FIFA World Cup records and statistics

As of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, 80 national teams have competed at the finals of the FIFA World Cup. Brazil is the only team to have appeared in all 22 tournaments to date, with Germany having participated in 20, Italy and Argentina in 18 and Mexico in 17. Eight nations have won the tournament. The inaugural winners in 1930 were Uruguay; the current champions are Argentina. The most successful nation is Brazil, which has won the cup on five occasions. Five teams have appeared in FIFA World Cup finals without winning, while twelve more have appeared in the semi-finals.

List of tournaments

Overall team records

The system used in the World Cup up to 1990 was 2 points for a win. In this ranking 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. Teams are ranked by total points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored.

As of 2022 FIFA World Cup

Breakdown of successor team records

Finals records by team

Teams statistics

Note: In case there are teams with equal quantities, they will be mentioned in chronological order of tournament history (the teams that attained the quantity first, are listed first). If the quantity was attained by more than one team in the same tournament, the teams will be listed alphabetically.

For a detailed list of top four appearances, see FIFA World Cup results.

Most titles

•  Brazil – 5 (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)

Most finishes in the top two

•  Germany/West Germany – 8 (1954, 1966, 1974, 1982, 1986 and 1990 as West Germany, 2002 and 2014 as Germany)

Most second-place finishes

•  Germany/West Germany – 4 (1966, 1982, 1986 as West Germany, 2002 as Germany)

Most World Cup appearances

•  Brazil – 22 (every tournament)

Most consecutive championships

•  Italy – 2 (1934–1938)
•  Brazil – 2 (1958–1962)

Most consecutive finishes in the top two

•  West Germany – 3 (1982–1990)
•  Brazil – 3 (1994–2002)

Longest gap between successive titles

•  Italy – 44 years (nine editions, 1938–1982)

Longest gap between successive appearances in the top two

•  Argentina – 48 years (10 editions, 1930–1978)

Longest gap between successive appearances at the FIFA World Cup

•  Wales – 64 years (16 editions, 1958–2022)

Most consecutive failed qualification attempts

•  Luxembourg – 21 (all 1934–2022)

Worst finish by defending champions

• Group stage –  Italy (1950)
• Group stage –  Brazil (1966)
• Group stage –  France (2002)
• Group stage –  Italy (2010)
• Group stage –  Spain (2014)
• Group stage –  Germany (2018)

Players

Most appearances

Players in bold text are still active with their national team as of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Most championships

• Pelé – 3 ( Brazil, 1958, 1962 and 1970)

Most appearances in a World Cup final

• Cafu – 3 ( Brazil; 1994, 1998, 2002)

Youngest player

• Norman Whiteside – 17 years, 41 days (for  Northern Ireland vs.  Yugoslavia, 17 June 1982)

Youngest player in a final

• Pelé – 17 years, 249 days (for  Brazil vs.  Sweden, 29 June 1958)

Oldest player

• Essam El-Hadary – 45 years, 161 days (for  Egypt vs.  Saudi Arabia, 25 June 2018)

Oldest player in a final

• Dino Zoff – 40 years, 133 days (for  Italy vs.  West Germany, 11 July 1982)

Goalscoring

Individual

Top goalscorers

Players in bold text are still active with their national team as of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Most goals scored in a single tournament

• Just Fontaine – 13 ( France, 1958)

Most goals scored in a match

• Oleg Salenko – 5 (for  Russia vs.  Cameroon, 1994)

Most goals scored in a final match

• Geoff Hurst – 3 (for  England vs.  West Germany, 1966)
• Kylian Mbappé – 3 (for  France vs.  Argentina, 2022)

Most goals scored in final matches (overall)

• Kylian Mbappé – 4 ( France, 2018, 2022)

Most consecutive matches scored in

• Just Fontaine – 6 ( France, 1958)
• Jairzinho – 6 ( Brazil, 1970)

Most tournaments scored in

• Cristiano Ronaldo – 5 ( Portugal, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022)

Milestone goals

• Scorer of 1st goal – Lucien Laurent (for  France vs.  Mexico, 13 July 1930)
• Scorer of 100th goal – Angelo Schiavio (for  Italy vs.  United States, 27 May 1934)
• Scorer of 1,000th goal – Rob Rensenbrink (for  Netherlands vs.  Scotland, 11 June 1978)
• Scorer of 2,000th goal – Marcus Allbäck (for  Sweden vs.  England, 20 June 2006)

Olympic goals

• 1 – Marcos Coll (for  Colombia vs.  Soviet Union, 3 June 1962)

