World Cup Fact File: Record Holders, Interesting Statistics and Trivia
Born in the south east of Ireland, Simon put his life-long love of football to good use when he started a successful independent blog in 2010. That opened up an alternative route to a career in journalism, and having had work published across a number of sites and publications, Simon joined the staff at Spotlight Sports Group in 2018.
Winning the World Cup is undoubtedly the ultimate prize in international football. The victors are immediately immortalized, transforming from mere mortals into footballing demi-gods inside ninety minutes of era-defining action.
Only one team can lift the World Cup, but winning it is not the only way for a nation or player to etch their names into the tournament’s history books. Alongside lifting the trophy itself, there are numerous team and individual records to be equalled and even broken.
736 players from 32 countries will contest a total of 64 games at the 21st World Cup Finals in Russia this summer. Let’s take a look at some of the records those competitors will be attempting to break.
Read More: World Cup 2018 by Numbers: The Best and Worst Performers in Qualifying
Consistency
Most World Cup titles won: Brazil – 5 (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)
Most appearances in the final: Germany – 8 (1954, 1966, 1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2002, 2014)
Most finishes in the top three: Germany – 12 1934, 1954, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)
Most finishes in the top four: Germany – 13 (1934, 1954, 1958, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)
Most finishes in the top eight: Germany – 18 (Every tournament except 1930, 1938 and 1950), Brazil (Every tournament except 1934, 1966 and 1990)
Most finishes in the top 16: Brazil – 20 (every tournament)
Most World Cup appearances: Brazil – 21 (every tournament including 2018)
Most 2nd-place finishes: Germany – 4 (1966, 1982, 1986, 2002)
Most 3rd-place finishes: Germany – 4 (1934, 1970, 2006, 2010)
Most 4th-place finishes: Uruguay – 3 (1954, 1970, 2010)
Most 3rd-4th-place finishes: Germany – 5 (1934, 1958, 1970, 2006, 2010)
Most 5th-8th-place finishes: England – 8 (1950, 1954, 1962, 1970, 1982, 1986, 2002, 2006)
Most 9th-16th-place finishes: Mexico – 13 (1930, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966, 1978, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)
Most 17th-32nd-place finishes: South Korea – 6 (1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2006, 2014)
Over Achievers
Biggest improvement in position in consecutive tournaments: Italy (1930–1934), Uruguay (1938–1950), West Germany (1950–1954), France (1994–1998)
All four teams didn’t participate/qualify in first tournament dated, but won the World cup four years later.
There was no World Cup between 1938 and 1950 (apparently all the players were too soft to play a game of football, just because of a little World War).
Best finish by a debuting team: World Cup Champions: Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934)
Best finish by a debuting team after World Cup 1934: Third place: Portugal (1966), Croatia (1998)
Most World Cup appearances, always progressing from the first round/group stage: 3 Republic of Ireland (1990, 1994, 2002)
Trivia: Republic of Ireland made it all the way to the Quarter Finals of World Cup 90 in Italy without winning a single game. They drew all three group games against England, Netherlands and Egypt before beating Romania on penalties in the last 16. They lost 1-0 to the host nation in the Quarter Finals. Toto Schillachi scored the game’s only goal.
Read our guide about which outsiders and dark horses to look out for at the 2018 in World Cup in Russia here.
Under Achievers
Worst finish by defending champion: Italy (1950, 2010), Brazil (1966), France (2002), Spain (2014)
All five teams were eliminated from the Group Stages after winning the previous tournament.
