The first shot of any sporting event receives great global media attention. Discussions arise around it, and every detail and detail related to it is analysed, to the point where it is documented in history books.
The same applies to the World Cup, which first saw the light in 1930, and has reached its 23rd edition, scheduled to begin next Thursday evening with the opening match between Mexico and South Africa at ten o’clock Mecca and Doha time.
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The value of the first goal in the World Cup
Football fans are waiting for the lucky player, whose name will be written in the annals of history as the scorer of the first goal in the 2026 World Cup, like the 22 players who preceded him in past tournaments.
In fact, the first goal in any World Cup edition is not just a number added to historical records, but rather constitutes the beginning spark of a journey full of excitement, drama and immortal moments that remain engraved in memory from generation to generation.
Over the 96 years of the World Cup, the tournament has witnessed a variety of opening goals, some of which came from amazing shots, others from unexpected errors or exceptional individual moments.
Scorers of the first goal in World Cup history
In the following lines, we review the list of those who scored the first goal in each edition of the World Cup from 1930 until 2022:
World Cup in 1930: The player Lucien Laurent entered history from the widest gates as the scorer of the first goal in the history of the World Cup in his country’s match, France against Mexico, which took place on July 13, 1930 at the Pocitos Stadium in Montevideo, which no longer exists today. In which he opened the scoring in the 19th minute, paving the way for a major victory that settled at 4-1.
World Cup in 1934: Player Ernesto Belles scored the first goal of the second edition of the World Cup, in the third minute of the match that brought his country, Argentina, against Sweden, but the latter remedied the situation and won the match after overturning a deficit to win by three goals to one, taking advantage of the participation of “Tango” in that tournament with amateur players after the clubs refused to allow their professional players to participate in it, according to what the Spanish newspaper “AS” reported.
World Cup in 1938: The first match in the third edition of the World Cup brought together the national teams of Germany and Switzerland, in which player Joseph Guschel scored the first goal of the World Cup for the Germans in the 29th minute, in a match that ended in a positive draw 1-1, which forced a rematch according to the system of that version, which Switzerland won with a score of 4-2.
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World Cup in 1950: The opening match brought together the host country and Mexico at the famous Maracanã Stadium, in which player Ademir de Menezes scored the first goal for the hosts after about half an hour of play, paving the way for a wide Brazilian victory that settled at 4-0.
World Cup in 1954: Yugoslav Miloš Milutinović scored the first World Cup goal in 1954, a quarter of an hour after the start of his country’s match against France, and by the way, it was the only goal in that match.
World Cup in 1958: Player Oreste Corbata scored the first goal of that edition just two minutes after the start of the match between his country, Argentina, against West Germany, but “Tango” did not maintain its early lead and eventually lost the match by three goals to one.
World Cup in 1962: Player Hector Facundo scored the first goal in that edition in the third minute of the match that Argentina won over Bulgaria with that goal. The funny thing is that 4 matches were held at the same time, and that day, May 30, 1962, witnessed 10 goals being scored, but Facundo was the fastest.
World Cup in 1966: The brown jewel Pele was the first to score in that edition, in the 14th minute of the match in which Brazil beat Bulgaria with two unanswered goals. What is interesting is that he preceded the German Ziggy Held by only one minute, as the latter opened the scoring for Germany against Switzerland in the 15th minute of the match that was held at the same time and date, July 11, 1966, and ended with a major victory for the Germans by five clean goals.
World Cup in 1970: The first goal of that edition came from Bulgarian Dinko Dermendjiev, who scored against Peru in the 13th minute, but the latter remedied the situation and won in the end by three goals to two. It is noteworthy that the opening match of that tournament, which brought together Mexico and the Soviet Union, ended in a goalless draw.
World Cup in 1974: After Brazil and Yugoslavia tied 0-0 in the opening match, German Paul Breitner took advantage of that to score his name as the scorer of the first goal in that edition, as he scored it against Chile in the 18th minute with a powerful shot.
World Cup in 1978: The first goal in this edition was delayed until the second match, just as happened in the previous two editions. After Germany and Poland tied 0-0, Frenchman Bernard Lacombe scored the goal just one minute after the start of his country’s match against Italy with a header, and despite that, the Roosters lost by two goals to one.
World Cup in 1982: In the presence of the legend Diego Armando Maradona, Belgian Erwin Vandenberg scored the only goal in the opening match against Argentina, in the 62nd minute, after he received the ball with his chest and shot it forcefully into the net.
World Cup in 1986: The net scored for the first time from a free ball executed by Antonio Di Gennaro and turned into the net by Alessandro Altobelli in the 43rd minute of the match between Italy and Bulgaria, but the latter equalized 5 minutes before the end with a goal scored by Nasco Sirakov.
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World Cup in 1990: It witnessed one of the biggest surprises at the opening of the World Cup, after the Cameroonian national team defeated its Argentine counterpart, the defending champion, in the opening match with a single goal scored by Omam Beye in the 67th minute.
World Cup in 1994: German Jurgen Klinsmann took advantage of confusion in Bolivia’s defense and scored the first goal of the World Cup for the United States in an empty net in the 16th minute, and it was enough to give the “Mansheft” the winning points.
World Cup in 1998: Four minutes after the start of the Brazil-Scotland match, player Cesar Sampaio scored the first goal of that edition for the Seleção using his shoulder, and that match ended with Brazil winning by two goals to one.
World Cup in 2022: The opening match of the Qatar World Cup, which was held for the first time in an Arab country, brought together the host country team and Ecuador at Al Bayt Stadium, and ended with the victory of the latter with two unanswered goals, with Ener Valencia marking the first World Cup goal from the penalty spot in the 16th minute.
