Inglewood, USA. Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simón set a new all-time record for consecutive minutes without conceding a goal in a World Cup, reaching a streak of 649 minutes, before Belgian Charles De Ketelaere ended his unbeaten run in the 2026 World Cup quarter-final match.
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The goal by the Belgian attacker, scored in the 41st minute of the match between Spain and Belgium, ended a streak that had already surpassed the previous record held by Walter Zenga, who went 517 minutes without conceding a goal during the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
Simón’s historic streak began at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, when Japan’s Ao Tanaka was the last player to manage to beat his goal, in the group stage match played on December 1 of that year.
Since then, the Athletic Club goalkeeper kept a clean sheet for the remaining minutes against Japan, the 120 minutes of the round of 16 clash against Morocco, and continued with five consecutive clean sheets in the 2026 World Cup against Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, Austria, and Portugal.
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Before setting the absolute record, Simón had also surpassed the best mark of a Spanish goalkeeper in World Cup history, which belonged to Iker Casillas with 476 minutes without conceding a goal between South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014.
Despite losing his unbeaten streak, the goalkeeper closed out an outstanding performance in the tournament. After six matches played, he has totaled 650 minutes, conceded just one goal, accumulated five clean sheets, 11 saves, and recorded a pass accuracy of 93.17%.
Spain, furthermore, maintains one of the most solid defenses of the 2026 World Cup, with only one goal conceded in six matches, and advanced to the semifinals after beating Belgium 2-1, where they will face France in search of a spot in the grand final.
