The crazy World Cup curse hanging over this national team ☠️ | OneFootball

Where do we sign to kick off the next World Cup on matchday two?

After the draw snatched at the very last second by Qatar on Saturday night against Switzerland (1-1), the World Cup delivered us another shock this Sunday morning!

Arda Güler, Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Kenan Yıldız’s Turkey lost 2-0 to Australia.

A surprise... that maybe isn’t really that much of one after all!

The reason? Turkey is quite simply cursed in World Cup opening matches.

In three appearances, the Turks have lost their first match... three times!

1954: 4-1 defeat against Germany; 2002: 2-1 defeat against Brazil; 2026: 2-0 defeat against Australia.

There is a positive point, however: in 2002, despite that opening defeat, Turkey still managed to reach the semi-finals. They even won the third-place playoff!

See you in the last four?

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.

📸 Tomas Diniz Santos - 2026 Getty Images