England achieve national team first and equal 71-year World Cup Qualifying record in Albania win

England achieved a national team first in their 2-0 victory over Albania during their final World Cup 2026 Qualifying Group K showdown on Sunday evening.

Thomas Tuchel's side travelled to Tirana only playing for pride and their perfect record, having already punched their ticket to the global gathering in North America during the November international break.

The Three Lions' opponents also had little reason to over-exert themselves, as their 1-0 win over Andorra during the week confirmed their second-placed finish and spot in next March's playoffs.

Tuchel opted to experiment with top spot secured, making no fewer than seven changes to his starting XI from the team that overcame Serbia during the week, but an unfamiliar England side lacked cohesiveness and chemistry during the first half.

The German's substitutes made the difference in the second 45, though, as Bukayo Saka's flicked-on corner and Marcus Rashford's wonderful cross both found Harry Kane for a quickfire brace.

England achieve national team first with 11th consecutive win

It's a FANTASTIC cross from Marcus Rashford! ???????

And it's another Harry Kane goal! ⚽️⚽️#ITVFootball | #ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/NNhbGw1YyD
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) November 16, 2025

England's triumph in Tirana means that the Three Lions have now won a terrific 11 straight competitive games, their longest-ever victorious run in non-friendly matches as a senior men's team.

Tuchel oversaw a pair of wins against Albania, Serbia, Andorra and Latvia in Group K, prior to which his predecessor Lee Carsley masterminded victories over the Republic of Ireland, Greece and Finland in the Nations League.

England have gone 13 months without losing a competitive match, last going down to Greece in such circumstances in October 2024, although Tuchel did oversee a shock 3-1 friendly defeat to Senegal at the City Ground back in June.

Having also kept eight clean sheets in their eight Qualifying games, England are just the second UEFA nation to win every match and concede zero goals in the World Cup preliminary rounds after Yugoslavia, who won all four of their Qualifying matches for the 1954 edition without shipping a single goal.

However, Spain can also match that record this week, as the reigning European champions have scored 19 goals and conceded none ahead of their final Group E battle with Turkey on Tuesday.

Thomas Tuchel singles out former Liverpool man after England victory

Among the players to be drafted into the Three Lions' XI on Sunday was Jarell Quansah, making his first start for England over a year on from his first call-up.

The Bayer Leverkusen man operated at right-back on his maiden senior appearance, and he drew high praise from Tuchel at full time.

"I have to say I am very impressed by our debutant Jarell Quansah on his first cap, he played like he had 50 already," the former Chelsea boss told the media.

"It is a very strong squad. Everyone who starts deserves [to], but to influence games from the bench is a privilege and the guys are fantastic."

England will learn their World Cup group-stage opponents when the draw is made on December 5, and at the time of writing, they are one of 31 teams confirmed to be competing at next year's tournament.