We look back at the highest-scoring FIFA World Cup games in the history of the tournament.
The Most Goals in a World Cup Game:
12 goals:Austria 7-5 Switzerland – 26 June 1954
11 goals:Brazil 6-5 Poland – 5 June 1938Hungary 8-3 West Germany – 20 June 1954Hungary 10-1 El Salvador – 15 June 1982
10 goals:France 7-3 Paraguay – 8 June 1958
Nine goals:Argentina 6-3 Mexico – 19 July 1930Hungary 9-0 Korea Republic – 17 June 1954West Germany 7-2 Turkey – 23 June 1954France 6-3 West Germany – 28 June 1958Yugoslavia 9-0 Zaire – 18 June 1974
12 Goals
Austria 7-5 Switzerland – 26 June 1954
The highest-scoring World Cup match in history came in June 1954, when Switzerland and Austria played out a 12-goal thriller in Lausanne. The 7-5 scoreline that day broke the record for the number of goals scored in a FIFA World Cup game.
The match was played in 40 °C (104 °F) heat, despite its less-than-exotic location in Switzerland. That led to the game being labelled Hitzeschlacht von Lausanne in German – loosely translated to “The Hot Battle in Lausanne”. The heat could have contributed to the goalscoring carnage on the day.
After finishing second in their groups to Uruguay and England, respectively, these two teams were drawn against one another in the quarter-finals. Austria had got through the group stage without conceding a single goal, while Switzerland had only scored two themselves. So the game wasn’t exactly expected to be a goal fest. And yet…
Both Austria’s Theodor Wagner and Josef Hügi of Switzerland helped themselves to hat-tricks before the hour mark in this match, making this the only game in World Cup history in which a player from both teams has scored a hat-trick in a match in normal time.
Hügi is one of only three players in World Cup history to have scored a hat-trick and been on the losing side.
The scoring was over by the 76th minute, with Erich Probst’s netting Austria’s seventh. With the extreme heat and no substitutions allowed at this time in tournament history, it’s little surprise that the final 14 minutes played out without much incident.
The soaring temperatures on this day probably didn’t help Austria in their next game, as they lost 6-1 to West Germany in the semi-final.
11 Goals
Brazil 6-5 Poland – 5 June 1938Hungary 8-3 West Germany – 20 June 1954Hungary 10-1 El Salvador – 15 June 1982
Poland’s 6-5 defeat to Brazil in June 1938 was the highest-scoring match in the first four editions of the FIFA World Cup, before eventually being overtaken by Austria 7-5 Switzerland 16 years later.
Poland’s Ernst Wilimowski (four goals) and Brazil’s Leônidas (three) both scored hat-tricks, marking the first occasion in World Cup history that both teams have seen a player score a hat-trick in the same match. This has only been replicated once since, in the Austria 7-5 Switzerland match in 1954.
Wilimowski was just 21 years and 347 days old when he scored four in this match – the youngest player to score more than three goals in a single World Cup game.
At the time of the 1954 World Cup, Hungary were considered the best team in the world and the favourites for the World Cup crown. The ‘Mighty Magyars’ showed their strength in the 8-3 thrashing of West Germany in the group stage, a game in which the legendary striker Sándor Kocsis scored four of their goals.
West Germany got their revenge in the World Cup final, beating the Hungarians 3-2 against all the odds after coming from two goals behind inside eight minutes and ending Hungary’s 31-game unbeaten run.
Hungary enjoyed another huge win in 1982, with the 10-1 thrashing of El Salvador in Elche, Spain.
It was all in vain, however, as like El Salvador, Hungary couldn’t make it past the first round and were eliminated in the group stage by Belgium and Argentina.
10 Goals
France 7-3 Paraguay – 8 June 1958
France kicked off their 1958 World Cup campaign with a fantastic 7-3 win over Paraguay in their opening match. It was a close match in the first half, with the scores locked at 2-2 at half-time before Paraguay even went 3-2 up in the 50th minute. Just Fontaine’s hat-trick helped France to a heavy win in the end, though.
The French striker is one of only three players to score at least three goals in two separate matches at a single World Cup tournament, alongside Sándor Kocsis (1954) and Gerd Müller (1970). As well as that hat-trick against Paraguay, he scored four more goals against Germany in the 1958 World Cup third-place play-off.
The record for the most goals in a single World Cup tournament by a player belongs to Fontaine, who scored 13 goals in six matches at the 1958 tournament. This was the only ever World Cup tournament that he played in, but he certainly made it count and is ranked among the top goal scorers in the history of the competition.
He scored in every single one of his six appearances at the 1958 tournament in Sweden, with his 13 goals more than double the next highest scorers at the finals that year – Pelé and Helmut Rahn – who both scored six goals.
Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
The Highest-Scoring World Cup Games in History Opta Analyst.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The Highest-Scoring World Cup Games in History )
Also on site :
- '80s Sitcom Star, 48, Stuns Fans with Makeup-Free Beach Pic: 'Jaw Just Dropped'
- Zillow CEO Jeremy Wacksman is using AI to transform the real estate industry—for buyers, sellers, and agents
- 'Welcome to Plathville' Star Drops Bombshells About TV Family