CS Knowledge Base

As of the 2026 edition, 84 national teams have competed at the finals of the men's FIFA World Cup.^[1] Brazil is the only team to have appeared in all 23 tournaments to date, with Germany having participated in 21, Argentina in 19, and Italy and Mexico both in 18.^[2] 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.^[3] Five teams have appeared in FIFA World Cup finals without winning,^[4] while twelve more have appeared in the semi-finals.^[5]

General performances

List of tournaments

Year	Host	Champions	Winning coach	Top scorer(s)	Top assist provider(s)	Best player award	Source
1930	Uruguay	Uruguay	Alberto Suppici	Guillermo Stábile (8)	Manuel Ferreira (4)	Not awarded	^[6]
1934	Italy	Italy	Vittorio Pozzo	Oldřich Nejedlý (5)	Giovanni Ferrari (4)		^[7]
1938	France	Italy	Vittorio Pozzo	Leônidas (7)	Ferenc Sas (5)		^[8]
1950	Brazil	Uruguay	Juan López	Ademir (9)	Ademir (6)		^[9]
1954	Switzerland	West Germany	Sepp Herberger	Sándor Kocsis (11)	Fritz Walter (7)		^[10]
1958	Sweden	Brazil	Vicente Feola	Just Fontaine (13)	Raymond Kopa (8)		^[11]
1962	Chile	Brazil	Aymoré Moreira	Six players (4)^{[note 1]}	Mário Zagallo (5)		^[12]
1966	England	England	Alf Ramsey	Eusébio (9)	Sigfried Held (4)		^[13]
1970	Mexico	Brazil	Mário Zagallo	Gerd Müller (10)	Pelé (6)		^[14]^[15]^[16]
1974	West Germany	West Germany	Helmut Schön	Grzegorz Lato (7)	Robert Gadocha (5)		^[17]^[16]
1978	Argentina	Argentina	César Luis Menotti	Mario Kempes (6)	Daniel Bertoni (3) Rob Rensenbrink (3) René van de Kerkhof (3)	Mario Kempes	^[18]^[19]
1982	Spain	Italy	Enzo Bearzot	Paolo Rossi (6)	Pierre Littbarski (5)	Paolo Rossi	^[18]^[20]^[16]
1986	Mexico	Argentina	Carlos Bilardo	Gary Lineker (6)	Diego Maradona (5)	Diego Maradona	^[18]^[21]^[16]
1990	Italy	West Germany	Franz Beckenbauer	Salvatore Schillaci (6)	Giuseppe Giannini (3) Ľubomír Moravčík (3) Jozef Chovanec (3)	Salvatore Schillaci	^[18]^[22]
1994	United States	Brazil	Carlos Alberto Parreira	Hristo Stoichkov (6) Oleg Salenko (6)	Thomas Häßler (5)	Romário	^[18]^[23]^[16]
1998	France	France	Aimé Jacquet	Davor Šuker (6)	Seven players (3)^{[note 2]}	Ronaldo	^[18]^[24]
2002	South Korea Japan	Brazil	Luiz Felipe Scolari	Ronaldo (8)	Michael Ballack (4)	Oliver Kahn	^[18]^[25]
2006	Germany	Italy	Marcello Lippi	Miroslav Klose (5)	Francesco Totti (4) Juan Román Riquelme (4)	Zinedine Zidane	^[18]^[26]
2010	South Africa	Spain	Vicente del Bosque	Four players (5)^{[note 3]}	Five players (3)^{[note 4]}	Diego Forlán	^[18]^[27]
2014	Brazil	Germany	Joachim Löw	James Rodríguez (6)	Juan Cuadrado (4)	Lionel Messi	^[28]^[18]^[29]
2018	Russia	France	Didier Deschamps	Harry Kane (6)	Sixteen players (2)^{[note 5]}	Luka Modrić	^[30]^[31]
2022	Qatar	Argentina	Lionel Scaloni	Kylian Mbappé (8)	Five players (3)^{[note 6]}	Lionel Messi	^[32]
2026	United States Mexico Canada	In progress	In progress	In progress	In progress	In progress
2030	Morocco Portugal Spain	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

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. 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.^[33]^[34]

Teams marked in bold are still participating in the 2026 edition.