Most World Cup appearances without ever winning a match: Bolivia – 3 (1930, 1950, 1994), Honduras (1982, 2010, 2014)
Most World Cup appearances without ever progressing from the first round: Scotland – 8 (1954, 1958, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1998)
World Cup Appearances Records:
Most championships: 3 – Pele (Brazil, 1958, 1962 (only played in first two matches; medal awarded retroactively by FIFA in 2007) and 1970)
Most tournaments played: 5- Antonio Carbajal (Mexico, 1950–1966), Lothar Matthaus (Germany, 1982–1998)
Most finishes in the top three: 4 – Miroslav Klose (Germany, 2002–2014)
Most appearances in All-Star Team: 3 – Djalma Santos (Brazil, 1954–1962), Franz Beckenbauer (West Germany, 1966–1974), Philipp Lahm (Germany, 2006–2014)
Most matches played, finals: 25 – Lothar Matthaus (Germany, 1982–1998)
Most knockout games played, finals: 14 – Miroslav Klose (Germany, 2002–2014)
Most matches played, qualifying: 68 – Ivan Hurtado (Ecuador, 1994–2010)
Most matches won : 17 – Miroslav Klose (Germany, 2002–2014)
Most appearances in a World Cup final: 3 – Cafu (Brazil, 1994, 1998, 2002)
Most appearances as captain: 16 – Diego Maradona (Argentina, 1986–1994)
Most tournaments as captain: 4 – Rafael Marquez (Mexico, 2002–2014)
Most appearances as substitute: 11 – Denilson (Brazil, 1998–2002)
Youngest player : 17 years, 41 days – Norman Whiteside (Northern Ireland), vs Yugoslavia, 17 June 1982
Youngest player, final: 17 years, 249 days – Pele (Brazil), vs Sweden, 29 June 1958
Youngest player, qualifying match: 13 years, 310 days – Souleymane Mamam (Togo), vs Zambia, 6 May 2001, 2002 CAF Group 1
Youngest captain: 21 years, 109 days – Tony Meola (United States), vs Czechoslovakia, 10 June 1990
Oldest player: 43 years, 3 days – Faryd Mondragón (Colombia), vs Japan, 24 June 2014
Oldest player, final: 40 years, 133 days – Dino Zoff (Italy), vs West Germany, 11 July 1982
Oldest player, qualifying match: 46 years, 175 days – MacDonald Taylor, Sr. (U.S. Virgin Islands), vs Saint Kitts and Nevis, 18 February 2004, 2006 CONCACAF First Round.
Oldest captain: 40 years, 292 days – Peter Shilton (England), vs Italy, 7 July 1990
Oldest player to debut in a World Cup finals tournament: 39 years, 321 days – David James (England), vs Algeria, 18 June 2010
Trivia: Even though official FIFA records indicate that Souleymane Mamam was born on June 30th 1987, several other sources cit June 20th 1985 was his actual birth date. That would mean that Mamam was almost 16 when he played his first match for Togo. In that is indeed true, then American Samoa’s Ben Flaniko would hold the record for youngest player to appear in a qualifying match. Falaniko was just 15 years and 217 days when he played for his country against Fiji on April 7th 2001. Mamam was briefly on the books of Manchester United.
Read More: Potential breakout stars of World Cup 2018
World Cup Goal Records:
Most goals scored, overall finals: 16 – Miroslav Klose (Germany, 2002–2014)
Most goals scored, overall qualifying: 39 – Carlos Ruiz (Guatemala, 2002–2016)
Most goals scored in a tournament: 13 – Just Fontaine (France, 1958)
Most goals scored in a match: 5 – Oleg Salenko (Russia), vs Cameroon, 1994
Most goals scored in a lost match: 4 – Ernest Wilimowski (Poland), vs Brazil, 1938
Most goals scored in a qualifying match: 13 – Archie Thompson (Australia), vs American Samoa, 2002 OFC Group 1
Most goals scored in a final match: 3 – Geoff Hurst (England), vs West Germany, 1966
