Although the French team lost to England 4-6 in the World Cup 2026 third-place match, midfielder Michael Olise still made his mark with a memorable milestone in the history of the tournament.
The Bayern Munich star made two assists for Kylian Mbappe to score in the second half, contributing to helping the French team narrow the gap after being led 0-4.
With these two assists, Olise closed the 2026 World Cup with a total of 7 assists, becoming the player with the most assists in a World Cup since the statistics were recorded in 1966.
The French midfielder's achievement surpassed the record of 6 assists set by legend Pele at the 1970 World Cup.
Notably, Pele reached this milestone with fewer matches played than Olise. However, the 24-year-old midfielder still had an impressive tournament when maintaining stable assisting form from the group stage to the final round.
Olise began his journey to set records with an assist for Mbappe to score in the victory over Senegal. In the match against Iraq, he continued to have two assists for Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele.
In the knockout round, this midfielder contributed two more assists in the match against Sweden, helping Bradley Barcola and Mbappe score. Two passes for Mbappe in the third-place match against England raised Olise's total assists to 7.
Although the French team could not win third place, Olise's performance is still one of the biggest highlights of the blue team at the 2026 World Cup. Besides his creativity, the Bayern Munich midfielder also showed an increasingly important role in coach Didier Deschamps' attacking system.
