Statistics and Facts From Football’s Greatest Competition
The FIFA World Cup has been contested 18 times since the first tournament in Uruguay in 1930. In that time the greatest players in the world (along with a number of lesser lights and obscure journeymen) have established a plethora of individual records that have stood the test of time.
FIFA World Cup Individual Appearance Records
- Antonio Carbajal of Mexico and Lothar Matthaus of Germany are the only men to have appeared in 5 World Cup competitions, an astonishing feat encompassing 16 years of top-level competitiveness. Matthaus owns the match appearance record, having contested 25 matches between 1982 and 1998
- The youngest player to appear in the finals of the competition is Norman Whiteside of Northern Ireland who was only 17 years and 41 days old when he played against Yugoslavia in 1982.
- Roger Milla is the oldest man to have represented his country at the World Cup. He was 42 years and 49 days old when he appeared for Cameroon against Russia in 1994.
- Brazilian right back Cafu has turned out on the winning side 16 times for Brazil, a record that no other player has equalled. Cafu is also the only man to have actually played in the World Cup final on 3 separate occasions.
- Pele is the only player to have won the tournament 3 times (1958/1962/1970). However, his involvement in the 1962 tournament in Chile was curtailed through injury.
World Cup Goal Scoring Records
The greatest strikers in the history of the game cemented their legacy in the World Cup finals. From all-time leading goal scorer Ronaldo to the somewhat more obscure Oleg Salenko of Russia, they all have their place in the history of the game
- Ronaldo is the all-time top scorere in the history of the World Cup with 15 goals for Brazil between 1998 and 2006.
- Just Fontaine of France holds the record for the most goals scored in a single tournament with 13 in 1958. Sandor Kocsis of Hungary is second with 11 goals in only 5 games in 1954
- Four players have scored 3 goals in the actual final of the tournament: Geoff Hurst (who remains the only man ever to notch a hat trick in 1966), Vava (1958/62), Pele (1958/70) and Zinedine Zidane (1998/2006).
- Earnest Wilimowski has the unfortunate honour of being the only man ever to score 4 goals in a match that was lost. His 4 strikes could not help Poland avoid defeat against Brazil in 1938.
- Jairzinho remains the only man to have scored in every match of a World Cup tournament, including the final. He managed at least one goal in all six matches Brazil played in the 1970 tournament
- Four players hold the record for hat tricks in finals matches with 2 each. They are Sandor Kocsis (Hungary), Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina), Gerd Muller (West Germany), and Just Fontaine (France). Kocsis and Muller are the only men in history to have managed two consecutive hat tricks. The predatory Kocsis also managed to score at least 2 goals in four consecutive matches in 1954.
- Pele holds the record as the youngest ever goal scorer in tournament history. His goal against Wales in 1958 came when he was only 17 years and 239 days old
- Oleg Salenko of Russia holds the single game scoring record with 5 goals. He managed this feat for Russia against Cameroon in 1994. Strangely Roger Milla, at 42 years and 39 days, became the oldest goal scorer in finals history in the same match, scoring his team’s consolation goal in a 6-1 defeat.
- Hakan Suker of Turkey scored the fastest goal ever in World Cup history, needing only 11 seconds to notch against South Korea in 2002. The quickest goal ever scored in the actual final came 90 seconds after the kick off, when Johan Neeskens of Holland scored from the penalty spot in the final of the 1974 tournament against West Germany.
World Cup Goalkeeping Records
- Peter Shilton and Fabien Barthez both tie for the record of clean sheets in finals matches with 10.
- Walter Zenga holds the record for the longest consecutive period without conceding a goal, going 517 minutes unbeaten for Italy in 1990.
- The luckless Luis Guevera Mora of El Salvador holds the dubious honour of being the only goalkeeper in the history of the tournament to concede 10 goals in a single match (against Hungary in 1982).
- Pascal Zuberbuhler of Switzerland is the only goalkeeper to leave a tournament in which his team qualified from their group without ever conceding a goal. He kept 4 clean sheets in 4 matches (going out to Ukraine on penalties) in 2006.
- Gigi Buffon and Fabien Barthez share the record for fewest goals conceded by the goalkeeper of a winning side. They each conceded 2 goals in 2006 and 1998 respectively.
Disciplinary Records in the World Cup
- Jose Batista of Uruguay was sent off in only 54 seconds against Scotland in 1986, a rush of blood to the head that has survived the thuggish efforts of a generation of hatchet men to better.
- Cafu of Brazil can add a world record 6 cautions to his 3 tournament victories. Zidane ties with Rigobert Song of Cameroon as the only man to have been sent of twice while playing in the FIFA World Cup.
- Mauro Tassotti of Italy received the longest suspension in terms of matches ever handed out at a World Cup. The Italian hard man was banned for eight matches for elbowing Luis Enrique of Spain in 1994, a punishment that effectively ended his international career.
- The most bizarre disciplinary record in the history of the World Cup is undoubtedly the three yellow cards dealt to Croatian Josip Simunic by referee Graham Poll during the 2006 match against Australia.
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