Some players start games. Romelu Lukaku ends them, and apparently makes history while doing it.
The 33-year-old Belgian striker has become the first player in FIFA World Cup history to score as a substitute in four different matches, a record he sealed during Belgium’s 4-1 demolition of co-host USA on July 6. Lukaku entered the match in the 67th minute, took exactly one shot, and buried it in the 93rd minute.
Belgium advance to the quarterfinals, where they face Spain. Lukaku’s goal capped a performance that also featured two goals from Charles De Ketelaere.
The substitute who keeps rewriting the record books
Lukaku has produced a goal or assist in just 121 minutes of total playtime during the 2026 World Cup. For context, 121 minutes is roughly two full halves of football.
He arrived at the tournament carrying limited match fitness after a hamstring injury restricted his minutes at Napoli, which is why Belgium’s coaching staff had been deploying him primarily off the bench.
The goal against USA was also Lukaku’s eighth World Cup finals goal for Belgium, which moves him past Marc Wilmots as the country’s all-time leading scorer at the tournament. Wilmots is a Belgian football legend who also managed the national team.
A tournament built on moments, not minutes
Lukaku scored against Egypt within 22 seconds of coming on as a substitute. He then scored shortly after entering against New Zealand, adding to a pattern that was becoming impossible to ignore.
The USA found out which option they had chosen when the scoreboard read 4-1 in the 93rd minute.
What this means for Belgium, and for Lukaku’s legacy
The tactical question for Belgium’s coaching staff is whether to continue the substitute strategy or start Lukaku against Spain. Starting him means he plays longer, which could mean more goals. It also means defenses have 90 minutes to adjust rather than 20.
Lukaku now holds a record that no other player in the history of the competition has held, earned in the least glamorous role available to a top striker. Coming off the bench, again and again, and scoring every time the moment required it is not a coincidence.