Declan Rice is leading England in the FIFA World Cup 2026 third-place play-off match against France at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Saturday (July 18), and he needed just 2 minutes and 14 seconds to open the scoring for the Three Lions. The early strike helped Rice become England’s second-fastest goalscorer in FIFA World Cup history.
In England’s FIFA World Cup history, only one player has managed to score faster than Rice, and that feat was achieved by Bryan Robson in the 1982 edition.
🚨WHAT A GOAL FROM DECLAN RICE VS FRANCE WOW 🤯🔥 pic.twitter.com/qEzusLbbTb
— KinG £ (@xKGx__) July 18, 2026
In England’s group-stage match against France at San Mamés in Bilbao during the 1982 FIFA World Cup, Robson needed just 28 seconds to score for the Three
Lions.
The overall record for the fastest goal in FIFA World Cup history is held by Turkey star Hakan Sukur. In the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Sukur scored after just 11 seconds against South Korea in the third-place play-off match at Daegu World Cup Stadium in Daegu.
Fastest goals in FIFA World Cup history
- Hakan Sukur (Turkey) – 11 seconds vs South Korea (2002)
- Vaclav Masek (Czechoslovakia) – 15 seconds vs Mexico (1962)
- Ernest Lehner (Germany) – 25 seconds vs Austria (1934)
- Bryan Robson (England) – 28 seconds vs France (1982)
- Clint Dempsey (USA) – 30 seconds vs Ghana (2014)
- Bernard Lacombe (France) – 31 seconds vs Italy (1978)
- Arne Nyberg (Sweden) – 35 seconds vs Hungary (1938)
- Emile Veinante (France) – 35 seconds vs Belgium (1938)
- Florian Albert (Hungary) – 50 seconds vs Bulgaria (1962)
- Adalbert Desu (Romania) – 50 seconds vs Peru (1930)
- Seung Zin Pak (North Korea) – 50 seconds vs Portugal (1966)
- Celso Ayala (Paraguay) – 52 seconds vs Nigeria (1998)
- Mathias Jorgensen (Denmark) – 55 seconds vs Croatia (2018)
The goal scored by Rice in the ongoing match against France is his first-ever goal in the FIFA World Cup for England. He has featured in every match of the ongoing edition of the tournament for the Three Lions but had failed to find the back of the net in the previous seven fixtures.
If England manage to get the better of France in the ongoing match, they will finish third in the FIFA World Cup 2026, which would be their second-best finish in the tournament’s history.
The English side have reached the FIFA World Cup final only once before, in 1966, and they went on to win the tournament that year.
