As World Cup 2022 is scheduled soon, let’s have a look at the history and see the World Cup winners and most impressive records!
Team FIFA World Cup Winners & Records
Most World Cup titles:
Who has won the World Cup the most?
The most World Cup tournaments have won Brazil (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002): 5 World Cup titles.
Most finishes in the top two:
Germany reached the final of the World Cup for 8 times (1954, 1966, 1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2002, 2014).
Most World Cup final tournaments appearances:
Brazil have played in all 22 World Cup tournaments.
Most finishes in the 2nd place:
Germany finished the second in the World Cup tournaments for 4 times (1966, 1982, 1986, 2002).
Most titles won by a confederation:
UEFA teams won the World Cup for 12 times (1934, 1938, 1954, 1966, 1974, 1982, 1990, 1998, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018).
Most consecutive World Cup titles:
Italy (in 1934 and 1938) and Brazil (in 1958 and 1962) won the World Cup for 2 consecutive times.
Longest gap between successive titles:
It took 44 years from Italy to win their 3rd World Cup title in 1982, after winning their 2nd World Cup title in 1938.
Best finish by the host country:
Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934), England (1966), West Germany (1974), Argentina (1978), France (1998) hosted the World Cup and won it.
Best finish by defending champion:
Italy (1938) and Brazil (1962) defended the World Cup champion titles.
Best finish by a debuting team:
Uruguay (1930) and Italy (1934) won the World Cup as debuting teams.
Most finishes in the top two without ever winning the World Cup title:
Netherlands reached the World Cup finals for 3 times in 1974, 1978, and 2010, but never won it.
Most finals played, never lost:
Uruguay played in 2 World Cup finals and won both.
Most H2Hs:
7 times: Brazil vs Sweden (1938, 1950, 1958, 1978, 1990 and 2 times in 1994), Germany vs Yugoslavia/Serbia (1954, 1958, 1962, 1974, 1990, 1998 and 2010) and Argentina vs Germany (1958, 1966, 1986, 1990, 2006, 2010 and 2014).
Most tournaments eliminated without having lost a match:
England (1982, 1990, 2006) was eliminated from the tournaments without losing any match.
Most wins in one tournament:
Brazil won all the 7 matches during the World Cup 2002.
Most goals scored in one tournament:
Hungary scored the most goals in 1 tournament: 27 goals in the World Cup 1954.
Fewest goals conceded in one tournament:
Switzerland conceded 0 goals in the World Cup 2006.
Most goals conceded in one tournament:
South Korea conceded the most goals in one tournament: 16 goals in the World Cup 1954.
Most minutes without conceding a goal in one tournament:
Italy spent 517 minutes in the field without conceding a goal in World Cup 1990.
Highest goal difference in one tournament:
Hungary had the highest goal difference in one tournament: +17 in World Cup 1954.
Lowest goal difference in one tournament:
South Korea had the lowest goal difference in one tournament (-16 in World Cup 1954).
Biggest margin of victory in World Cup final tournaments:
9 goals, on four occasions:
- Hungary 9–0 South Korea, 1954
- Yugoslavia 9–0 Zaire, 1974
- Hungary 10–1 El Salvador, 1982
Most goals scored in a match, by one team:
Hungary scored 10 goals in one match: Hungary 10–1 El Salvador, 1982.
Most goals scored in a match, both teams:
There have been scored 12 goals in Austria and Switzerland in 1954.
Highest scoring draw in World Cup final tournaments:
- 4–4, England vs Belgium (a.e.t.), 1954,
- Soviet Union vs Colombia, 1962
Individual FIFA World Cup Winners & Records
Most tournaments played:
Antonio Carbajal (Mexico, 1950–1966), Lothar Matthäus (Germany, 1982–1998), and Rafael Márquez (Mexico, 2002–2018) played in 5 World Cup final tournaments.
Most tournaments won:
Pele was was in Brazil’s squad for World Cup final tournaments 3 times in 1958, 1962, 1970.
Most matches played in World Cup final tournaments:
Lothar Matthäus played in 25 World Cup matches (Germany, 1982–1998).
Most minutes played in World Cup final tournaments:
Paolo Maldini played 2,217 minutes in FIFA World Cup final tournaments for Italy (1990-2002).
Most matches won in World Cup final tournaments:
Miroslav Klose won the most matches in World Cup final tournaments (total 17 matches won).
Most appearances a World Cup final match:
Cafu played 3 World Cup final matches for Brazil.
Most appearances as captain:
Rafael Márquez has 17 appearances as captain for Mexico (2008–2016).
Youngest player to appear in World Cup final tournaments:
17 years and 41 days, Norman Whiteside is the youngest player to ever appear in World Cup final tournaments for Northern Ireland against Yugoslavia in 1982.
Oldest player to appear in World Cup final tournaments:
40 years and 133 days, Dino Zoff is the oldest player to ever appear in World Cup final tournaments for Italy against West Germany in 1982.
Most goals in a single World Cup final tournament:
Just Fontaine scored 13 goals in World Cup 1958 in France.
Most goals scored in World Cup final tournaments:
Miroslav Klose scored the most goals (16) in World Cup final tournaments.
Most goals scored in a single World Cup match:
Oleg Salenko scored 5 goals for Russia in the match against Cameroon in World Cup 1994.
Most hat-tricks in World Cup:
Sándor Kocsis (Hungary, 1954), Just Fontaine (France, 1958), Gerd Müller (West Germany, 1970) and Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina, 1994 & 1998) scored 2 hat-tricks each.
Youngest goal scorer in World Cup final tournaments:
17 years, 239 days, Pelé is the youngest goal scorer, scoring for Brazil against Wales in 1958.
Fastest goal in a World Cup final:
Johan Neeskens scored the fastest goal in World Cup finals at 90 seconds for Netherlands against West Germany in World Cup 1974 final match.
Fastest goal in World Cup final tournaments:
László Kiss scored the fastest hat-trick in World Cup 1982 for Hungary against El Salvador, in 8 minutes, scored at 69′, 72′ and 76′ minutes of the match.
Tournament FIFA World Cup Records
Most goals scored in a tournament:
In World Cup 1998 and 2014, the teams scored 171 goals.
Fewest goals scored in a tournament:
In World Cup 1930 and 1934, the teams scored 70 goals.
Most goals per match in a tournament:
In World Cup 1954, teams scored on average 5.38 goals per match.
Fewest goals per match in a tournament:
In World Cup 1990, teams scored on average 2.21 goals per match.
Most scorers in a tournament:
In World Cup 2018, 122 players scored goals during the tournament.
More FIFA World Cup Winners & Records
Most clean sheets (matches without conceding) in World Cup final tournaments:
Peter Shilton (England, 1982–1990) and Fabien Barthez (France, 1998–2006) have 10 clean sheets in World Cup final tournaments.
Most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal in World Cup final tournaments:
Walter Zenga has the most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal. He played 517 minutes for Italy in 1990.
Most matches coached in World Cup final tournaments:
Helmut Schön (West Germany) coached 25 matches in 1966–1978.
Most matches won by a coach in World Cup final tournaments:
Helmut Schön (West Germany) won 16 matches in 1966–1978.
Most World Cup tournaments won by a coach:
Vittorio Pozzo is the only coach to ever win 2 World Cup titles (Italy, 1934-1938).
Most World Cup tournaments:
Carlos Alberto Parreira coached in 6 different World Cup tournaments. (1982, 1990–1998, 2006, 2010).
Check out also:
FIFA World Cup 2022 Groups and Teams
World Cup 2022 Fixtures and Dates
Qatar World Cup 2022 Stadiums & Host Cities