Youngest goalscorer

• Pelé – 17 years, 239 days (for  Brazil vs.  Wales, 19 June 1958)

Youngest goalscorer in a final

• Pelé – 17 years, 249 days (for  Brazil vs.  Sweden, 29 June 1958)

Oldest goalscorer

• Roger Milla – 42 years, 39 days (for  Cameroon vs.  Russia, 28 June 1994)

Oldest goalscorer at the knock-out round

• Pepe – 39 years, 283 days (for  Portugal vs.   Switzerland, 6 December 2022)

Oldest goalscorer in a final

• Nils Liedholm – 35 years, 264 days (for  Sweden vs.  Brazil, 29 June 1958)

Oldest goalscorer in a victorious final

• Lionel Messi – 35 years, 177 days (for  Argentina vs.  France, 18 December 2022)

Fastest goal

• Hakan Şükür – 11 seconds (for  Turkey vs.  South Korea, 2002)

Fastest goal in a final

• Johan Neeskens – 90 seconds (for  Netherlands vs.  West Germany, 1974)

Latest goal in regular time

• Mehdi Taremi – 90 13th minute (for  Iran vs.  England, 2022)

Team

Biggest wins

Biggest win in a final

Highest scoring matches

Most goals in a tournament

•  Hungary – 27 (1954)

Top scoring teams by tournament

Teams listed in bold won the tournament. Fewer than half of all World Cup tournaments have been won by the highest-scoring team.

Tournament

Most goals scored in a tournament

• 2022 – 172 goals

Fewest goals scored in a tournament

• 1930 – 70 goals
• 1934 – 70 goals

Most goals per match in a tournament

• 1954 – 5.38 goals per match

Fewest goals per match in a tournament

• 1990 – 2.21 goals per match

Own goals

Assists

Most assists

• Pelé – 10 ( Brazil, 1958–1970)

Most assists in a tournament

• Raymond Kopa – 9 ( France, 1958)

Most tournaments assisted in

• Lionel Messi – 5 ( Argentina, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022)

Most assists provided in a match

• Giovanni Ferrari – 4 (for  Italy vs.  United States, 1934)
• Robert Gadocha – 4 (for  Poland vs.  Haiti, 1974)

Most assists provided in final matches

• Pelé – 3 ( Brazil, 1 in 1958, 2 in 1970)

Most assists in the knockout rounds

• Fritz Walter – 6 ( West Germany 1954, 1958)
• Lionel Messi – 6 ( Argentina 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022)

Goal contributions

Most goal contributions

• Lionel Messi – 21, 13 goals and 8 assists for ( Argentina, 2006–2022)

Penalty shoot-outs

Goalkeeping

Most clean sheets

• Peter Shilton – 10 ( England, 1982–1990)
• Fabien Barthez – 10 ( France, 1998–2006)

Most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal

• Walter Zenga – 517 mins, 5 consecutive clean sheets ( Italy, 1990)

Most goals conceded

• Antonio Carbajal – 25 ( Mexico, 1950–1966)
• Mohamed Al-Deayea – 25 ( Saudi Arabia, 1994–2006)

Most goals conceded in a tournament

• Hong Deok-young – 16 ( South Korea, 1954)

Fewest goals conceded in a tournament

• Pascal Zuberbühler – 0 (  Switzerland, 2006)

Fewest goals conceded in a tournament for the eventual winners

• Fabien Barthez – 2 ( France, 1998)
• Gianluigi Buffon – 2 ( Italy, 2006)
• Iker Casillas – 2 ( Spain, 2010)

Most saves in one match

• Tim Howard – 16 (for  United States vs.  Belgium, 2014)

Most penalties saved (excluding penalty shoot-outs)

• Jan Tomaszewski – 2 ( Poland, both in 1974)
• Brad Friedel – 2 ( United States, both in 2002)
• Iker Casillas – 2 ( Spain, 2002, 2010)
• Wojciech Szczęsny – 2 ( Poland, both in 2022)

Most penalties saved in one penalty shoot-out

• Ricardo – 3 (for  Portugal vs.  England, 2006)
• Danijel Subašić – 3 (for  Croatia vs.  Denmark, 2018)
• Dominik Livaković – 3 (for  Croatia vs.  Japan, 2022)

Most penalties saved overall in penalty shoot-outs

• Harald Schumacher – 4 ( West Germany, 1982–1986)
• Sergio Goycochea – 4 ( Argentina, 1990)
• Danijel Subašić – 4 ( Croatia, 2018)
• Dominik Livaković – 4 ( Croatia, 2022)

