National Team Appearances In The FIFA World Cup

As of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, 80 national teams have competed at the finals of the FIFA World Cup. Brazil is the only team to have appeared in all 22 tournaments to date, with Germany having participated in 20, Italy and Argentina in 18 and Mexico in 17. 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. Five teams have appeared in FIFA World Cup finals without winning, while twelve more have appeared in the semi-finals.

List of tournaments

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. As 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.

; Breakdown of successor team records

Hosts

Teams statistics

''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.''

Most titles

* – 5 (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)

Most finishes in the top two

*/West Germany – 8 (1954, 1966, 1974, 1982, 1986 and 1990 as West Germany, 2002 and 2014 as Germany)

Most second-place finishes

*/West Germany – 4 (1966, 1982, 1986 as West Germany, 2002 as Germany)

Most World Cup appearances

* – 22 (every tournament)

Most consecutive championships

* – 2 (1934–1938)
* – 2 (1958–1962)

Most consecutive finishes in the top two

* – 3 (1982–1990)
* – 3 (1994–2002)

Longest gap between successive titles

* – 44 years (nine editions, 1938–1982)

Longest gap between successive appearances in the top two

* – 48 years (10 editions, 1930–1978)

Longest gap between successive appearances at the FIFA World Cup

* – 64 years (16 editions, 1958–2022)

Worst finish by defending champions

*Did not participate – (1934)
*Group stage – (1950)
*Group stage – (1966)
*Group stage – (2002)
*Group stage – (2010)
*Group stage – (2014)
*Group stage – (2018)

Players

Most appearances

Players in bold text are still active with their national team as of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Most championships

*Pelé – 3 (, 1958, 1962 and 1970)

Most appearances in a World Cup final

*Cafu – 3 (; 1994, 1998, 2002)

Youngest player

*Norman Whiteside – (for vs. , 17 June 1982)

Youngest player in a final

*Pelé – (for vs. , 29 June 1958)

Oldest player

*Essam El-Hadary – (for vs. , 25 June 2018)

Oldest player in a final

*Dino Zoff – ( vs. , 11 July 1982)

Goalscoring

Individual

Top goalscorers

Players in bold text are still active with their national team as of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Most goals scored in a single tournament

*Just Fontaine – 13 (, 1958)

Most goals scored in a match

*Oleg Salenko – 5 (for vs. , 1994)

Most goals scored in a final match

*Geoff Hurst – 3 (for vs. , 1966)
*Kylian Mbappé – 3 (for vs. , 2022)

Most goals scored in final matches (overall)

*Kylian Mbappé – 4 (, 2018, 2022)

Most consecutive matches scored in

*Just Fontaine – 6 (, 1958)
*Jairzinho – 6 (, 1970)

Most tournaments scored in

*Cristiano Ronaldo – 5 (, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022)

Milestone goals

*Scorer of first goal – Lucien Laurent (for vs. , 13 July 1930)
*Scorer of 100th goal – Angelo Schiavio (for vs. , 27 May 1934)
*Scorer of 1,000th goal – Rob Rensenbrink (for vs. , 11 June 1978)
*Scorer of 2,000th goal – Marcus Allbäck (for vs. , 20 June 2006)

Youngest goalscorer

*Pelé – (for vs. , 19 June 1958)

Youngest goalscorer in a final

*Pelé – (for vs. , 29 June 1958)

Oldest goalscorer

*Roger Milla – (for vs. , 28 June 1994)

Oldest goalscorer in a final

*Nils Liedholm – (for vs. , 29 June 1958)

Fastest goal

*Hakan Şükür – 11 seconds (for vs. , 2002)

Fastest goal in a final

*Johan Neeskens – 90 seconds (for vs. , 1974)

Team

Biggest wins

Biggest win in a final

Highest scoring matches

Most goals in a tournament

* – 27 (1954)

Top scoring teams by tournament

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

Tournament

Most goals scored in a tournament

*2022 – 172 goals

Fewest goals scored in a tournament

*1930 – 70 goals
*1934 – 70 goals

Most goals per match in a tournament

*1954 – 5.38 goals per match

Fewest goals per match in a tournament

*1990 – 2.21 goals per match

Own goals

Assists

Most assists

*Pelé – 10 (, 1958–1970)

