In the 2026 World Cupthe Argentine Lionel Messithe Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and the Mexican Guillermo Ochoa they can break the mark for more participations.
Collective records:
Brazil “Pentacampeão”
Brazil holds the record for World Cup titles, with five (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002), one more than Germany (the FRG of 1954 and 1974, and then with its current name in 1990 and 2014) and Italy (1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006), the great absentee again from this 2026 edition after also missing the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Brazil, the only fixed one; Germany, the most regular
Only Brazil has played in the 22 previous World Cup editions (23 with the next one). Germany (or the FRG) will compete in the tournament for the 21st time.
The Mannschaft holds the record for the number of finals played, with 8, and also the number of semi-finals played (13), although in the last two editions it has not passed the first phase.
One game, 12 goals
The match with the most goals in World Cup history is a 1954 quarterfinal in which Austria won 7-5 Swisswith triplets of Theodor “Turl” Wagner for the Austrians and Josef Hügi for the Helvetians.
That match also involved a huge comeback, as Switzerland led 3-0 after 19 minutes.
In the round of 16 in 1938 there was a match with eleven goals, which Brazil won 6-5 (after extra time) Poland in Strasbourg. Leonidas He scored three goals in that match, but was surpassed by Ernest Willimowskiwho signed four for the Poles.
Nine goals difference
The three largest victories ended with a nine-goal difference and Hungary got two of them. beat South Korea 9-0 in 1954, with a hat trick of Sandor Kokcisand by 10-1 to El Salvador in 1982. Yugoslavia also endorsed a 9-0, Zaire in 1974, with a hat trick of Dusan Bajevic.
Individual records:
Pelé, crowned three times
The player with the most titles in the World Cup is the Brazilian Pelethree-time world champion (1958, 1962 and 1970).
king leo
After the seven games that led to Argentina To sew his third star in the Albiceleste, Messi became the player with the most games played in a World Cup final phase, with 26, a figure that may continue to increase in the next event.
Messi beat two Germans; Lothar Matthauswith 25 matches between 19982 and 1998, in five editions, and Miroslav Klose (24 from 2002 to 2014).
With 22 World Cup matches under his belt, Cristiano Ronaldo can also climb positions in this classification if Portugal shines in North America.
Messi, Ronaldo and Ochoa in their sixth World Cup
If unforeseen events do not arise, Messi, Ronaldo and Ochoa are going to become USA, Mexico and Canada They are the only players to play in six World Cup finals, all played since Germany 2006.
They will thus leave the German behind Matthaus (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998), into Italian Gianluigi Buffon (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014), and the Mexicans Antonio Carbajal (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962 and 1966) and Rafael Marquez (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014).
Deschamps caught up with Zagallo and Beckenbauer
The French Didier Deschamps He is world champion as a player (1998) and as a coach (2018), after the success of the Blues eight years ago in Russia.
Before him, the only ones who had achieved this feat were the Brazilian Zagallo (1958 and 1962, and then in 1970) and the German Franz Beckenabeuer (1974 and then in 1990). Zagallo was even assistant coach in the Brazilian title in 1994.
Klose and Fontaine in the Olympus of scorers
The German Klose is the top scorer in the history of the World Cup, with a total of 16 goals in four editions.
In a single edition it will be difficult to do better than the Frenchman Fontaine, who scored 13 goals in Sweden 1958.
The top scorers in World Cup history:
1. Miroslav Klose (Germany) 16 goals
2. Ronaldo (Brazil) 15 goals
3. Gerd Müller (FRG) 14 goals
4. Just Fontaine (France) 13 goals
Leo Messi (Argentina) 13 goals
6. Pelé (Brazil) 12 goals
Kylian Mbappé (France) 12 goals
8. Jürgen Klinsmann (Germany) 11 goals
Sándor Kocsis (Hungary) 11 goals
10. Helmut Rahn (Germany) 10 goals
Grzegorz Lato (Poland) 10 goals
Teófilo Cubillas (Peru) 10 goals
Gary Lineker (England) 10 goals
Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina) 10 goals
Thomas Müller (Germany) 10 goals
Salenko’s ‘little hand’
The Russian Oleg Salenko He amazed the world with five goals in his country’s 6-1 victory over Cameroon in 1994. He is the player who has scored the most goals in a World Cup match.
Behind him, six players have scored four goals in a tournament match:
Ernest Willimowski (Poland, 1938, 6-5 defeat after extra time against Brazil)
Ademir (Brazil, 1950, 7-1 against Sweden)
Sándor Kocsis (Hungary, 1954, 8-3 against the FRG in the first phase)
Just Fontaine (France, 1958, 6-3 against the FRG)
Eusebio (Portugal, 1966, 5-3 against North Korea)
Emilio Butragueño (Spain, 1986, 5-1 against Denmark)
Hakan Sukur, the fastest
The Turkish Hakan Sukur He scored the fastest goal in World Cup history at 10 seconds and 8 hundredths, during a match for third place won by the Turkish team against South Korea (3-2) in 2002.
Whiteside the younger, El Hadari the older
The youngest player in a World Cup is still the Northern Irishman Norman Whitesidewho was 17 years and 41 days old in a match against Yugoslavia (0-0), in 1982.
The oldest is the Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadariwho played at 45 years and 161 days against Saudi Arabia in 2018 (2-1 loss to the Pharaohs).
The oldest field player is still the Cameroonian Roger Millawho was 42 years and 39 days old against Russia, when he scored in the Indomitable Lions’ 6-1 defeat in 1994.
Pepe, the oldest scorer
The oldest footballer to score in a World Cup final phase is the Portuguese Pepewho scored a goal against Switzerland in 2022 at 39 years and 283 days old. Your compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric either Edin Dzeko They hope to beat this record in North America.
Curiosities:
Zero for Cristiano Ronaldo
Surprising: megastar Cristiano Ronaldo has not scored a goal in direct elimination matches at World Cups.
Beatings in the semi-finals
In 1930, in the first edition of the World Cup, the two semifinals ended with the same result, 6-1. Uruguay overwhelmed Yugoslavia and Argentina to USA.
The biggest win in the semifinals of the tournament occurred in 2014, when Germany beat the host 7 to 1 Brazil at the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte.
