Charles De Ketelaere scored a historic goal for the Belgium national team against Spain during their thrilling clash at the SoFi Stadium in the 2026 World Cup quarterfinals.
The promising Atalanta forward successfully met a precise cross from Timothy Castagne, slotting the ball past Unai Simón to secure a crucial equalizer for Rudi Garcia’s men just before the end of the first half.
With this strike, De Ketelaere shattered Simón’s legendary streak of 6 consecutive clean sheets across the 2022 and 2026 World Cups—a record that stands as the longest consecutive run without conceding a goal in the tournament’s history.
Unai Simón had remained unbeaten since Ao Tanaka’s goal for Japan in the group stage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Following that match, the Spanish goalkeeper kept clean sheets against Morocco, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, Austria, and Portugal, totaling an incredible 650 minutes without conceding.
Simultaneously, De Ketelaere has now become Belgium’s joint-all-time top scorer in the World Cup knockout stages, tying the record with Romelu Lukaku at 3 goals. The young forward netted twice against the USA in the previous round before scoring his third against Spain.
Remarkably, De Ketelaere’s 3 goals in this single World Cup tournament equal his entire goal tally from last season with Atalanta, where he scored 3 times across 31 appearances.