Most assists in a tournament

*Pelé – 6 (, 1970)

Most assists provided in a match

*Robert Gadocha – 4 (for vs. , 1974)

Most assists provided in final matches

*Pelé – 3 (, 1 in 1958, 2 in 1970)

Penalty shoot-outs

Goalkeeping

Most clean sheets

*Peter Shilton – 10 (, 1982–1990)
*Fabien Barthez – 10 (, 1998–2006)

Most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal

*Walter Zenga – 517 mins, 5 consecutive clean sheets (, 1990)

Most goals conceded

*Antonio Carbajal – 25 (, 1950–1966)
*Mohamed Al-Deayea – 25 (, 1994–2006)

Most goals conceded in one tournament

* Hong Deok-young – 16 (, 1954)

Fewest goals conceded in one tournament

*Pascal Zuberbühler – 0 (, 2006)

Fewest goals conceded in one tournament for the eventual winners

*Fabien Barthez – 2 (, 1998)
*Gianluigi Buffon – 2 (, 2006)
* Iker Casillas – 2 (, 2010)

Most saves in one match

* Tim Howard – 16 (for vs. , 2014)

Most penalties saved (excluding penalty shoot-outs)

*Jan Tomaszewski – 2 (, both in 1974)
* Brad Friedel – 2 (, both in 2002)
*Iker Casillas – 2 (, 2002, 2010)
*Wojciech Szczęsny – 2 (, both in 2022)

Most penalties saved in one penalty shoot-out

*Ricardo – 3 (for vs. , 2006)
*Danijel Subašić – 3 (for vs. , 2018)
*Dominik Livaković – 3 (for vs. , 2022)

Most penalties saved overall in penalty shoot-outs

*Harald Schumacher – 4 (, 1982–1986)
*Sergio Goycochea – 4 (, 1990)
*Danijel Subašić – 4 (, 2018)
*Dominik Livaković – 4 (, 2022)

Coaching

Most matches coached

*Helmut Schön – 25 (, 1966–1978)

Most matches won

*Helmut Schön – 16 (, 1966–1978)

Most tournaments won

*Vittorio Pozzo – 2 (, 1934–1938)

Most tournaments as a coach

*Carlos Alberto Parreira – 6 (1982, 1990–1998, 2006, 2010)

Most different nations coached

*Bora Milutinović – 5 ( in 1986, in 1990, in 1994, in 1998 and in 2002)
*Carlos Alberto Parreira – 5 ( in 1982, in 1990, in 1994 and 2006, in 1998 and in 2010)

Most consecutive tournaments as a coach

*Bora Milutinović – 5 (1986–2002)

Most consecutive tournaments as a coach with the same team

*Walter Winterbottom – 4 (, 1950–1962)
*Helmut Schön (, 1966–1978)

Youngest coach

*Juan José Tramutola – (, 1930)

Youngest coach of a World Cup winning team

* Alberto Suppici – (, 1930)

Oldest coach

*Otto Rehhagel – (, 2010)

Oldest coach of a World Cup winning team

*Vicente del Bosque – (, 2010)

Refereeing

; Most tournaments: 3 – John Langenus (Belgium, 1930–1938), Ivan Eklind (Sweden, 1934–1950), Benjamin Griffiths (Wales, 1950–1958), Arthur Ellis (England, 1950–1958), Juan Gardeazábal (Spain, 1958–1966), Erik Fredriksson (Sweden, 1982–1990), Jamal Al Sharif (Syria, 1986–1994), Joël Quiniou (France, 1986–1994), Ali Mohamed Bujsaim (United Arab Emirates, 1994–2002), Óscar Ruiz (Colombia, 2002–2010), Carlos Eugênio Simon (Brazil, 2002–2010), Marco Rodríguez (Mexico, 2006–2014),'' Joel Aguilar'' (El Salvador, 2010–2018), Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan, 2010–2018), ''Alireza Faghani'' (Iran, 2014–2022), Bakary Gassama (Gambia, 2014–2022)
; Most matches refereed, overall: 11 – Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan, 2010–2018)
; Most matches refereed, one tournament: 5 – Benito Archundia (Mexico, 2006), Horacio Elizondo (Argentina, 2006), Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan, 2010) and Néstor Pitana (Argentina, 2018)
; Youngest referee: 24 years and 193 days – Juan Gardeazábal (Spain, 1958)
; Oldest referee: 53 years and 236 days – George Reader (England, 1950)

