This will be the third World Cup meeting between England and France, with the Three Lions winning both of the previous two, a 2-0 victory in 1966 and 3-1 in 1982, both in the group stage.
France have only lost one of their last eight meetings with England across all competitions (W5 D2), a 2-0 defeat in a friendly in November 2015. This is the two nations’ first encounter since June 2017, when Les Bleus won a friendly 3-2.
England have been eliminated from six of their last eight World Cup knockout matches against fellow European nations. By contrast, France have progressed from eight of their last 10 World Cup knockout matches against European opposition (includes third-place play-off and final).
France will be the first reigning champions to participate in the quarterfinal of the World Cup since Brazil in 2006. France have won three games at the 2022 World Cup so far, while that Brazil team from 2006 (4) are the only reigning champions to have won more in a single tournament this century.
Gareth Southgate is looking to become the first England manager to guide the nation to two World Cup semifinals, having reached the final four in 2018. The Three Lions’ only other two semifinal appearances at the finals came under Alf Ramsey in 1966 and Bobby Robson in 1990.
England are looking to win three consecutive World Cup matches for the first time since 1990, when the third such match came in the quarterfinal. The Three Lions have won three of their four matches at this year’s World Cup (D1); they have only won more at a single edition of the tournament in 1966 when winning the title (five).
France are unbeaten in the 13 games in which Kylian Mbappé has started in the World Cup and European Championships combined (W10 D3), winning all nine in which he has started at the World Cup. The Frenchman has been directly involved in 12 goals in these 13 starts, scoring nine and making three assists.
England have scored 12 goals in their four games at the 2022 World Cup, their joint-most at a single major tournament (World Cup/Euros), having also scored 12 at the 2018 World Cup. These 12 goals have been scored by eight different players, the nation’s outright most-ever number of scorers at a single edition of a major tournament (excl. own goals).
Harry Kane has scored 52 goals for England in all competitions, just one short of Wayne Rooney’s all-time record for the nation (53). Of those 52 goals, 11 have been scored in major tournaments (7 World Cup, 4 Euros), a record for the Three Lions, ahead of Gary Lineker (10, all at World Cup).
Olivier Giroud has scored three goals for France at the 2022 World Cup, with only Kylian Mbappé netting more for Les Bleus (5). The only player aged 36+ to score more than three times in a single World Cup tournament was Roger Milla for Cameroon in 1990 (four goals at the age of 38).
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