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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

If Lionel Messi scores five goals (or more) in his last Argentina match next week against Benin he will have a better international goals-per-game average than Cristiano Ronaldo.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Erling Haaland has now scored more international goals than both the Brazilian Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimović (63 vs 62 & 62).

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Here's my piece from Friday exploring the numbers and history behind Harry Kane scoring 100 Bundesliga goals in record-breaking time: www.nytimes.com/athletic/756...

nytimes.com

How Harry Kane shattered the record for reaching 100 goals in the Bundesliga (Gift Article)

Analysis of how Kane got to a century of Bundesliga goals in record time

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Years since the end of the Second World War where Manchester United have failed to win a league game in September: 1947 2005 2026

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Aston Villa have become the fourth side to score 7,000 goals in the English top flight: Liverpool: 7,431 Arsenal: 7,364 Everton: 7,329 Aston Villa: 7,000

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Manchester United have lost a game at Old Trafford that they were winning at half-time for the first time since Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Ollie Robinson now has the best Test bowling average since the First World War (minimum of 100 wickets). 🏏

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Kylian Mbappé is now past the halfway mark to Cristiano Ronaldo's record for the most goals scored in the European Cup/Champions League: Ronaldo: 140 Mbappé: 71

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Keir Starmer's time as an MP — which will finish a little shy of 11.5 years — is the shortest overall time any UK Prime Minister has been in the House of Commons for since the Earl of Rosebery, who was PM from March 1894 to June 1895 and was never an MP at any point in his life.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

The 2030 tournament will be the first World Cup without Lionel Messi playing in the lifetimes of everyone in the world under the age of 27 at the time it starts.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Bruno Fernandes has now scored the same number of hat-tricks for Manchester United as Cristiano Ronaldo (three).

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Play today's Connections: Soccer Edition puzzle here! 🧩⚽️: t.co/AszCBN705d

t.co

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/connections-soccer-edition/

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

If you excluded every goal Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in his career with his stronger right foot he would now still have scored more goals than Diego Maradona's overall total (346 v 345).

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

There is not a single Champions League-winning manager in charge of a Premier League club right now - the last time that this was the case at the start of a season was 1998-99.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

#OTD in 1977, Dieter Müller scored six goals in a Bundesliga game for Köln against Werder Bremen — the only time a player has ever scored more than five goals in a Bundesliga match.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

The upcoming cricket game between Australia and Bangladesh in Darwin will be the first Test match ever played in Australia in August. 🏏

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

There were eight Barcelona players in Spain’s World Cup squad, with only three World Cup-winning sides having more players from one club in their squad:

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

There was not a single penalty shootout from the quarter-finals onwards at the 2026 World Cup — the first time this has ever happened at a World Cup since the first penalty shootout took place in the competition.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

The winner of the World Cup Golden Ball has played for the winning team at two consecutive tournaments for the first time since 1982 & 1986: 1982: Paolo Rossi 🇮🇹 & 1986: Diego Maradona 🇦🇷 2022: Lionel Messi 🇦🇷 & 2026: Rodri 🇪🇸

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

There were eight Barcelona players in the Spain squad at the 2026 World Cup. The last World Cup winners to have more players from one club than this in their squad were Uruguay in 1950: they had nine Peñarol players.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Lionel Messi has played in 3.2% of all World Cup games in history.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

The result yesterday means that 4-2 is no longer the outright most-common scoreline in the World Cup final. 1-0 has now also happened four times.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

At just four of the 23 World Cups has the Golden Boot winner represented the winning team: 1962: Garrincha & Vavá for 🇧🇷 1978: Mario Kempes for 🇦🇷 1982: Paolo Rossi for 🇮🇹 2002: Ronaldo for 🇧🇷

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

The goals-per-game average at the 2026 World Cup of 2.96 was the highest since the 1970 tournament (2.97). Still some way off the 5.38 in 1954 though! Here is how it has changed through history:

