Spain's Unai Simón Ends Record Streak Without Conceding Goal at 650 Minutes

Spain's goalkeeper Unai Simón has shattered the long-standing World Cup record for the most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal, reaching an astonishing 650 minutes.

Simón's remarkable streak, which spanned across the 2022 and 2026 World Cups, finally ended in the 41st minute of Spain's quarter-final clash against Belgium in the 2026 tournament. This achievement eclipses the previous record held by Italian legend Walter Zenga, who went 517 minutes without conceding at the 1990 World Cup.

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Records are there to be broken, but I'm glad I could be the record holder for 36 years.

Zenga, reflecting on the broken record, expressed a mix of pride and wistfulness. "Records are there to be broken, but I'm glad I could be the record holder for 36 years," he commented. "People often talk about goal scorers, and they tend to forget about us goalkeepers. I feel like nobody in Italy remembered my record."

Simón's record includes 39 minutes from the 2022 group stage match against Japan, 120 minutes against Morocco in the Round of 16 (2022), and then a series of clean sheets in the 2026 tournament: 90 minutes against Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, Austria, and Portugal, before the streak's conclusion against Belgium.

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People often talk about goal scorers, and they tend to forget about us goalkeepers. I feel like nobody in Italy remembered my record.