The FIFA World Cup Kicks Off This Week, Here Are All The Records Ever Broken
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is almost here, with a record 48 nations set to compete across the United States, Canada, and Mexico beginning June 11. Guinness World Records just released the definitive history of every record-breaking moment across all 22 previous tournaments. The largest crowd ever at a World Cup match was 173,850 people at the Maracana in 1950. The highest-scoring tournament was 1954 in Switzerland, where 140 goals were scored in just 26 matches at an average of 5.38 per game. The most goals ever scored by one player at a single World Cup is 13, set by French striker Just Fontaine in 1958 and still untouched nearly 70 years later. The most goals in a single match belongs to Russian striker Oleg Salenko, who scored five in one game in 1994 on a team that still failed to advance from the group stage. The all-time World Cup goalscoring record belongs to Germany's Miroslav Klose with 16, set in 2014. And the oldest player ever to appear at a World Cup is Egypt's Essam El Hadary, who started a match at 45 years and 161 days old in 2018 and saved a penalty.
Pele won three World Cup titles, the most of any player. Lionel Messi holds the record for most matches played at 26, set in 2022. Brazil has won the tournament more than any nation with five. Northern Ireland's Norman Whiteside became the youngest player ever at a World Cup at just 17 years and 41 days in 1982, taking the record from Pele himself. The 2026 tournament is the biggest in history and runs until July 19. Every record above is now up for grabs.