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

The 2030 World Cup will be the first in history where the defending champions are also a host nation.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Very pleased to say that due to its popularity during the World Cup, Connections: Soccer Edition will be continuing every day for the foreseeable future! Play today's game here ⚽️🧩: www.nytimes.com/athletic/con...

nytimes.com

Play Connections: Soccer Edition

Group soccer terms that share a common thread. A new puzzle is available each day.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Spain are the first country to win the World Cup twice in the 21st century.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Ferran Torres, who scored the winning goal for Spain in the World Cup final, was born on February 29 and he was congratulated afterwards by Spain's prime minister — Pedro Sánchez — who was also born on February 29.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

This was the first World Cup final without an Inter Milan player since 1978 (and a Bayern Munich player but that was confirmed before kick-off).

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Five of the last six World Cup finals have gone to extra time.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

#OTD in 1930, Argentina's Guillermo Stábile scored the first of his eight goals at that year's World Cup. His four appearances in that tournament were the only international matches he played, meaning his goals-per-game average for Argentina was 2.0 (eight goals in four games).

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Countries to have had a player score a World Cup hat-trick since Brazil last did (Pelé in 1958): 🇩🇪: 5 hat-tricks (3 as West Germany) 🇦🇷: 4 🇵🇹: 4 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿: 4 🇫🇷: 3 🇭🇺: 2 🇵🇱: 2 🇷🇺: 2 (1 as Soviet Union) 🇪🇸: 2 🇨🇦: 1 🇨🇿: 1 (As Czechoslovakia) 🇩🇰: 1 🇮🇹: 1 🇳🇱: 1 🇵🇪: 1 🇨🇭: 1 Yugoslavia: 1

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Exactly a third of Kylian Mbappé's France goals have been scored at the World Cup (22/66).

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

If there are five goals in today's final then the 2026 World Cup will have averaged exactly three goals per game — which would be the first time a World Cup has averaged 3.0 goals per game (or higher) since the 1958 tournament (3.6).

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

The 2026 World Cup is England's best-ever performance in a World Cup on foreign soil.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

France and England in 2026 (both 20 goals) are the first teams to score 20+ goals at a World Cup since France in 1958 (23 goals). The most scored by a side at one World Cup is Hungary with 27 in 1954.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Bukayo Saka is the first player to score a World Cup hat-trick in the month of July since Paolo Rossi did so for Italy against Brazil in 1982.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Kylian Mbappé (10 goals) is the first player to reach double figures for goals at a World Cup since West Germany’s Gerd Müller in 1970 (also 10 goals).

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Kylian Mbappé (nine goals) is the first player to score more than eight times at a World Cup since West Germany’s Gerd Müller in 1970 (10 goals).

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

England have now scored more goals at this World Cup than France (17 v 16).

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

#OTD in 1950, Uruguay beat host nation Brazil 2-1 in the deciding game of that year's World Cup. Uniquely, the 1950 World Cup did not have a final and instead the four group winners contested a round-robin 'final round' which saw Uruguay emerge victorious.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Regardless of who wins this year's World Cup final the 2030 tournament will be the first World Cup in history where the defending champions are also a host nation.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

There will be no Bayern Munich player in the World Cup final for the first time since 1978.

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

If England win the second semi-final: No Inter Milan player in the World Cup final for the first time since 1978 If Argentina win the second semi-final: No Bayern Munich player in the World Cup final for the first time since 1978

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

This will be England's eighth semi-final at a major tournament and on every single occasion they have played in the second SF: Did England play in second semi-final? 1966 WC: ✅ 1968 EC: ✅ 1990 WC: ✅ 1996 EC: ✅ 2018 WC: ✅ 2020 EC: ✅ 2024 EC: ✅ 2026 WC: ✅

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Will Jeanes @willjeanes.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Harry Kane will today equal Wayne Rooney’s record for the most caps by an England outfield player (120).

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