knockouts. Once we get to the Semi-Finals, then all matches will take place in the US, with MetLife Stadium being selected as the one to host the 2026 World Cup Final.
World Cup Stadiums in the US
As mentioned, the US will have eleven stadiums which will host matches, the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and NRG Stadium in Houston are all indoor stadiums.
All eleven stadiums are home to NFL teams, and, in fact, only three of them actually host Football (Soccer) regularly. Those are the Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta United FC), Gillette Stadium (New England Revolution) and Lumen Field (Seattle Sounders FC).
As already touched on, the 2026 World Cup Final will take place in New Jersey at MetLife Stadium, which can hold 82,500 people. The stadium is the home of the New York Giants and the New York Jets in the NFL.
| City | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Dallas | AT&T Stadium | 94,000 |
| New York/New Jersey | MetLife Stadium | 82,500 |
| Atlanta | Mercedes-Benz Stadium | 75,000 |
| Kansas City | Arrowhead Stadium | 73,000 |
| Houston | NRG Stadium | 72,000 |
| San Francisco Bay Area | Levi's Stadium | 71,000 |
| Los Angeles | SoFi Stadium | 70,000 |
| Philadelphia | Lincoln Financial Field | 69,000 |
| Seattle | Lumen Field | 69,000 |
| Boston | Gillette Stadium | 65,000 |
| Miami | Hard Rock Stadium | 65,000 |
World Cup Stadiums in Mexico
Three stadiums will be used in Mexico. The Estadio Azteca (Mexico City) is home to the Mexican National team and is the highest-capacity stadium used in Mexico. It is also home to club teams Club América & Cruz Azul.
The Estadio BBVA, located in Monterrey, was built in 2015 and is the home of C.F. Monterrey, and the Estadio Akron (Guadalajara), home of C.D. Guadalajara, are the other stadiums which will be used.
| City | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico City | Estadio Azteca | 83,000 |
| Monterrey | Estadio BBVA | 53,500 |
| Guadalajara | Estadio Akron | 48,000 |
World Cup Stadiums in Canada
Just two stadiums will be used in Canada, both close to the US border, to restrict travelling. BC Place in Vancouver, which is home to the BC Lions (CFL) and the Vancouver Whitecaps FC (MLS), is an indoor stadium.
In Toronto, the BMO Field will be used, home of the Canadian Football team as well as the Toronto Argonauts (CFL) and Toronto FC (MLS). This stadium has the lowest capacity of all the stadiums being used at the 2026 World Cup.
| City | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Vancouver | BC Place | 54,000 |
| Toronto | BMO Field | 45,000 |
World Cup Betting Guide
Here we are going to have a look at some of the main ante-post markets and highlight some of the past World Cup trends ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Outright Winners
Spain head into the tournament as favourites to lift the World Cup. The 2010 winners have struggled since that win at the tournament; they failed to get out of the group stages in 2014 and got knocked out at the round of 16 in both 2018 & 2022. They are the reigning European Champions, having won that in 2024, winning every game at the tournament and scoring 21 goals in 6 qualifying matches for this World Cup.
- Only 8 different nations have won the World Cup.
- Germany has played in 8 finals, more than any other team.
- Brazil is the next best (7), and then Italy (6) and Argentina (5).
Next in the market is France, and it is no surprise to them them well fancied as they generally turn up at the major tournaments. They have made the final at four of the previous seven tournaments and were crowned winners in both 1998 & 2018. They have already gone better than the last time the US hosted it, as they didn’t even qualify for that one!
- 6 of the 22 World Cup Winners were the host nation.
- 16 of the 22 World Cups have been won by teams playing in their home continent.
- 9 of the 10 most recent World Cups were won by a team rated 7/1 or lower by the bookies.
- 7 of the 10 most recent World Cup runners-up started the tournament at double-figure odds.
Both Brazil and Argentina are next (after England), Brazil are the most successful team at the World Cup, although of late they have struggled. Since winning it in 2002, they have not got past the quarter-finals, where they have been knocked out in 4 of the last 5 tournaments. Last time Argentina won the World Cup, they went on to finish 11th in the next one, so look up against it and come into this one having lost four times in qualifying. Both do have the advantage of playing in their home continent, and they have a decent record.
| World Cup 2026 19 Jul @ 12:00 - Win Tournament | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spain | 5.50 | |
| France | 6.00 | |
| England | 7.00 | |
| Argentina | 9.00 | |
| Brazil | 9.00 | |
Top Goalscorer Betting
The number of goals needed to win the Golden Boot has varied over the years. Kylian Mbappé scored 8 at the 2022 tournament. Four years earlier, Harry Kane scored six and four years before that, James Rodríguez also hit six to land the top scorer award.