Most goals scored in all final matches: 3 – Vava (Brazil), 2 vs Sweden in 1958 & 1 vs Czechoslovakia in 1962; Pele (Brazil), 2 vs Sweden in 1958 & 1 vs Italy in 1970; Geoff Hurst (England), 3 vs West Germany in 1966 and Zinedine Zidane (France), 2 vs Brazil in 1998 & 1 vs Italy in 2006
Most matches with at least one goal: 11 – Ronaldo (Brazil, 1998–2006), Miroslav Klose (Germany, 2002–2014)
Most consecutive matches with at least one goal: 6 – Just Fontaine (France, 1958) and Jairzinho (Brazil, 1970)
Most hat-tricks: 2 – Sandor Kocsis (Hungary, 1954), Just Fontaine (France, 1958), Gerd Muller (West Germany, 1970) and Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina, 1994 & 1998)
Fastest hat-trick: 8 minutes – Laszlo Kiss (Hungary), scored at 69′, 72′ and 76′, vs El Salvador, 1982
Most goals scored by a substitute in a match: 3 – Laszlo Kiss (Hungary), vs El Salvador, 1982
First goalscorer: Lucien Laurent (France), vs Mexico, 13 July 1930
Youngest goalscorer: 17 years, 7 months and 27 days – Pelé (Brazil), vs Wales, 19 June 1958
Youngest hat-trick scorer: 17 years, 8 months and 1 day – Pele (Brazil), vs France, 24 June 1958
Youngest goalscorer, final: 17 years, 8 months and 6 days – Pele (Brazil), vs Sweden, 29 June 1958
Oldest goalscorer: 42 years, 1 month and 8 days – Roger Milla (Cameroon), vs Russia, 28 June 1994
Oldest hat-trick scorer: 33 years, 5 months and 8 days – Tore Keller (Sweden), vs Cuba, 12 June 1938
Oldest goalscorer, final: 35 years, 8 months and 21 days – Nils Liedholm (Sweden), vs Brazil, 29 June 1958
Fastest goal from kickoff: 11 seconds – Hakan Sukur (Turkey), vs South Korea, 2002
Fastest goal by a substitute: 16 seconds – Ebbe Sand (Denmark), vs Nigeria, 1998
Fastest goal in a final: 90 seconds – Johan Neeskens (Netherlands), vs West Germany, 1974
Fastest goal in a qualifying match: 8.1 seconds – Christian Benteke (Belgium), vs Gibraltar, 2018 UEFA Group H
Trivia: When Archie Thompson broke the record for individual goals scored in a World Cup qualification match, he beat the record held by fellow Australian Gary Cole. Cole hit 7 goals against Fiji in 1981. Thompson also equalled the world record for most goals scored in an officially recognized senior match. He shares the record with John Petrie who scored 13 times in Arbroath’s 36-0 Scottish Cup win over Bon Accord in 1885.
Between the sticks
Most clean sheets: 10 -Peter Shilton (England, 1982–1990) and Fabien Barthez (France, 1998–2006)
Most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal (finals): 517 mins (5 consecutive clean sheets), Walter Zenga (Italy, 1990)
Most goals conceded: 25 – Antonio Carbajal (Mexico) and Mohamed Al-Deayea (Saudi Arabia)
Most goals conceded, one tournament: 16 – Hong Duk-Yung (South Korea), 1954
Most goals conceded, one match: 10 – Luis Guevara Mora (El Salvador), 1982 (vs Hungary)
Fewest goals conceded, one tournament : 0 – Pascal Zuberbuhler (Switzerland), 2006
Trivia: Luis Guevara Mora conceded just one goal during El Salvador’s successful 1982 World Cup Qualification campaign. At the finals in Spain, he became one of the youngest goalkeepers ever to participate in the tournament. Mora conceded 10 times against Hungary in El Salvador’s first match of the competition. In 2007, to mark the 25th anniversary of the match, the Salvadoran Football Association decided to commemorate the occasion by arranging a friendly against Hungary which finished 2-2.
