World Cup 2026: The first scorer, tournament by tournament

11.06.26 FT World Cup

Mexico

2

:

South Africa

0

The opening whistle of the 2026 World Cup will sound tonight as Mexico takes on South Africa (kick-off at 19:00 GMT). Who will be the tournament's first goalscorer?

It could be a Mexican or a South African. But if the opener ends in a goalless draw—as happened in four editions between 1966 and 1978—the first goal could come in the tournament's second match between South Korea and Czechia, or even later…

The first-ever goalscorer in a World Cup finals was France’s Lucien Laurent, who struck in the 19th minute during their 4-1 win over Mexico.

The most recent is Enner Valencia (16’) who found the net in Ecuador’s 2-0 victory over host nation Qatar in 2022.

Here’s the first scorer of every World Cup edition:

1930: Lucien Laurent (France)

1934: Ernesto Belis (Argentina)

1938: Josef Gauchel (Germany)

1950: Ademir de Menezes (Brazil)

1954: Miloš Milutinović (Yugoslavia)

1958: Oreste Corbatta (Argentina)

1962: Héctor Facundo (Argentina)

1966: Pelé (Brazil)

1970: Dinko Dermendzhiev (Bulgaria)

1974: Paul Breitner (Germany)

1978: Bernard Lacombe (France)

1982: Erwin Vandenbergh (Belgium)

1986: Alessandro Altobelli (Italy)

1990: François Omam-Biyik (Cameroon)

1994: Jürgen Klinsmann (Germany)

1998: César Sampaio (Brazil)

2002: Papa Bouba Diop (Senegal)

2006: Philipp Lahm (Germany)

2010: Siphiwe Tshabalala (South Africa)

2014: Marcelo (Brazil, own goal)

2018: Yuri Gazinsky (Russia)

2022: Enner Valencia (Ecuador)

Imed Ben Amara |

Editorar, fr

Imed Ben Amara - bilingual sports writer and web editor with experience in football content creation. Since 2021, he has contributed to Foot Africa, providing news coverage and analysis.

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