As you can see below, if you want to land the leading goalscorer, then generally you want them in a team that will go far. If a team makes the semi-finals, then they are guaranteed 7 games; if they don’t, then they only get to play 5 games. That is a big difference when you are looking to hit the back of the net.
- In 8 of 19 World Cups where there was one winner, the top scorer's nation played in the final.
- In 3 of the 6 most recent World Cups, a top scorer played in the final.
- 12 of the 16 most recent winners/joint winners reached the semi-finals and/or played for the hosts.
Kylian Mbappé would be the first name on many lips because of his performance four years ago and the fact that many think France will go well; however, one thing that stands in his way is that no player in the history of the World Cup has ever won back-to-back Golden Boots and if he does, he will write his name in history.
In Germany, Harry Kane has had another excellent season with 36 goals in 31 league appearances. Could he lead England to glory? He won the Golden Boot in 2018. Could he become the first-ever player to win it twice?
You cannot look at the top scorer market without bringing up Lionel Messi. He was part of Argentina’s success four years ago when he had his best World Cup to date. For 2006, 2010, 2014 & 2018 combined, he scored 6 goals in 19 games, but in 2022 from 7 games, he scored more than that combined with 7 goals.
Could Norway surprise people this year? With 2nd place looking up for grabs in their group, they have a chance of advancing, and if they are to do so, then Erling Haaland will have to be firing on all cylinders. His International record is excellent with 55 goals in 49 appearances. If Norway can get out of the group and then past a couple of knock-out matches, then you would have to look at Haaland in this market.
| World Cup 2026 19 Jul @ 12:00 - Top Goalscorer | ||
|---|---|---|
| Kylian Mbappe | 7.00 | |
| Harry Kane | 8.00 | |
| Lionel Messi | 13.00 | |
| Erling Haaland | 15.00 | |
| Lamine Yamal | 15.00 | |
Golden Glove Betting
The Golden Glove is probably one of the hardest ones to call, although a quality keeper is a good sign for a potential winner. You just have to look at past winners, Kahn, Buffon, Casillas and Neuer to show what quality can win this award.
Emiliano Martínez won this in 2022 and is the favourite to do so again. Argentina are renowned for its defensive qualities; he kept three clean sheets in 2022 and will face Algeria, Austria and Jordan in the group stages, and realistically, he could keep clean sheets in all three!
Could Jordan Pickford and the England defence get back to their qualification qualities? They did not concede a single goal in those eight matches, and that sort of brick wall at the back could give Jordan a chance.
There are plenty in with a chance for this one, Uanai Simon, Alisson Becker, Ederson, Mike Maignan and David Raya. You could make strong cases for all of those to pick up this award, and that is why you have seven keepers priced up at 7/1 or shorter because it is such an open market.
England Specials
How do you think England will fare at this year's World Cup? Since winning the tournament in 1966, they have failed to make another final; in fact, they have failed to even make the semis since!
They have four times made the quarter-finals, including at the last World Cup in Qatar, when France dumped them out with Olivier Giroud scoring the winner in a 2-1 defeat.
They blitzed qualification with a perfect record of 8 wins from 8 games, during which they scored twenty-two goals and did not concede a single goal. This will be Tuchel’s first tournament in charge after taking over from Southgate. Could it be first time lucky?
World Cup Past Winners
Most Successful World Cup Winners
The World Cup has been lifted a total of twenty-two times, with eight different countries having held the trophy. Both England and Spain have one win apiece, France and Uruguay have two wins apiece, and then Argentina has three wins.
The top three in terms of success are both Italy (3rd) and Germany (2nd) for four wins, Germany being held higher as they have more runner-ups (4 vs 2). The most successful country, though, is Brazil, who have lifted the cup five times, with the last of those coming in 2002 under Luiz Felipe Scolari.
World Cup Final Flops
Three countries have made multiple finals without going on to lift the cup. Both Hungary and Czechia have made it to two finals; Hungary made the 1938 & 1954 finals, they lost 4-2 to Italy in 1938 and then 3-2 to West Germany in 1954, whilst Czechia lost 2-1 to Italy in 1934 (AET) and 3-1 to Brazil in 1962.
