Records and Statistics from the FIFA World Cup

With the very first FIFA World Cup taking place all the way back in 1930, we have no shortage of records and statistics to look back on.

The prestigious soccer tournament has been around for almost a century, dishing up countless memorable moments, tons of incredible goals, and numerous iconic teams and players along the way.

FIFA World Cup statistics are useful for lots of reasons. You can use records from the soccer World Cup to brush up on your knowledge of the sport, or to outsmart your friends and family. Better still, stats and trends are crucial if you want to bet on the World Cup.

On this page, we cover a vast range of soccer World Cup statistics. From the most successful teams and players to the top coaches and referees, and from red cards to clean sheets, we have it all.

Table of Contents

• Most Successful Teams in World Cup History
• Top Goalscorers in FIFA World Cup History
• More FIFA World Cup Player Statistics
• Miscellaneous FIFA World Cup Records and Stats
• FIFA World Cup Trivia – Fun World Cup Facts
• Using Stats and Trends to Bet on the World Cup

It makes sense to start with the greatest World Cup teams of all time. In this section, we look at the most successful nations in World Cup history.

Brazil stands alone as the greatest country in World Cup history, having claimed five titles. When you think about all the amazing Brazilian teams over the years, it is hardly surprising that they have won more World Cup titles than anyone else.

In total, eight nations have lifted the famous trophy. Let’s take a look at the other World Cup champions.

Germany and Brazil are the second-most successful countries in World Cup history, sealing four titles each. The Germans have also reached the most finals, qualifying for the showpiece on no fewer than eight occasions.

Argentina, France, and Uruguay have all won two World Cups, while England and Spain both have one title to their name.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that the record World Cup winner has also featured at the most World Cups.

In fact, Brazil is the only nation to have appeared at all 21 editions of the tournament. That is a phenomenal achievement.

With four titles apiece, Germany and Italy have featured at 19 and 18 World Cups, respectively, while Argentina had made 17 tournament appearances.

Remarkably, Mexico competed in 16 World Cups between 1930 and 2018. That means the Mexicans hold the unwanted record of making the most World Cup appearances without winning a title.

Unsurprisingly, Brazil has won more World Cup games than any other nation. The Brazilians have won 73 of their 109 matches, giving them a win percentage of 67%.

Germany has played exactly the same number games, picking up 67 wins (61%). Italy has registered 45 wins in 83 matches (54%), while Argentina has won 43 of their 81 games (53%).

Here some more soccer World Cup team statistics and records.

As well as being one of the most successful nations in World Cup history, Germany has also been very unfortunate across the years. As you can see, the Germans hold the record for most final losses and semi-final losses, along with a host of other records.

England has bowed out in the quarterfinals on a record eight occasions, while Mexico has suffered a record 14 losses in the round of 16.

Only two nations – Italy and Brazil – have ever managed to win back-to-back World Cup titles. At the opposite end of the spectrum, both South Korea and Scotland have suffered eight first-round eliminations.

In terms of confederations, UEFA has won 12 titles, while CONMEBOL countries have won the other nine. No other confederation has ever produced a World Cup winner.

You can’t talk about records from the FIFA World Cup without mentioning the all-time goalscoring charts. After all, we all watch the World Cup for the great goals, don’t we?

In this section, we cover the top scorers in World Cup history, look back at all the World Cup Golden Boot winners, look at which player has the most hat-tricks, and more.

Here are the top goalscorers in World Cup history.

Germany’s Miroslav Klose has scored more World Cup goals than any other player, netting 16 times across four tournaments between 2002 and 2014.

Despite only playing in three World Cups (1998, 2002, 2006), Brazil’s Ronaldo scored one goal fewer than Klose.

Gerd Müller only featured at the 1970 and 1974 World Cups. Yet, he still managed to score 14 goals. If you think that record is impressive, all 13 of Just Fontaine’s goals came in the 1958 edition of the tournament!

Nine other players have reached double figures for World Cup goals, including the legendary Pelé.

21 players have won the Golden Boot over the years, although no player has been able to win it twice. That just tells you how difficult it is to finish as the tournament’s top goalscorer.

Let’s take a look back at all the World Cup Golden Boot winners.

Argentina’s Guillermo Stábile won the first-ever World Cup Golden Boot, scoring eight goals in four games back in 1930. Almost 90 years later, England’s Harry Kane won the most recent award.

France’s Just Fontaine hold the record for most goals scored in the single World Cup, netting 13 goals in six games en route to clinching the 1958 Golden Boot. Four years prior, Hungary’s Sándor Kocsis bagged 11 goals in just five matches.

Five men average 2.00+ goals per game in World Cup history. If you have gone through previous sections of this page, you won’t be shocked to see Kocsis and Fontaine at the top of this particular table.

Stábile – the first-ever World Cup Golden Boot winner – averaged two goals per game in 1930, while Josef Hügi and Oleg Salenko achieved the same feat in 1954 and 1994, respectively.

Overall, 52 World Cup hat-tricks have been scored across the years. Only four players have racked up two three-goal hauls, though. You can find them below.

Kocsis, Fontaine, and Müller all netted two hat-tricks at one World Cup. However, Gabriel Batistuta’s hat-tricks came in back-to-back tournaments – 1994 and 1998.

Now that we have checked out the goalscoring records, it’s time to look at some more soccer World Cup player statistics.

Only 11 players have managed to chalk up 20+ World Cup appearances. Interestingly, five of them are German.

Lothar Matthäus holds the record for most World Cup matches played. The iconic German made 25 appearances across five tournaments, lifting the trophy in 1990.