As of 18 July 2026

Rank	Team	Part.	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	PPG
1	Brazil	23	119	79	20	20	247	112	+135	257	2.16
2	Germany^{[note 7]}	21	116	70	22	24	243	135	+108	232	2.00
3	Argentina	19	95	54	17	24	171	108	+63	179	1.88
4	Italy	18	83	45	21	17	128	77	+51	156	1.88
5	France	17	81	45	14	22	156	95	+61	149	1.84
6	England	17	82	38	23	21	124	80	+44	137	1.67
7	Spain	17	74	37	18	19	121	76	+45	129	1.74
8	Netherlands	12	59	32	16	11	107	57	+50	112	1.90
9	Uruguay	15	62	25	15	22	92	80	+12	90	1.45
10	Belgium	15	57	24	12	21	83	81	+2	84	1.47
11	Mexico	18	65	21	15	29	72	104	−32	78	1.20
12	Sweden	13	55	20	14	21	87	83	+4	74	1.35
13	Russia^{[note 8]}	11	45	19	10	16	77	54	+23	67	1.49
14	Portugal	9	40	19	8	13	69	44	+25	65	1.63
15	Serbia^{[note 9]}	13	49	18	9	22	71	71	0	63	1.29
16	Switzerland	13	47	17	10	20	65	79	−14	61	1.30
17	Poland	9	38	17	6	15	49	50	−1	57	1.50
18	Croatia	7	34	15	8	11	49	40	+9	53	1.56
19	Hungary	9	32	15	3	14	87	57	+30	48	1.50
20	Austria	8	33	13	5	15	49	56	−7	44	1.45
21	United States	12	42	12	8	22	51	74	−23	44	1.05
22	Slovakia^{[note 10]}	9	34	12	6	16	49	52	−3	42	1.24
23	Czech Republic^{[note 10]}	10	36	12	6	18	49	55	−6	42	1.17
24	Colombia	7	27	12	5	10	37	31	+6	41	1.52
25	Chile	9	33	11	7	15	40	49	−9	40	1.21
26	Paraguay	9	32	8	12	12	33	44	−11	36	1.13
27	South Korea	12	41	8	10	23	41	81	−40	34	0.83
28	Denmark	6	23	9	6	8	31	29	+2	33	1.43
29	Morocco	7	29	8	9	12	30	33	−3	33	1.14
30	Japan	8	29	8	8	13	33	38	−5	32	1.10
31	Romania	7	21	8	5	8	30	32	−2	29	1.38
32	Costa Rica	6	21	6	5	10	22	39	−17	23	1.10
33	Cameroon	8	26	5	8	13	22	47	−25	23	0.88
34	Ghana	5	19	6	4	9	20	26	−6	22	1.16
35	Scotland	9	26	5	7	14	26	45	−19	22	0.85
36	Norway	4	14	6	3	5	20	19	+1	21	1.50
37	Senegal	4	16	6	3	7	26	26	0	21	1.31
38	Ecuador	5	17	6	3	8	16	18	−2	21	1.24
39	Nigeria	6	21	6	3	12	23	30	−7	21	1.00
40	Australia	7	24	5	6	13	20	40	−20	21	0.88
41	Turkey	3	13	6	1	6	23	22	+1	19	1.46
42	Peru	5	18	5	3	10	21	33	−12	18	1.00
43	Bulgaria	7	26	3	8	15	22	53	−31	17	0.65
44	Ivory Coast	4	13	5	1	7	18	18	0	16	1.23
45	Algeria	5	17	4	4	9	18	28	−10	16	0.94
46	Iran	7	21	3	7	11	16	34	−18	16	0.76
47	Saudi Arabia	7	22	4	4	14	15	49	−34	16	0.73
48	Republic of Ireland	3	13	2	8	3	10	10	0	14	1.08
49	South Africa	4	13	3	5	5	13	20	−7	14	1.08
50	Northern Ireland	3	13	3	5	5	13	23	−10	14	1.08
51	Tunisia	7	21	3	5	13	16	38	−22	14	0.67
52	East Germany^{[note 7]}	1	6	2	2	2	5	5	0	8	1.33
53	Egypt	4	12	1	5	6	13	19	−6	8	0.67
54	Greece	3	10	2	2	6	5	20	−15	8	0.80
55	Ukraine	1	5	2	1	2	5	7	−2	7	1.40
56	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2	7	2	1	4	9	12	−3	7	1.00
57	Wales	2	8	1	4	3	5	10	−5	7	0.88
58	Canada	3	11	2	1	8	11	18	−7	7	0.64
59	Slovenia	2	6	1	1	4	5	10	−5	4	0.67
60	Cuba	1	3	1	1	1	5	12	−7	4	1.33
61	DR Congo^{[note 11]}	2	7	1	1	5	5	19	−14	4	0.57
62	North Korea	2	7	1	1	5	6	21	−15	4	0.57
63	New Zealand	3	9	0	4	5	8	24	−16	4	0.44
64	Cape Verde	1	4	0	3	1	4	5	−1	3	0.75
65	Jamaica	1	3	1	0	2	3	9	−6	3	1.00
66	Honduras	3	9	0	3	6	3	14	−11	3	0.33
67	Angola	1	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2	0.67
68	Israel	1	3	0	2	1	1	3	−2	2	0.67
69	Iceland	1	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	1	0.33
70	Kuwait	1	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1	0.33
71	Trinidad and Tobago	1	3	0	1	2	0	4	−4	1	0.33
72	Curaçao	1	3	0	1	2	1	9	−8	1	0.33
73	Qatar	2	6	0	1	5	3	17	−14	1	0.17
74	Bolivia	3	6	0	1	5	1	20	−19	1	0.17
75	Jordan	1	3	0	0	3	3	8	−5	0	0.00
76	Togo	1	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0	0.00
77	Indonesia^{[note 12]}	1	1	0	0	1	0	6	−6	0	0.00
78	United Arab Emirates	1	3	0	0	3	2	11	−9	0	0.00
78	Uzbekistan	1	3	0	0	3	2	11	−9	0	0.00
80	China	1	3	0	0	3	0	9	−9	0	0.00
81	Panama	2	6	0	0	6	2	15	−13	0	0.00
82	Iraq	2	6	0	0	6	2	16	−14	0	0.00
83	Haiti	2	6	0	0	6	4	22	−18	0	0.00
84	El Salvador	2	6	0	0	6	1	22	−21	0	0.00