Coaching

Most matches coached

• Helmut Schön – 25 ( West Germany, 1966–1978)

Most matches won

• Helmut Schön – 16 ( West Germany, 1966–1978)

Most tournaments won

• Vittorio Pozzo – 2 ( Italy, 1934–1938)

Most tournaments as a coach

• Carlos Alberto Parreira – 6 (1982, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006, 2010)

Most different nations coached

• Bora Milutinović – 5 ( Mexico in 1986,  Costa Rica in 1990,  United States in 1994,  Nigeria in 1998 and  China in 2002)
• Carlos Alberto Parreira – 5 ( Kuwait in 1982,  United Arab Emirates in 1990,  Brazil in 1994 and 2006,  Saudi Arabia in 1998 and  South Africa in 2010)

Most consecutive tournaments as a coach

• Bora Milutinović – 5 (1986–2002)

Most consecutive tournaments as a coach with the same team

• Walter Winterbottom – 4 ( England, 1950–1962)
• Helmut Schön – 4 ( West Germany, 1966–1978)

Youngest coach

• Juan José Tramutola – 27 years, 267 days ( Argentina, 1930)

Youngest coach of a World Cup winning team

• Alberto Suppici – 31 years, 252 days ( Uruguay, 1930)

Oldest coach

• Otto Rehhagel – 71 years, 317 days ( Greece, 2010)

Oldest coach of a World Cup winning team

• Vicente del Bosque – 59 years, 200 days ( Spain, 2010)

Refereeing

Most tournaments

• John Langenus – 3 (Belgium, 1930–1938)
• Ivan Eklind – 3 (Sweden, 1934–1950)
• Sandy Griffiths – 3 (Wales, 1950–1958)
• Arthur Edward Ellis – 3 (England, 1950–1958)
• Juan Gardeazábal – 3 (Spain, 1958–1966)
• Erik Fredriksson – 3 (Sweden, 1982–1990)
• Jamal Al Sharif – 3 (Syria, 1986–1994)
• Joël Quiniou – 3 (France, 1986–1994)
• Ali Bujsaim – 3 (United Arab Emirates, 1994–2002)
• Óscar Ruiz – 3 (Colombia, 2002–2010)
• Carlos Eugênio Simon – 3 (Brazil, 2002–2010)
• Marco Antonio Rodríguez – 3 (Mexico, 2006–2014)
• Joel Aguilar – 3 (El Salvador, 2010–2018)
• Ravshan Irmatov – 3 (Uzbekistan, 2010–2018)
• Alireza Faghani – 3 (Iran, 2014–2022)
• Bakary Gassama – 3 (Gambia, 2014–2022)

Most matches refereed, overall

• Ravshan Irmatov – 11 (Uzbekistan, 2010–2018)

Youngest referee

• Juan Gardeazábal – 24 years and 193 days (Spain, 1958)

Oldest referee

• George Reader – 53 years and 236 days (England, 1950)

Discipline

Fastest caution

• Jesús Gallardo – 11 seconds (for  Mexico vs.  Sweden, 2018)

Fastest sending off

• José Batista – 56 seconds (for  Uruguay vs.  Scotland, 1986)

Fastest sending off, qualification

• Rashed Al-Hooti – 37 seconds (for  Bahrain vs.  Iran, 11 October 2011, 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification)

Latest caution

• Emiliano Martínez – During penalty shoot-out (for  Argentina vs.  France, 2022)

Latest sending off

• Leandro Cufré – After penalty shoot-out (for  Argentina vs.  Germany, 2006)
• Denzel Dumfries – After penalty shoot-out (for  Netherlands vs.  Argentina, 2022)

Sent off from the bench

• Claudio Caniggia (for  Argentina vs.  Sweden, 2002)

Most cards (all-time, player)

• Javier Mascherano – 7 ( Argentina, 2006–2018)

Most cautions (all-time, player)

• Javier Mascherano – 7 ( Argentina, 2006–2018)

Most sendings off (all-time, player)

• Rigobert Song – 2 ( Cameroon, 1994 and 1998)
• Zinedine Zidane – 2 ( France, 1998 and 2006)

Most sendings off (tournament)

• 2006 – 28 (in 64 games)

Most sendings off (all-time, team)

•  Brazil – 11 (in 97 games)

Most sendings off (match, both teams)

• 2 each for  Portugal and  Netherlands – 4 (2006)

Most sendings off (final match)

