Unai Simon created impressive milestones after Spain’s victory over France in the semi-finals of the 2026 World Cup.
In the early morning of July 15, an excellent performance in Spain’s 2-0 victory over France in the semi-finals helped Unai Simon become the first goalkeeper in history to keep 6 clean sheets in a single World Cup.
The six opponents unable to find the back of Simon’s net, spanning from the group stage to the knockout stage, include: Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, Austria, Portugal, and France.
Simon’s clean sheet run at this year’s tournament was interrupted only once, in the quarter-final match when Belgium scored. However, when confronting France’s star-studded attack in the semi-finals, Simon quickly regained his high focus, coordinating smoothly with the defense to keep the net completely intact.
Not only setting a record for the number of clean sheets, Unai Simon also broke the record for the most consecutive clean sheet minutes in World Cup history (650 minutes).
This goalkeeper’s run without conceding started from the match against Japan in the group stage of the previous World Cup. It extended through the match against Morocco, and then continued to be firmly maintained through this year’s matches.
Simon’s consecutive clean sheet streak extended across multiple matches before being stopped in the match against Belgium in the quarter-finals.
This achievement helps him far surpass the historical record previously set by legendary Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga, while simultaneously overtaking the clean sheet milestone of his predecessor Iker Casillas in the Spain national team shirt.
Ahead of the tournament, Unai Simon faced a fair amount of skepticism from experts regarding his club form. However, the absolute trust from the Spain national team coaching staff has been worthily rewarded.
Simon’s proactive footwork, situational anticipation to rush out and clear danger, and composure have become a solid bedrock for the Spanish defense.
