A record that returns after 34 years: Olise steals the spotlight on France's deadly night

Cantona's achievement and Djorkaeff's footsteps

France's late win over Belgium delivered more than just Michael Olise's goal in the dying moments. It produced a set of striking numbers that captured the start of Zinedine Zidane's era with Les Bleus and confirmed the place of several stars in his new picture.

French network "Stats Foot" put it plainly: "France's national team achieved 11 victories during 2026, the highest tally of wins in a calendar year since 2018, when Les Bleus achieved 12 wins".

Michael Olise keeps writing his name into the story. One goal, one assist, and he became the first player directly involved in the first two goals of a new France manager since Eric Cantona under Gérard Houllier in 1992.

That took Olise to 18 goal contributions in his first 27 international matches with France, 8 goals and 10 assists. Nobody had managed that since Youri Djorkaeff in 1997, when he contributed to 22 goals across his first 27 matches.

Désiré Doué and Bradley Barcola made their own mark on the figures. France won all seven matches in which the pair featured together.

At the back, France kept their second clean sheet in their last 14 fixtures without Dayot Upamecano, the first coming in the win over Germany on 8 June 2025.