Breakdown of successor team records

Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Czechoslovakia (1934–1990)	8	30	11	5	14	44	45	−1	38
Czech Republic (2006–present)	2	6	1	1	4	5	10	−5	4
Slovakia (2010–present)	1	4	1	1	2	5	7	−2	4

Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany (1934–1938)	2	6	3	1	2	14	13	+1	10
West Germany (1950–1990)	10	62	36	14	12	131	77	+54	122
Germany (1994–present)	9	48	31	7	10	98	45	+53	100

Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Soviet Union (1958–1990)	7	31	15	6	10	53	34	+19	51
Russia (1994–present)	4	14	4	4	6	24	20	+4	16

Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Yugoslavia (1930–1990)	8	33	14	7	12	55	42	+13	49
FR Yugoslavia (1998)	1	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	7
Serbia and Montenegro (2006)	1	3	0	0	3	2	10	−8	0
Serbia (2010–present)	3	9	2	1	6	9	15	−6	7

Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Zaire (1974)	1	3	0	0	3	0	14	−14	0
DR Congo (2026–present)	1	4	1	1	2	5	5	0	4

All-time medal table

Teams reaching the top four
Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Top 4 total
Brazil	5 (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)	2 (1950 *, 1998)	2 (1938, 1978)	2 (1974, 2014 *)	11
Germany¹	4 (1954, 1974 *, 1990, 2014)	4 (1966, 1982, 1986, 2002)	4 (1934, 1970, 2006 *, 2010)	1 (1958)	13
Italy	4 (1934 *, 1938, 1982, 2006)	2 (1970, 1994)	1 (1990 *)	1 (1978)	8
Argentina	3 (1978 *, 1986, 2022)	3 (1930, 1990, 2014)			6
France	2 (1998 *, 2018)	2 (2006, 2022)	2 (1958, 1986)	2 (1982, 2026)	8
Uruguay	2 (1930 *, 1950)			3 (1954, 1970, 2010)	5
England	1 (1966 *)		1 (2026)	2 (1990, 2018)	4
Spain	1 (2010)			1 (1950)	2
Netherlands		3 (1974, 1978, 2010)	1 (2014)	1 (1998)	5
Hungary		2 (1938, 1954)			2
Czechoslovakia		2 (1934, 1962)			2
Sweden		1 (1958 *)	2 (1950, 1994)	1 (1938)	4
Croatia		1 (2018)	2 (1998, 2022)		3
Poland			2 (1974, 1982)		2
Austria			1 (1954)	1 (1934)	2
Portugal			1 (1966)	1 (2006)	2
Belgium			1 (2018)	1 (1986)	2
United States			1 (1930)		1
Chile			1 (1962 *)		1
Turkey			1 (2002)		1
Serbia²				2 (1930, 1962)	2
Russia³				1 (1966)	1
Bulgaria				1 (1994)	1
South Korea				1 (2002 *)	1
Morocco				1 (2022)	1

* hosts

¹ includes results representing West Germany (1954–1990)

² includes results representing Yugoslavia (1930–1990) and FR Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro (1998–2006)

³ includes results representing the Soviet Union (1958–1990)

Teams

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.