The team with the worst record is the Netherlands, who have made it and been beaten every time at three finals. They made back-to-back finals in the 70s, first losing 2-1 to West Germany in 1974 and then losing 3-1 (AET) to Argentina in 1978, both those defeats coming to the host nations. Their third final came in 2010 in South Africa, where they had another match go to extra-time, which they ended up losing 1-0 to Spain.
Last Ten World Cup Winners
| Year | Winners | Runners-Up | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Argentina (6/1) | France (6/1) | 3-3 (Pens) |
| 2018 | France (13/2) | Croatia (33/1) | 4-2 |
| 2014 | Germany (6/1) | Argentina (4/1) | 1-0 (AET) |
| 2010 | Spain (4/1) | Netherlands (10/1) | 1-0 (AET) |
| 2006 | Italy (10/1) | France (14/1) | 1-1 (Pens) |
| 2002 | Brazil (7/1) | Germany (20/1) | 2-0 |
| 1998 | France (7/1) | Brazil (10/3) | 3-0 |
| 1994 | Brazil (10/3) | Italy (6/1 | 0-0 (Pens) |
| 1990 | West Germany (7/1) | Argentina (14/1) | 1-0 |
| 1986 | Argentina (4/1) | West Germany (14/1) | 3-2 |
Past World Cup Golden Boot Winners
Most goals in one tournament
The record for most goals scored in a single tournament was at the 1958 World Cup hosted in Sweden. Despite only coming third, it was the French striker Just Fontaine who stole the show with an incredible 13 goals. He started on the right foot with a hat-trick in France’s opening match, a 7-3 win over Paraguay and ended the group stage with six goals. In the knockouts, he scored two against Northern Ireland in the Quarter-Finals and then a single goal against Brazil in a 5-2 defeat. France headed to the third-place game against West Germany, and Fontaine had a game to remember. France came out 6-3 winners, and Fontaine scored four of those six goals, meaning he scored in every game France played at the 1958 World Cup.
All-time scoring leaders
Those thirteen goals scored by Just Fontaine are the only goals he got at the World Cup Finals and put him fourth on the list for all-time leading goalscorers, tied with Lionel Messi (Argentina), although Fontaine’s came from just six games, Messi’s have come from twenty-six games. Ahead of those two, with fourteen goals from thirteen matches, is Gerd Müller (West Germany), who took home the Golden Boot at Mexico 1970 with ten goals.
Second on the list is Ronaldo, the Brazilian one, who scored fifteen goals over nineteen matches at the World Cup Finals for Brazil and picked up the Golden Boot in 2002 when it was hosted in South Korea & Japan. Four years later, Miroslav Klose (Germany) picked up the Golden Boot in Germany, and he is the man who is the leading all-time goalscorer at the World Cup Finals. In twenty-four matches, he scored a total of sixteen goals.
- Miroslav Klose (16 in 24 - 0.67 GPP)
- Ronaldo (15 in 19 - 0.79 GPP)
- Gerd Müller (14 in 13 - 1.08 GPP)
- Just Fontaine (13 in 6 - 2.17 GPP) & Lionel Messi (13 in 26 - 0.50 GPP)
Last Ten Golden Boot Winners
| Year | Winner | Country | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Kylian Mbappé | France | 8 |
| 2018 | Harry Kane | England | 6 |
| 2014 | James Rodriguez | Colombia | 6 |
| 2010 | Muller/Villa/Forlan/Sneijder | Ger/Spa/Uru/Hol | 5 |
| 2006 | Miroslav Klose | Germany | 5 |
| 2002 | Ronaldo | Brazil | 8 |
| 1998 | Davor Suker | Croatia | 6 |
| 1994 | Stoichkov/Salenko | Bulgaria/Russia | 6 |
| 1990 | Salvatore Schillaci | Italy | 6 |
| 1986 | Gary Lineker | England | 6 |
Past World Cup Golden Glove Winners
The Golden Glove is awarded to the best goalkeeper of the tournament. When it was introduced in 1994, it was called the ‘Lev Yashin Award’ in honour of the Soviet goalkeeper, but was rebranded in 2010 as the ‘Golden Glove’.
Past Golden Glove Winners
| Year | Winner | Country | Clean Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Emi Martinez | Argentina | 3 |
| 2018 | Thibaut Courtois | Belgium | 3 |
| 2014 | Manuel Neuer | Germany | 4 |
| 2010 | Iker Casillas | Spain | 5 |
| 2006 | Gianluigi Buffon | Italy | 5 |
| 2002 | Oliver Kahn | Germany | 5 |
| 1998 | Fabien Barthez | France | 5 |
| 1994 | Michel Preud'homme | Belgium | 2 |
World Cup Records & Statistics
Here are some of the individual and team records for the World Cup Finals.