In the dugout
Most matches coached: 25 – Helmut Schon (West Germany, 1966–1978)
Most matches won: 16 – Helmut Schon (West Germany, 1966–1978)
Most championships: 2 – Vittorio Pozzo (Italy, 1934–1938)
Most tournaments: 6 -Carlos Alberto Parreira (1982, 1990–1998, 2006, 2010)
Most nations coached: 5 – Bora Milutinovic (Mexico, 1986; Costa Rica, 1990; United States, 1994; Nigeria, 1998; China PR, 2002), and Carlos Alberto Parreira (Kuwait, 1982; United Arab Emirates, 1990; Brazil, 1994 and 2006; Saudi Arabia, 1998, South Africa, 2010)
Youngest coach: 27 years and 267 days – Juan Jose Tramutola (Argentina, 1930)
Oldest coach: 71 years and 317 days – Otto Rehhagel (Greece, 2010)
Team Goal Scoring Records
Biggest margin of victory: 9 -Hungary 9-0 South Korea, 1954; Yugoslavia 9-0 Zaire, 1974; Hungary 10-1 El Salvador, 1982
Biggest margin of victory, qualifying match: 31 – Australia 31-0 vs American Samoa, April 11, 2001, 2002 OFC Group 1
Most goals scored in a match, one team: 10 – Hungary 10-1 El Salvador, 1982
Most goals scored in a match, both teams: 12 – Austria 7-5 Switzerland, 1954
Highest scoring draw: 4–4 – England vs Belgium (AET), 1954, and Soviet Union vs Colombia, 1962
Most goals scored in a final, one team: 5 – Brazil, 1958
Most goals scored in a final, both teams: 7 – Brazil 5-2 Sweden, 1958
Fewest goals scored in a final, both teams: 0 – Brazil 0-0 Italy, 1994
Largest deficit overcome in a win in a final: 2 – West Germany, 1954 (coming from 0–2 down to win 3–2 vs Hungary)
Most goals in a tournament: 27 – Hungary, 1954
Highest average of goals scored per match: 5.4 – Hungary, 1954
Most goals scored, champions: 25 – Germany, 1954
Fewest goals scored, champions: 8 – Spain, 2010
Fewest goals conceded, champions: 2 – France, 1998, Italy, 2006, Spain, 2010
Most goals conceded, champions: 14 – Germany, 1954
Lowest average of goals scored per match, champions: 1.14 – Spain, 2010
Trivia: Dubbed “The Heat Battle of Lausanne”, the 1954 World Cup Final between Austria and Switzerland was played in a searing 40 degree heat. Austrian goalkeeper Kurt Schmied suffered from hyperthermia early on in the game, which allowed the Swiss to score 3 times inside the first 20 minutes. Schmied was assisted by a the Austrian masseur shortly after and was able to recover.
Referees and Discipline
Most matches refereed overall: 9 – Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan, 2010–2014)
Most matches refereed, one tournament: 5 – Benito Archundia (Mexico, 2006), Horacio Elizondo ( Argentina, 2006) and Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan, 2010)
Youngest referee: 24 years and 193 days – Juan Gardeazábal (Spain, 1958)
Oldest referee: 53 years and 236 days – George Reader (England, 1950)
Fastest caution: first minute – Giampiero Marini (Italy) vs Poland, 1982; Sergei Gorlukovich (Russia), vs Sweden, 1994
Fastest sending off: 56 seconds – Jose Batista (Uruguay), vs Scotland, 1986
Fastest sending off, qualification: 37 seconds – Rashed Al Hooti (Bahrain), vs Iran, 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
Most cards (all-time, player): 6 – Zinedine Zidane (France, 1998–2006) and Cafu (Brazil, 1994–2006)
Most cautions (all-time, player): 6 – Cafu (Brazil, 1994–2006)
Most sendings off (all-time, player): 2 – Rigobert Song (Cameroon, 1994 and 1998) and Zinedine Zidane (France, 1998 and 2006)
Most sendings off (tournament): 28 (in 64 games) – 2006
Most sendings off (all-time, team): 11 (in 97 games) – Brazil
Most sendings off (match, both teams): – 4 (2 each) in Portugal vs Netherlands, 2006
Most cautions (tournament): 345 (in 64 matches), 2006
Most cautions (all-time, team): 88 (in 64 games), Argentina
Most cautions (match, one team): 9 – Portugal, 2006, vs Netherlands & Netherlands, 2010, vs Spain
Most cautions (match, both teams): – 16 – Portugal vs Netherlands, 2006 and Cameroon v Germany, June 11, 2002
Most cautions (final match, both teams): 14 – 5 (Spain) and 9 (Netherlands) 2010
Trivia: English referee Graham Poll booked defender Josip Simunic 3 times while officiating the match between Croatia and Australia at World Cup 2006. Poll failed to send Simunic off after issuing a second yellow to the player late in the game, but eventually gave him his marching orders for dissent at the final whistle. Poll said he had marked his card incorrectly after the second booking which led to his massive error.
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