Does the FIFA World Cup final, arguably the biggest game in football, lend itself to tight, cagey affairs, or do the goals flow? We look at the numbers.
Highest Scoring World Cup Finals (Men’s)
Seven Goals
Brazil 5-2 Sweden (1952)
Six Goals
Uruguay 4-2 Argentina (1930)Italy 4-2 Hungary (1938)England 4-2 West Germany (1966) *aetFrance 4-2 Croatia (2018)Argentina 3-3 France (2022)
Five Goals
West Germany 3-2 Hungary (1954)Brazil 4-1 Italy (1970)Argentina 3-2 West Germany (1986)
It is a popular belief that finals are cagey affairs given what is riding on them, and there is arguably no game bigger in football than the World Cup.
Across the 22 editions of the men’s World Cup, the showpiece event themselves, the finals, have averaged 3.8 goals per game. That’s plenty more than the 2.4 goals per game in the European Championship finals, and the 1.9 in Copa America finals.
So, the data shows the World Cup actually sees more goals in its finals. Here, we go though some of the top-scoring men’s finals in World Cup history.
7 Goals: Brazil 5-2 Sweden1958 World Cup Final
Brazil’s maiden World Cup title came in 1958 against hosts Sweden. And how fitting that Brazil, the highest-scoring country in World Cup history, would play a starring role in the highest-scoring World Cup final.
As well as being full of goals, their 5-2 victory set a host of other records. It marked the first and, so far, only time that the hosts of a World Cup have lost in the final, and this game also shares the record for the greatest winning margin in a World Cup final (together with 1970 and 1998).
The game also bore witness to both the oldest and youngest players to score in a World Cup final.
The former accolade goes to Sweden’s captain Nils Liedholm (35 years, 263 days old), who opened the scoring after just four minutes with a neat finish from the edge of the box. Vavá equalised for Brazil shortly after, and then added a second after the half-hour mark.
But the moment of magic came in the second half as Pelé, just a 17-year-old at this point, scored Brazil’s third. He took control of the ball inside the penalty area, scooped it over an onrushing defender, then smashed it past goalkeeper Kalle Svensson. At just 17 years and 249 days old, Pelé is still the youngest goalscorer in a World Cup final.
Despite only appearing in Brazil’s final group-stage game, this was his fifth goal in the tournament, after coming alive in Brazil’s knockout run. Pelé scored the only goal of the game in Brazil’s 1-0 quarter-final win against Wales, before plundering a hat-trick against France in the semi-final. He would go on to add two in the final, wrapping up the tie with a headed goal in stoppage time, taking his tally for the tournament to six overall – his highest single tournament total. Unbelievably, that was still seven goals shy of the tournament’s top goal scorer: Just Fontaine, who scored 13 World Cup goals in 1958.
6 Goals: Uruguay 4-2 Argentina1930 World Cup Final
It seems that the World Cup’s penchant for goalmouth action began right at source, with the inaugural tournament seeing six goals in its showpiece match. Uruguay, the hosts, overcame Argentina 4-2 in a rematch of the gold medal game from the 1928 Olympics, which Uruguay also won.
In front of a packed crowd at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, Pablo Dorado put the hosts into the lead. Carlos Peucelle and Guillermo Stabile – the eventual golden boot winner – then scored to take Argentina into half-time with a 2-1 lead.
It took until the 57th minute for Uruguay to equalise through Pedro Cea, and 10 minutes later they were in front courtesy of Idiarte Santos Iriarte. Héctor Castro sealed things with a last-minute fourth.
In coming back from 2-1 down at half-time, Uruguay remain the only side to go into the break trailing and turning around the game to win a World Cup final.
The 1930 World Cup also saw the only time the final has been played on a Wednesday.
The following day was declared a national holiday in Uruguay, too, and who doesn’t love a random Thursday off work?
6 Goals: Italy 4-2 Hungary1938 World Cup Final
With war clouds gathering over Europe, the third FIFA World Cup took place against a bleak backdrop. On the continent, Austria were forced to withdraw ahead of the tournament due to being annexed by Germany. Spain, meanwhile, could not participate due to their ongoing civil war.
It was Italy who emerged victorious at the World Cup, beating Hungary 4-2 in the final and successfully defending their 1934 triumph. Vittorio Pozzo’s team became the first side in World Cup history to defend their title, and since then, only Brazil (1958 & 1962) have matched this feat. Pozzo remains the only manager in history to win two World Cups.
Gino Colaussi opened the scoring for Italy before Pál Titkos equalised for Hungary. Italy went back ahead through Silvio Piola after 16 minutes, and Colaussi bagged his second 10 minutes before half-time, extending Italy’s lead to 3-1 at the break. No World Cup final has ever seen more than four first-half goals (also four in 1958).
