Notable Decline in Penalty Kicks at the 2026 World Cup

The 2026 World Cup, as mentioned by the 'Foot Mercato' website, recorded a significant and unexpected decline in the number of penalty kicks awarded after forty matches in the tournament, with only 6 penalty kicks awarded since the start of the competition, at a rate of one penalty every 6.7 matches.

This figure shows a clear decrease compared to previous editions, as the 2022 World Cup in Qatar saw 23 penalty kicks awarded during 64 matches, while the 2018 edition in Russia still holds the record with 29 penalty kicks awarded.

According to the statistics in the report, only the teams of Austria, Germany, England, South Africa, and Switzerland have benefited from penalty kicks so far, with Switzerland being the only team to have received two penalty kicks during the tournament.

These numbers have raised questions about the level of refereeing caution in the tournament, especially with controversial cases in recent days, most notably Sadio Mane's challenge on Kylian Mbappe inside the penalty area in the France vs. Senegal match, which was not counted as a foul.

The controversy was repeated in another match when the Haiti team demanded a penalty after a challenge from Grant Hanley on Jean Belguard, without a penalty being awarded.

The numbers indicate that this edition records the lowest rate of penalty kicks so far since the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.