England played a total of 8 matches in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, and they did not lose in any of them. Far from losing, no team could score a single goal in their 8 matches. The English scored a total of 22 goals in the qualifiers. And that is what the Three Lions have set a great record for.
England started the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers by defeating Albania 2-0 at Wembley on March 21. That was Thomas Tuchel’s first match as England coach. On Sunday (November 16) night, England completed their World Cup qualifiers in the European region by defeating that same Albania by the same scoreline.
England has set a record of becoming the first European team to win all matches in a World Cup qualifier and not concede a goal. The calculation was made taking into account that they had to play at least 6 matches in the qualifiers.
Meanwhile, Harry Kane has surpassed Edson Arantes do Nascimento in the goal statistics in international matches. The English striker broke Pele’s record by scoring 2 goals against Albania in Tirana. Kane has scored 78 goals in 112 matches for England. Pele has 77 goals in 92 matches for Brazil.
Germany, the last team to win all 10 matches in Europe before England, had a 100% success rate in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. They won all 10 of their matches in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. But Germany scored 43 goals and conceded 3 goals along the way.
Spain and the Netherlands, who played in the 2010 World Cup finals, had 100% success in the qualifiers. Spain won all 10 of their matches in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. They conceded 5 goals on the way to scoring 28 goals. The Netherlands won all 8 of their matches, conceding 2 goals against scoring 17 goals. West Germany played 8 matches in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers. They won all 10 matches, but conceded 3 goals on the way to scoring 33 goals.
This time, however, it was not just England, Norway also won all of their matches in the qualifiers. Erling Haaland’s team has conceded 5 goals against 37 goals in 8 matches on the way to winning 8 matches. However, Spain has the opportunity to set a record of not conceding a goal in addition to winning all the matches.
Spain has won all 5 matches so far in the qualifiers this time. They have not conceded a goal so far on the way to scoring 19 goals. Spain will play their last match in the qualifiers against Turkey on Tuesday (November 18). If they win that match without conceding a goal, the Spanish will touch England.
England last lost a match in a World Cup qualifier in 2009. The Three Lions lost 1-0 to Ukraine then. Since then, they have been unbeaten in 39 consecutive World Cup qualifiers. They have conceded only 10 goals on the way to scoring 115 goals.
England has now also shared the European record for winning the most consecutive matches without conceding a goal in a competitive match. Spain has a record of winning 10 consecutive matches without conceding a goal, which is now also held by England.