Midway through the second half, Hungary captain György Sárosi got his side back to within a goal of the Italians, but with eight minutes to go, Piola scored his second to complete a 4–2 win for the Azzurri.
6 Goals: England 4-2 West Germany1966 World Cup Final
That the 1996 World Cup final is the joint-second highest-scoring final in history is a little ironic, given that both the teams taking part in it were so solid defensively throughout the tournament.
Both sides topped their groups. Hosts England didn’t concede a single goal until the semi-final (a 2-1 win over Portugal) after enjoying 2-0 wins against Mexico and France, while West Germany conceded just twice on their way to the showpiece, beating Switzerland and Spain in the group.
By the end of extra-time, each side would have doubled their goals against figures.
Prior to the tournament, the Jules Rimet trophy was stolen, but was recovered by a dog named Pickles four months before the tournament began. England found themselves in a pickle of their own after 12 minutes of the final, when Helmut Haller put Germany 1-0 up.
Geoff Hurst cancelled out that opener with his first goal of the game, rising unmarked in the box to head in a Bobby Moore cross. His next two goals would be far more memorable.
At 2-2 after 90 minutes, the game headed into extra-time. Alan Ball put in a cross from the right, and Hurst swivelled and shot from close range, the ball hitting the underside of the bar before bouncing down over the line, at least according to the assistant referee.
Then, with West Germany flooding men forward to level the game, Moore picked out the unmarked Hurst with a long pass. Hurst carried the ball forward as some fans ran onto the pitch thinking the game was over. It was now, to paraphrase the famous commentary line, as Hurst fired into the roof of the net. Hurst’s hat-trick remains the only one ever scored in a FIFA World Cup final.
Moore is only the second player in history to assist two goals in a World Cup final (along with Pelé’s two assists in 1970), and he’s the only player to assist the same goalscorer twice in a final.
There were 77 shots in total during this epic encounter, the most of any World Cup game in recorded history.
England’s 4-2 victory in the final remains the only occasion that they have hosted or won the World Cup, and it remains the senior men’s team’s only major tournament win.
6 Goals: France 4-2 Croatia2018 World Cup Final
You have to fast forward 52 years before we find the next joint-highest scoring World Cup final. That came in 2018, in a clash between France and Croatia, hosted in Russia.
2018 was a tournament of firsts. It was the first time VAR had been implemented in a major international tournament, and it typically had a major impact.
A record number of penalties were awarded at the 2018 World Cup, 29 in total, a full 11 more than the next highest past tournament. That translated to almost one penalty being awarded every two games, as referees clamped down hard on pushing and shoving at corners. It was six more than we saw at the 2022 tournament in Qatar (23), where VAR was also in place.
In classic style, the new technology was both praised and criticised by commentators, none more so than when it played a big part in the final. Referee Néstor Pitana used the technology to award France a first-half penalty, which Antoine Griezmann dispatched to put France 2-1 ahead.
France’s opening goal was another first: the first-ever own goal in a World Cup final, as Mario Mandžukić flicked a Griezmann free-kick into his own net. Ivan Perišić equalised for Croatia, before he was adjudged to have handled from a corner.
Premier League midfielder Paul Pogba added a third, before Kylian Mbappé became only the second teenager to score in a World Cup final after Pelé in 1958.
Despite the six goals, this final saw the two teams take just 21 shots combined. Only Germany versus Argentina in 2014 saw fewer in a final.
6 Goals: Argentina 3-3 France (4-2 on pens)2022 World Cup Final
Four years later, well, four and a half years later, the final saw France return and take part in another six-goal thriller.
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar was moved to the winter due to the extreme heat in the summer, but the final taking place just a week before Christmas Day was not enough to cool down the temperature of one of the best showpiece games the World Cup has seen.
The narrative was set. Could Lionel Messi finally silence the last of his doubters and follow the iconic Diego Maradona in leading Argentina to World Cup glory, or would one of the brightest stars of the next generation, Kylian Mbappé, help France retain their crown?
Messi put Argentina ahead from the penalty spot before Angel Di Maria made it 2-0 after just 36 minutes as Lionel Scaloni’s men looked like they would ease to victory in the Lusail Stadium.
However, enter Mbappé. The French striker also scored a penalty to halve the deficit with 10 minutes to go, before volleying in an equaliser just a minute later.
Messi bundled in his second in extra-time to put Argentina back ahead, only for France to be awarded another penalty for handball, which was dispatched by Mbappé to seal his hat-trick, becoming only the second player ever to score a treble in a World Cup final after Geoff Hurst for England in 1966.
That took the game to penalties, which Argentina won 4-2 to give Messi the trophy he craved more than any other.
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