Despite featuring in just three World Cups, Phillip Lahm, Grzegorz Lato, and Bastian Schweinsteiger all managed to clock up 20 game appearances.

You have to be a pretty special player to feature in five World Cups. Only four players have achieved the feat in the tournament’s history.

Mexico Antonio Carbajal was the first man to appear at five World Cup, playing his final game in 1966. Since then, three more players have joined Carbajal on the leaderboard.

A total of 445 players have won the World Cup. However, only one man has gotten his hands on the trophy three times. That man is Pelé.

15 Brazilians, four Italians, and one Argentine comprise the list of players who have won the World Cup twice, while 424 players from eight nations have lifted the trophy on one occasion.

Let’s not forget about the great goalkeepers that have graced the World Cup stage. Below, you can find the all-time shutout leaderboard.

With ten clean sheets to their name, Peter Shilton and Fabien Barthez are in a league of their own here. Both men featured at three World Cups, with Frenchman Barthez lifting the trophy in 1998.

Four players have eight World Cup shutouts under their belt, while legendary names such as Iker Casillas and Manuel Neuer are among the goalkeepers that have kept seven clean sheets.

Here are some more stats from the FIFA World Cup. The soccer World Cup records in this section are pretty random, but keep reading if you’re interested in discipline, penalties, coaching, and refereeing.

Of course, we don’t watch soccer for the yellow and red cards, do we? But let’s face it – we all love a good discipline statistic!

Before we get stuck into the FIFA World Cup records for cards, it is worth noting that there are no official records for cautions issued before the introduction of yellow cards in 1970.

What on earth was going on in 2006? Remarkably, there were 345 cautions in 64 matches – averaging at more than five yellow cards per game. There were also 28 red cards shown in 2006!

Only two players have received two red cards in the history of the World Cup – Rigobert Song and Zinedine Zidane. Brazil has accumulated the most reds as a team, seeing red on no fewer than 11 occasions.

Spare a though for Jose Batista, too. The Uruguayan was sent off after just 56 seconds against Scotland in 1986, meaning he holds the record for fastest red card in World Cup history.

The next of our records from the soccer World Cup concerns penalties. As you can see, Spain has been awarded the most spot-kicks in the history of the tournament – converting 15 of their 18 penalties.

On the flip side, Brazil has missed a record four penalties. They have won five World Cups, though, so they can’t complain too much!

Germany and Argentina are the kings of the World Cup penalty shoot-out, with both nations winning four over the years.

England is renowned for its terrible penalty shoot-out record, but did you know that Italy and Spain have also suffered three shoot-out defeats in the World Cup?

We shouldn’t forget about the coaches and managers. After all, the great World Cup teams wouldn’t have enjoyed success without the guidance of a great coach.

Between 1966 and 1978, Helmut Schön coached West Germany to a record 25 World Cup matches – picking up 16 wins along the way.

However, even the great Schön was unable to guide his team to multiple titles. In fact, Italy’s Vittorio Pozzo is the only manager to have won the World Cup twice – triumphing in 1934 and 1938.

Believe it or not, Carlos Alberto Parreira managed at six different editions of the World Cup. He led Brazil to glory in 1994 and also coached Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.

Serbian coach Bora Milutinović managed in five consecutive World Cups with five different nations – Mexico (1986), Costa Rica (1990), the United States (1994), Nigeria (1998), and China (2002).

In total, 13 referees have officiated at three World Cups. No referee has ever managed to appear at four editions of the competition.

Imagine officiating a World Cup match at the age of 24!? Well, Spain’s Juan Gardeazábal doesn’t need to imagine it – because he’s done it!

At more twice Gardeazábal’s age, England’s George Reader became the oldest referee in World Cup history when he took to the field in 1950.

With 11 games under his belt, Uzbekistan’s Ravshan Irmatov has refereed more World Cup matches than anyone else.

Sure, we have already covered a ton of soccer World Cup statistics. But we’re not finished yet! If you’re looking for more fun facts and trivia, check out the quirky FIFA World Cup stats below.

When it comes to betting on the sport’s biggest tournament, using stats from the soccer World Cup can help you win money.

Just like every major sporting event, millions of people bet on the World Cup every four years. But if you want to gain an edge over the bookies and take your World Cup betting to the next level, analyzing past trends, stats, and records can give you a huge advantage.

Here is one example of how using records from the FIFA World Cup can help you win cash during the next edition of the tournament.

Most casual bettors will only wager on the winner of the World Cup, or they might choose to gamble on the outcome of individual games. But if you delve a little deeper, you can find tons of useful World Cup stats.

The table below details the average number of goals scored in World Cup games since the tournament changed to a 32-team format.

As you can see, four of their past six World Cups averaged over 2.5 goals per game. On top of that, the previous two tournaments averaged 2.60+ goals per game.

If you’re thinking about putting together a World Cup betting strategy, backing over 2.5 goals in each game is a good place to start – based on recent records from the FIFA World Cup.

With the best nations on the planet coming up against some of the weakest international teams during every edition of the tournament, the World Cup invariably dishes up plenty of high-scoring games.

Of course, you can do your own research and find other FIFA World Cup statistics like this.

That concludes our look at all the top FIFA World Cup stats. Having covered almost a century of records from the soccer World Cup, it’s safe to say that we left no stone unturned.

We have lots more FIFA World Cup content for you to enjoy on our site. So, whether you like looking back on previous editions of the tournament, or you want to look ahead to future World Cups, be sure to check out the pages below.