Julian Quiñones scored the opening goal of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after capitalising on a mistake by a South African player in the ninth minute of the match. His strike gave co-hosts Mexico the lead at a packed Mexico City Stadium in the Mexican capital.
With that goal on Thursday (June 11), Quiñones became the first player from a CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football) nation to score the opening goal of a FIFA World Cup tournament.
1 – Mexico’s Julián Quiñones is the first player from a CONCACAF nation to score the opening goal at a FIFA World Cup tournament.
Historic. https://t.co/SLPkWQaBGr pic.twitter.com/O1KpjLZs99
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 11, 2026
Lucien Laurent was the first player to score
a goal in a FIFA World Cup match. He achieved the feat against Mexico at Estadio Pocitos on July 13, 1930.
In the previous edition of the FIFA World Cup in 2022, Enner Valencia scored the opening goal of the tournament against Qatar in the competition’s opening match.
Players to score first goal in FIFA World Cup editions
| EDITION | PLAYER | COUNTRY | AGAINST |
| 1930 | Lucien Laurent | France | Mexico |
| 1934 | Ernesto Belis | Argentina | Sweden |
| 1938 | Josef Gauchel | Germany | Switzerland |
| 1950 | Ademir de Menezes | Brazil | Mexico |
| 1954 | Miloš Milutinović | Yugoslavia | France |
| 1958 | Agne Simonsson | Sweden | Mexico |
| 1962 | Héctor Facundo | Argentina | Bulgaria |
| 1966 | Pele | Brazil | Bulgaria |
| 1970 | Dinko Dermendzhiev | Bulgaria | Peru |
| 1974 | Paul Breitner | Germany | Chile |
| 1978 | Bernard Lacombe | France | Italy |
| 1982 | Erwin Vandenbergh | Belgium | Argentina |
| 1986 | Alessandro Altobelli | Italy | Bulgaria |
| 1990 | François Omam-Biyik | Cameron | Argentina |
| 1994 | Jürgen Klinsmann | Germany | Bolivia |
| 1998 | César Sampaio | Brazil | Scotland |
| 2002 | Papa Bouba Diop | Senegal | France |
| 2006 | Philipp Lahm | Germany | Costa Rica |
| 2010 | Siphiwe Tshabalala | South Africa | Mexico |
| 2014 | Marcelo (own goal) | Brazil | Croatia |
| 2018 | Yuri Gazinsky | Russia | Saudi Arabia |
| 2022 | Enner Valencia | Ecuador | Qatar |
| 2026 | Julian Quiñones | Mexico | South Africa |
For Mexico, star forward Raúl Jiménez also found the back of the net in the 67th minute to seal a 2-0 victory for the hosts.
South Africa, meanwhile, never looked capable of spoiling the opening-day celebrations and finished the match with only nine men after Sphephelo Sithole and Themba Zwane were sent off.
Mexican defender César Montes was also shown a red card for a clumsy challenge on Khulisa Mudau near the edge of the penalty area.
