It was a disappointing end for Qatar in the FIFA World Cup 2026 after they lost their last Group A game to Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-3 on Wednesday to finish at the bottom place. Qatar, also referred as ‘The Maroons’, even failed to win a single game in the league stage, crashing out of the tournament.
However, what was more disappointing for Qatar was the Middle East nation have become only the third country in the history of FIFA World Cups to score a self-goal twice in the same tournament. The unwanted record was achieved when Qatar conceded a self-goal in their last Group A game against Bosnia after goalkeeper Mahmud Abunada unintentionally directed the ball to the goal.ย
Before this, they had conceded a self-goal against Canada following a mistake by midfielder Mohamed Manai.ย
With this, Qatar have joined Bulgaria (1966) and Russia (2018) who have scored self-goals twice in the same world cup. Qatar are also the first Asian team to have this unwanted record to their name.
Qatar’s 1-3 loss to Bosnia-Herzegovina
On Wednesday, Qatar also lost to Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-3 in their Group A game, which led to the end of their short journey in the FIFA World Cup 2026. Despite their victory, Bosnia-Herzegovina failed to move to the round of 32, but the FIFA confirmed that they have qualified as one of the best of the eight third-placed teams.
Bosnian players were celebrating their victory. It should be mentioned here that before this, Bosnia had played just one world cup, which was in 2014 in Brazil. Even back then, they failed to make it to the next round and were crashed out of the tournament following the group stage.
“We knew that the bookings are erased after the group stage,” Bosnia-Herzegovina’s coach Sergej Barbarez said after the game in Bosnian. “I also heard that he shed a tear. I think it was quite emotional for him.”
“We all wanted to write history, and make history… But, this was never initially, honestly, our plan. We still have to see whether we are going to progress to the next stage,” the Bosnian coach added.
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