Referees listed in ''italics'' attended three tournaments but did not act as main referee in all of them. Instead, they were exclusively used as fourth officials in minimum one edition.

Discipline

Note: There are no official records for cautions issued in tournaments before the introduction of yellow cards in 1970.
; Fastest caution: 11 seconds, Jesús Gallardo (), vs. , 2018
; Fastest sending off: 56 seconds, José Batista (), vs. , 1986
; Fastest sending off, qualification: 37 seconds, Rashed Al Hooti (), vs. , 11 October 2011, 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
; Latest caution: after penalty shoot-out: Noa Lang (), vs. , 2022
; Latest sending off: after penalty shoot-out: Leandro Cufré (), vs. , 2006; Denzel Dumfries (), vs. , 2022
; Sent off from the bench: Claudio Caniggia (), vs. , 2002
;Most cards (all-time, player): 7, Javier Mascherano (, 2006–2018)
;Most cautions (all-time, player): 7, Javier Mascherano (, 2006–2018)
;Most sendings off (all-time, player): 2, Rigobert Song (, 1994 and 1998) and Zinedine Zidane (, 1998 and 2006)
; Most sendings off (tournament): 28 (in 64 games), 2006
; Most sendings off (all-time, team): 11 (in 97 games),
; Most sendings off (match, both teams): 4 (2 each) in vs. , 2006 (also known as Battle of Nuremberg)
; Most sendings off (final match): 2, Pedro Monzón and Gustavo Dezotti (both Argentina), v , 1990
; Most cautions (tournament): 345 (in 64 matches), 2006
; Most cautions (all-time, team): 88 (in 64 games until 2006),
; Most cautions (match, one team): 9, , 2006, vs. and , 2022, vs.
; Most cautions (match, both teams): 17, 8 () and 9 (), 2022
; Most cautions (match, player): 3 (61', 90', 93') Josip Šimunić (), vs. , 2006 (referee: Graham Poll)
; Most cautions (final match, both teams): 14, 9 () and 5 (), 2010
; Most suspensions (tournament, player): 2, André Kana-Biyik (), 1990

Teams: Matches played/goals scored

All time

; Most matches played: 114,
; Most wins: 76,
; Most losses: 28,
; Most draws: 22,
; Most matches played without a point (win or a draw): 6, ,
; Most matches played without a win: 9,
; Most matches played until first win: 17,
; Most goals scored: 237,
; Most goalscorers: 82,
; Most goals conceded: 130,
; Fewest goals scored: 0, , (as Dutch East Indies), and (as Zaire)
; Highest average of goals scored per match: 2.72, (87 goals in 32 matches)
; Lowest average of goals conceded per match: 0.67, (2 goals in 3 matches)
; Highest average of goals conceded per match: 6, (as Dutch East Indies)
; Most meetings between two teams: 7 times, vs. (1938, 1950, 1958, 1978, 1990 and twice in 1994), vs. / (1954, 1958, 1962, 1974, 1990, 1998 and 2010) and vs. (1958, 1966, 1986, 1990, 2006, 2010 and 2014)
; Most meetings between two teams, final match: 3 times, vs. (1986, 1990, 2014)
; Most consecutive meetings between two teams: 5 times, vs. (1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990)
; Most knockout wins: 35,
; Most knockout losses: 14,

