2018 World Cup Saw Double the Number of Own Goals From Previous Tournament Record

The World Cup is over and, as many be expected in a tournament which saw many of the favourites drop out in the early stages, many records were broken. One

The World Cup is over and, as many be expected in a tournament which saw many of the favourites drop out in the early stages, many records were broken.

One record which was smashed was confirmed in the final, as Croatian striker Mario Mandzukic opened the scoring by turning the ball into his own net.

12 - There have now been 12 own goals scored at the 2018 World Cup, double the tally of the previous highest in a World Cup tournament: six in 1998. Gifts.#WorldCupFinal #WorldCup #CRO #FRA pic.twitter.com/uavtA8c1CU

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 15, 2018

That goal was the 12th own goal of the tournament, which doubled the previous record of six own goals at the 1998 World Cup in France.

It was also the only own goal to be scored in a World Cup final in the history of the tournament. In fact, players put the ball into their own net in every stage of the competition - except for the semi-finals. 

SAEED KHAN/GettyImages

The group stage saw nine own goals, whilst the round of 16, quarter-finals and final each had one own goal.

The goal opened the scoring in a game which saw France win 4-2 against Croatia, allowing Les Bleus to lift the World Cup for the second time in their history.

France are also the team which benefited the most from own goals in this World Cup, as they also won against Australia in a group C match, as Australian Aziz Behich gave France the winning goal. 

The first own goal was scored in the final minutes of a group B game, where Morocco's Aziz Bouhaddouz scored the only goal of the game against Iran.