• 2 for  Argentina vs.  West Germany, 1990

Most cautions (tournament)

• 2006 – 345 (in 64 matches)

Most cautions (all-time, team)

•  Argentina – 88 (in 64 games until 2006)

Most cautions (match, one team)

•  Argentina – 10 (2022, vs.  Netherlands)

Most cautions (match, both teams)

• 8 for  Netherlands and 10 for  Argentina – 18 (2022)

Most cautions (match, player)

• Josip Šimunić – 3 (61', 90', 93') (for  Croatia vs.  Australia, 2006) (referee: Graham Poll)

Most cautions (final match, both teams)

• 9 for  Netherlands and 5 for  Spain – 14 (2010)

Most suspensions (tournament, player)

• André Kana-Biyik – 2 ( Cameroon, 1990)

Teams: Matches played/goals scored

All time

Most matches played

•  Brazil – 114

Most wins

•  Brazil – 76

Most losses

•  Mexico – 28

Most draws

•  England – 22

Most goals scored

•  Brazil – 237

Most goalscorers

•  Brazil – 85

Most goals conceded

•  Germany – 130

Fewest goals scored

•  China – 0
•  Dutch East Indies – 0
•  Trinidad and Tobago – 0
•  Zaire – 0

Highest goal difference

•  Brazil – 129

In one tournament

Most goals scored

•  Hungary – 27 (1954)

Fewest goals conceded

•   Switzerland – 0 (2006)

Most goals conceded

•  South Korea – 16 (1954)

Most matches gone into extra time

•  Belgium – 3 (1986)
•  England – 3 (1990)
•  Argentina – 3 (2014)
•  Croatia – 3 (2018)

Most minutes without conceding a goal

•  Italy – 517 mins (1990)

Highest goal difference in a tournament

•  Hungary – 17 (1954)

Highest goal difference, champions

•  Brazil – 14 (2002)
•  Germany – 14 (2014)

Lowest goal difference

•  South Korea – −16 (1954)

Lowest goal difference, champions

•  Italy /  Italy – 6 (1938 and 1982)
•  Spain – 6 (2010)

Highest average of goals scored per match

•  Hungary – 5.40 (1954)

Highest average goal difference per match

•  Hungary – 3.2 (1954)

Most goals scored, champions

•  West Germany – 25 (1954)

Fewest goals scored, champions

•  Spain – 8 (2010)

Fewest goals scored, finalists

•  Argentina – 5 (1990)

Fewest goals conceded, champions

•  France – 2 (1998)
•  Italy – 2 (2006)
•  Spain – 2 (2010)

Most goals conceded, champions

•  West Germany – 14 (1954)

Lowest average of goals scored per match, champions

•  Spain – 1.14 (2010)

Most penalties scored (excluding shoot-outs)

•  Portugal – 4 (1966)
•  Netherlands – 4 (1978)
•  Argentina – 4 (2022)

Most penalties awarded (excluding shoot-outs)

•  Argentina – 5 (2022)

Hat-tricks

Attendance

Highest attendance

Lowest attendance

•  Romania vs.  Peru – 300 (14 July 1930, Estadio Pocitos, Montevideo)

Highest average of attendance

• 1994 – 69,174 per match

Highest aggregated attendance

• 1994 – 3,594,042

Lowest average of attendance

• 1934 – 21,239

Lowest aggregated attendance

• 1934 – 358,000

Statistics per tournament

† Source: FIFA

‡ The best-attended single match has been the final in 11 of the 21 World Cups as of 2018. Another match or matches drew more attendance than the final in 1930, 1938, 1958, 1962, 1970–1982, 1990, and 2006.

See also

• AFC Asian Cup records and statistics
• Africa Cup of Nations records and statistics
• CONCACAF Gold Cup records and statistics
• Copa América records and statistics
• FIFA Arab Cup records and statistics
• FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup records and statistics
• FIFA Confederations Cup records and statistics
• FIFA Futsal World Cup
• FIFA U-17 World Cup records and statistics
• FIFA U-20 World Cup records and statistics
• FIFA Women's World Cup records and statistics
• Men's Olympic football tournament records and statistics
• OFC Nations Cup records and statistics
• UEFA European Championship records and statistics
• Women's Olympic football tournament records and statistics

Footnotes

References

External links

• FIFA World Cup Superlatives at the Wayback Machine (archived 14 June 2010)
• FIFA World Cup biggest margin victories at the Wayback Machine (archived 16 June 2010)
• FIFA competitions biggest crowds at the Wayback Machine (archived 16 June 2010)