FIFA World Cup: Highest victory margin, fastest hat-trick, oldest and youngest, and other interesting records

Most FIFA World Cup wins

The easiest record to remember is Brazil’s five FIFA World Cup titles which have not been surpassed by any other nation to date. Brazil won 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2022 tournaments to make it five.

Italy and Germany have the next-best record of four titles. However, three of four of Germany’s titles were won as West Germany.

Most FIFA World Cup final appearances

Despite Brazil winning five titles, they are not the team to play in the most finals. Germany overtakes them in this record, featuring in eight finals.

They have made it to the finals in 1954, 1966, 1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2002, and 2014. They have won four of their eight finals, three of which were as West Germany.

Most number of goals

16: Germany’s Miroslav Klose holds the record for the most number of goals in FIFA World Cups with 16 goals from 24 games across four tournaments.

13: France’s Just Fontaine holds the record for the most number of goals – 13 – in a single edition of the World Cup (1958)

5: Russia’s Oleg Salenko scored five goals against Cameroon in 1994, and till date holds the record for the highest number of goals in a single match.

Most hat-tricks

2: Four players have registered two hat-tricks in their career at FIFA World Cups. Sandor Kocsis of Hungary in 1954, Fontaine in 1958, Gerd Muller in 1970, and Argentina’s Gabriel Batistuta with one each in 1994 and 1998.

1: László Kiss (Hungary) has a unique record of scoring a hat-trick of goals in a match after coming in as a substitute in the second half. He achieved the feat against El Salvador in 1982. This is also the fastest hat trick in history – three goals being scored in a span of eight minutes.

Team goals and Victory margins

9: Hungary have a record of winning by a nine-goal margin since they thrashed South Korea in 1954. Interestingly, Yugoslavia’s 9-0 win against Zaire in 1974, and Hungary’s 10-1 win against El Salvador in 1982 also have a similar margin.

10: Hungary’s 10-goal record in 1982 against El Salvador is also the highest number of goals scored by a team in a single match.

4: 4-4 is the highest scoring draw between two sides – England vs Belgium in 1954; and Soviet Union vs Columbia in 1962

27: Hungary’s nine goals against South Korea in 1954 also helped them set the record of most goals in a single edition – 27

Individual Player Records

3: Brazilian legend Pele holds the record of winning the most number of World Cups over his career – in 1958, 1962, and 1970.

5: However, Mexico’s Antonio Carbajal (1950-1966) and Rafael Marquez (2002-2018), and Germany’s Lothar Matthaus (1982-1998) have appearances in five different editions, which is the highest so far.

4: Argentina’s Lionel Messi has the most player of the match awards in a single edition, winning four of those in 2014.

The oldest and the youngest

17: Northern Ireland’s Norman Whiteside holds the record to be the youngest player to take the field at 17 years and 41 days against Yugoslavia in 1982.

However, Pele holds the record to have scored a goal at the youngest age – 17 years and 239 days.

45: On the contrary, Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadary set the record of being the oldest player to take the field in the 2018 edition when he played against Saudi Arabia at 45 years and 161 days. Hadary also became the oldest to debut, and the oldest to captain a team at the World Cup.

42: Roger Milla of Cameroon, on the other hand, holds the record of being the oldest to score a goal – at 42 years and 39 days old against Russia in 1994.

Highest attendance at FIFA World Cups

Brazil in 2014 registered the highest-ever attendance at the World Cup, with 3.44 million fans attending the tournament.

The 1950 final between Brazil and Uruguay in Rio De Janerio remains the most-attended FIFA World Cup match as 173,850 spectators were officially present at the Maracana Stadium.

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