Titles

Most titles: 5 – Brazil (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)^[35]
Most consecutive titles: 2
- Italy (1934–1938)^[36]^[37]
- Brazil (1958–1962)^[36]^[38]
Longest gap between successive titles: 44 years – Italy (nine editions, 1938–1982)^{[note 13]}^[39]
Worst finish by defending champions: Group stage
- Italy (1950)^[40]
- Brazil (1966)^[40]
- France (2002)^[40]
- Italy (2010)^[40]
- Spain (2014)^[40]
- Germany (2018)^[41]
Most titles won as host: 1^{[note 14]}
- Uruguay (1930)
- Italy (1934)
- England (1966)
- West Germany (1974)
- Argentina (1978)
- France (1998)

Appearances

Most World Cup appearances: 23 – Brazil, 1930–2026 (every tournament)^[39]
Most appearances in the final: 8 – Germany, 1954, 1966, 1974, 1982, 1986 and 1990 as West Germany, 2002 and 2014 as Germany^[42]
Most runners-up: 4 – Germany, 1966, 1982, 1986 as West Germany, 2002 as Germany^[42]
Most runners-up but never won a title: 3 – Netherlands, 1974, 1978, 2010^[43]
Most consecutive appearances in the final: 3
- West Germany, 1982–1990^[39]
- Brazil, 1994–2002^[39]
Longest gap between successive appearances in the final: 48 years – Argentina, 10 editions, 1930–1978^[39]
Longest gap between successive appearances at the FIFA World Cup: 64 years – Wales, 16 editions, 1958–2022^[44]
Most appearances without winning a title: 18 – Mexico
Most consecutive failed qualification attempts: 22 – Luxembourg, 1934–2026^[39]

Goals

Highest scoring matches

Most goals scored in a match^[45]
Rank	Date	Venue	Total goals	Team	Score	Team
1	26 June 1954	Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne	12	Austria	7–5	Switzerland
2	5 June 1938	Stade de la Meinau, Strasbourg	11	Brazil	6–5	Poland
	20 June 1954	St. Jakob Stadium, Basel		Hungary	8–3	West Germany
	15 June 1982	Nuevo Estadio, Elche		Hungary	10–1	El Salvador
5	8 June 1958	Idrottsparken, Norrköping	10	France	7–3	Paraguay
5	18 July 2026	Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens	10	England	6–4	France

Highest scoring draws

Highest scoring matches drawn^[46]
Rank	Date	Venue	Team	Score	Team
1	17 June 1954	St. Jakob Stadium, Basel	England	4–4	Belgium
1	3 June 1962	Estadio Carlos Dittborn, Arica, Chile	Soviet Union	4–4	Colombia

Teams

Most goals overall: 247 – Brazil, 1930–2026^[33]
Most goals in a tournament: 27 – Hungary, 1954^[47]

Tournament

Most goals scored in a tournament: 307** – 2026^[48]
Fewest goals scored in a tournament: 70 – 1930, 1934^[49]
Most goals per match in a tournament: 5.38 – 1954^[46]
Fewest goals per match in a tournament: 2.21 – 1990^[46]

By tournament

Source:^[50]^[49]

Key
†	Denotes the highest goalscoring-related record

Year	Matches	Goals	Average goals	Top scorers	Goals scored
1930	18	70	3.89	Argentina	18
1934	17	70	4.12	Italy	12
1938	18	84	4.67	Hungary	15
1950	22	88	4.00	Brazil	22
1954	26	140	5.38^†	Hungary	27^†
1958	35	126	3.60	France	23
1962	32	89	2.78	Brazil	14
1966	32	89	2.78	Portugal	17
1970	32	95	2.97	Brazil	19
1974	38	97	2.55	Poland	16
1978	38	102	2.68	Argentina	15
1978	38	102	2.68	Netherlands	15
1982	52	146	2.81	France	16
1986	52	132	2.54	Argentina	14
1990	52	115	2.21	West Germany	15
1994	52	141	2.71	Sweden	15
1998	64	171	2.67	France	15
2002	64	161	2.52	Brazil	18
2006	64	147	2.30	Germany	14
2010	64	145	2.27	Germany	16
2014	64	171	2.67	Germany	18
2018	64	169	2.64	Belgium	16
2022	64	172	2.69	France	16
2026	103**	307**^†	2.98**	England**	20**
2026	103**	307**^†	2.98**	France**	20**

(**) All statistics correct as of 18 July 2026.

