The first goal of the 2026 World Cup took just nine minutes to score. Julián Quiñonez, Mexico striker, took advantage of a mistake by the South Africa defense and opened the scoring in the World Cup debut this Thursday (11).
The 29-year-old striker, who plays for Al-Qadisiyah, in Saudi Arabia, had an excellent season, scoring 33 goals in 31 games played in the Saudi Championship. Quiñonez beat names like Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema and finished as top scorer in the Saudi Pro League.
In all, there were 37 goals in 35 games, totaling all competitions.
Who is Julian Quiñonez?
Julian was born in Magüí Payán, Colombia, and after a few years playing in Mexican football, where he had a successful spell, Quiñonez naturalized as Mexican in 2023 and arrived at the World Cup as a great hope for goals from Javier Aguirre, Mexico’s coach.
At 1.77m tall, Quiñonez stands out for playing in different areas of the attackand can be used as a center forward and also as a winger. His main characteristics are precisely his speed and a powerful shot, precisely the ‘tools’ used by the top scorer to score the first goal of the 2026 World Cup.