- Most appearances: Lionel Messi (26 Matches at 5 Tournaments)
- Most goals: Miroslav Klose (16 Goals in 24 Matches)
- Fastest goal: Hakan Şükür (11 seconds in 2002, Turkey vs South Korea)
- Biggest win: Hungary 10-1 El Salvador (1982)
- Highest scoring match: Austria 7-5 Switzerland
- Highest attendance: 173,850 (Uruguay v Brazil -1950)
- Youngest scorer: Pelé (17 years, 239 days)
- Oldest scorer: Roger Milla (42 years, 39 days)
- Most clean sheets: Peter Shilton & Fabien Barthez (10)
Memorable World Cup Moments
Hand of God
It was the 1986 World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and England at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City when, in the 51st minute, Diego Maradona beat Peter Shilton to put Argentina 1-0 up against England, but all is not what it seemed! Maradona had put the ball in the net using his hand, which was not spotted by the referee, with the goal being given.
Maradona said after the match, "a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God", which gave the name to this famous moment, which somewhat overshadowed him, going on to score a second goal and arguably one of the best goals ever scored! A late Lineker goal was not enough to get England back in the game, and Argentina advanced with a 2-1 victory.
It took Maradona nineteen years to finally admit what he had done and to issue an apology, an apology which Peter Shilton was not impressed with and one he rejected because it was all too late!
Brazil 1–7 Germany
The hosts Brazil, headed into the 2014 World Cup as strong favourites to lift the World Cup for a sixth time, and they opened their campaign with a 3-1 win over Croatia, followed by a 0-0 draw with Mexico and then sealed top spot in their group with a 4-1 win over Cameroon.
They needed penalties to see off Chile in the knock-out stages to advance to a quarter-final, where they beat Colombia 2-1 to set up a semi-final with Germany, and were just two wins away from winning the World Cup in their own country.
However, everything was about to go wrong for them in front of just under 60,000 spectators! Germany was looking for revenge after their defeat to Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final, and that is exactly what they got and in spectacular style!
Within half an hour of the match kicking off, Brazil found themselves 5-0 down! Müller opened the scoring in the 11th minute, there was not another until the 23rd minute when Klose scored and opened the floodgates, Kross added two more (24th & 26th minutes) before Khedira added a 5th in the 29th minute in 6 minutes of madness!
André Schürrle added two more later on in the match (69th & 79th minutes), and Oscar got a consolation for Brazil in the 89th minute to make it 7-1. That was the biggest defeat the Brazilians had suffered since 1920, and a day they would want to forget.
Geoff Hurst Final
The year it all came good for England, 1966, in their own country, with Geoff Hurst the hero in the final!
It’s the only final in the history of the World Cup that England have made it to, and what a time to do it, when hosting the tournament, which back then seemed to give countries a much better advantage as it does these days.
England opened up their campaign with a 0-0 draw with Uruguay before beating both Mexico and France 2-0, with Roger Hunt scoring three of those four goals and Bobby Charlton getting the other. Geoff Hurst got his first goal in the quarter-finals, a 1-0 win over Argentina and then a double from Bobby Charlton gave England a 2-1 win over Portugal to book their place in the final.
The final was set up against West Germany, a squad full of quality with the likes of Beckenbauer, Schnellinger and Seeler. 96,924 spectators crammed into Wembley to witness the final, but it was Germany who started better, taking the lead in the 12th minute through Haller, but it was only 6 minutes later that Hurst got his first goal to bring it level.
Martin Peters thought he had won it for England in the 78th minute, but Weber drew Germany level in the 89th minute and sent the game into extra time. Hurst got his second goal in the 101st minute to give England a 3-2 lead and then sealed his hat-trick and his place in history in the 120th minute, the last kick of the ball.
However, we have spoken of the Maradona controversy; well, this 4th England goal was also controversial. Many will remember the commentator, “They think it’s all over, it is now”, when Hurst completed his hat-trick; however, with modern technology, it is clearly shown that all of the ball never went over the line, and it should not have counted. Given it was virtually the last kick of the ball, it was unlikely the Germans would have scored an equaliser anyway.
Article Contributor Information
James Banting and Andy Powell created and maintain OLBG's comprehensive International Football coverage of the World Cup, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to their work.
**All information and odds in this blog were correct at the time of posting (19/05/2026)
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