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

Matches results

Biggest wins

Biggest margin of victory^[47]
Rank	Date	Venue	Winning team	Score	Losing team
1	15 June 1982	Nuevo Estadio, Elche	Hungary	10–1	El Salvador
	17 June 1954	Hardturm Stadium, Zürich	Hungary	9–0	South Korea
	18 June 1974	Parkstadion, Gelsenkirchen	Yugoslavia	9–0	Zaire
4	12 June 1938	Stade du Fort Carré, Antibes	Sweden	8–0	Cuba
	2 July 1950	Estádio Independência, Belo Horizonte	Uruguay	8–0	Bolivia
	1 June 2002	Sapporo Dome, Sapporo	Germany	8–0	Saudi Arabia

Biggest win in a final

Biggest margin of victory in a final^[47]
Rank	Date	Venue	Winning team	Score	Losing team
1	29 June 1958	Råsunda Stadium, Solna	Brazil	5–2	Sweden
	21 June 1970	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City	Brazil	4–1	Italy
	12 July 1998	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	France	3–0	Brazil

Streaks

Longest winning streak: 11 – Brazil, 2002–2006^[51]
Longest unbeaten streak: 16 – Netherlands, 2014–2026^[52]
Longest unbeaten streak in regulation time (excluding extra time): 23 – Netherlands, 2010–2026
Longest losing streak: 9 – Mexico, 1930–1958^[53]
Longest winless streak: 17 – Bulgaria, 1962–1994^[54]
Longest drawn streak: 5 – Belgium, 1998–2002^[55]
Longest streak scoring at least 1 goal: 18^[56]
- Brazil, 1930–1958
- West Germany, 1934–1962
- Germany, 1986–1998
Longest streak scoring at least 2 goals: 13^[57]
- Argentina, 2022–2026
Longest goalless streak: 5^[58]
- Bolivia, 1930–1994
- Honduras, 1982–2014
- Algeria, 1986–2010
Longest goalless streak by minutes: 517 minutes – Bolivia, 1930–1994^[59]
Longest clean sheet streak: 6 – Spain, 2022–2026^[60]
Longest streak without conceding a goal by minutes: 650 minutes – Spain, 2022–2026^[61]
Longest streak without clean sheet: 22 – Switzerland, 1934–1994^[62]
Longest streak without a red card: 29 – Japan, 1998–2026^{[disputed – discuss]}

Discipline

Most red cards (tournament): 28 – 2006, in 64 matches^[63]
Most red cards (all-time, team): 11 – Brazil, in 119 matches^[63]
Most red cards (match, both teams): 4 – 2 each for Portugal and Netherlands, 2006^{[note 15]}^[64]
Most red cards (final match): 2 – Argentina v West Germany, 1990^{[note 16]}^[65]
Most yellow cards (tournament): 345 – 2006, in 64 matches^[66]
Most yellow cards (match, one team): 10 – Argentina v Netherlands, 2022^[67]
Most yellow cards (match, both teams): 18 – 8 for Netherlands and 10 for Argentina, 2022^[67]
Most yellow cards (final match, both teams): 14 – 9 for Netherlands and 5 for Spain, 2010^[68]

Own goals

For a detailed list of own goals records and statistics, see the main article.

Most own goals by a team: 4
- Mexico (1930, 1954, 1970, 2018)
- Morocco (1998, 2018, 2022, 2026)
Most own goals in favour of a team: 6 – France (1954, 1998, 2014 (x2), 2018 (x2))
Most matches, never scoring an own goal: 81 – France (1930–2026)
Most matches, never benefiting from an own goal: 65 – Mexico (1930–2026)
Most matches, never scoring or benefiting from an own goal: 29 – Japan (1998–2026)

Penalty shoot-outs

Most played: 7 – Argentina (1990 (x2), 1998, 2006, 2014, 2022 (x2))^[69]
Most won: 6 – Argentina (1990 (x2), 1998, 2014, 2022 (x2))^[69]
Most lost: 4
- Spain (1986, 2002, 2018, 2022)^[69]
- Netherlands (1998, 2014, 2022, 2026)^[69]
Most won without ever losing: 4 – Croatia (2018 (x2), 2022 (x2))^[69]
Most consecutive wins: 4
- Germany (1982, 1986, 1990, 2006)^[69]
- Croatia (2018 (x2), 2022 (x2))^[69]
Most consecutive losses: 3
- Italy (1990, 1994, 1998)^[69]
- England (1990, 1998, 2006)^[69]
- Spain (2002, 2018, 2022)^[69]
- Netherlands (2014, 2022, 2026)^[69]
Most lost without ever winning: 2
- Mexico (1986, 1994)^[69]
- Romania (1990, 1994)^[69]
- Japan (2010, 2022)^[69]
- Colombia (2018, 2026)^[69]