In one tournament

; Most goals scored: 27, , 1954
; Fewest goals conceded: 0, , 2006
; Most goals conceded: 16, , 1954
; Most matches gone into extra time: 3, , 1986; , 1990; , 2014; , 2018
; Most minutes without conceding a goal: 517 mins, , 1990
; Highest goal difference: +17, , 1954
; Highest goal difference, champions: +14, , 2002; , 2014
; Lowest goal difference: −16, , 1954
; Lowest goal difference, champions: +6, , 1938 and 1982; , 2010
; Highest average of goals scored per match: 5.40, , 1954;
; Highest average goal difference per match: +3.2, , 1954
; Highest average goal difference per match, champions: +3.0, , 1930
; Most goals scored as champions: 25, , 1954
; Fewest goals scored as champions: 8, , 2010
; Fewest goals scored as finalists: 5, , 1990
; Fewest goals conceded as champions: 2, , 1998; , 2006; , 2010
; Most goals conceded, champions: 14, , 1954
; Lowest average of goals scored per match, champions: 1.14, , 2010
; Most matches to qualify for World Cup finals: 22, (2018)
; Most brothers in the same team in the finals: 3, (Johnny Palacios, Jerry Palacios, Wilson Palacios, 2010)

Hat-tricks

Streaks

; Most consecutive successful qualification attempts: 10, (1986–2022); (1974-2022)
; Most consecutive failed qualification attempts: 21, (1934–2022)
; Most consecutive wins: 11, , from 2–1 vs. (2002) to 3–0 vs. (2006)
; Most consecutive matches without a loss: 13, , from 3–0 vs. (1958) to 2–0 vs. (1966)
; Most consecutive matches without a loss in ordinary time: 19, , from 2–0 vs. (South Africa, 2010) to 2–2 vs. (Qatar, 2022)
; Most consecutive losses: 9, , from 1–4 vs. (1930) to 0–3 vs. (1958)
; Most consecutive matches without a win: 17, , from 0–1 vs. (1962) to 0–3 vs. (1994)
; Most consecutive draws: 5, , from 0–0 vs. (1998) to 1–1 vs. (2002)
; Most consecutive matches without a draw: 16, , from 3–1 vs. (1966) to 1–0 vs. Netherlands (2006); , from 3–2 vs. (2002) to 0–2 vs. (2022)
; Most consecutive matches scoring at least one goal: 18, (1930–1958) and (1934–1958)
; Most consecutive matches scoring at least two goals: 11, (1930–1954)
; Most consecutive matches scoring at least three / four goals: 4, (1930–1950), (1954) (four goals), (1966), (1970), (1970)
; Most consecutive matches without scoring a goal: 5, (1930, 1950 and 1994), (1986 and 2010), (1982 and 2010–2014)
; Most consecutive matches without conceding a goal (clean sheets): 5, (1990), (2006–2010)
; Most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal: 559, (1994, 2006–2010)
; Most consecutive matches conceding at least one goal: 22, (1934–1994)
; Most consecutive matches conceding at least two goals: 9, (1930–1958)
; Most consecutive matches conceding at least three goals: 5, (1930–1950)
; Most consecutive matches conceding at least four goals: 3, (1930–1950), (1930–1950)

Attendance

Highest attendance

Lowest attendance

* vs. – 300 (14 July 1930, Estadio Pocitos, Montevideo)

Highest average of attendance

*1994 – 69,174 per match

Highest aggregated attendance

*1994 – 3,594,042

Lowest average of attendance

*1934 – 21,239

Lowest aggregated attendance

*1934 – 358,000

See also

* AFC Asian Cup records and statistics
* Africa Cup of Nations records and statistics
* CONCACAF Gold Cup records and statistics
* Copa América records and statistics
* FIFA Arab Cup records and statistics
* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup records and statistics
* FIFA Confederations Cup records and statistics
* FIFA Futsal World Cup
* FIFA U-17 World Cup records and statistics
* FIFA U-20 World Cup records and statistics
* FIFA Women's World Cup records and statistics
* Men's Olympic football tournament records and statistics
* OFC Nations Cup records and statistics
* UEFA European Championship records and statistics
* Women's Olympic football tournament records and statistics

Footnotes

References

External links

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FIFA World Cup records and statistics
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All-time football league tables
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fifa World Cup Records
Records
Top sports lists