World Championships have been writing stories since 1930 that go far beyond athletic achievements. Some records are so peculiar that they still astonish people today – and some of them seem virtually untouchable. While football is already looking ahead to the next major tournament after the 2026 World Cup and 2030 World Cup qualification is slowly gaining momentum, it's worth looking back at the most curious records in World Cup history.
Let's start with probably the most famous lightning goal: On June 29, 2002, Turkish player Hakan Şükür scored in the match for third place against South Korea after just eleven seconds. To this day, this goal is considered the fastest goal in the history of a football World Cup. Ironically, Şükür had not scored a single goal throughout Turkey's entire World Cup campaign before this – and then this moment made history.
At the other end of the age spectrum is Roger Milla. The Cameroonian scored against Russia at the 1994 World Cup at the age of 42 and was thus the oldest goal scorer at a World Cup. Milla, who had already won the hearts of fans in 1990 as an "oldie" with his corner flag dances, thus shaped two tournaments and became a symbol of African football. Those who want to know which nations have hopes for 2030 in Africa can find details in the overview of African qualification.
Another remarkable record: Miroslav Klose is the most successful World Cup goal scorer of all time with 16 goals. He broke Ronaldo's record in 2014 in the semi-final against Brazil (the historic 7:1). Klose's consistency across four tournaments (2002 to 2014) is unmatched – he scored at least once at each of these World Cups.
Also curious is a goal festival from 1982: Hungary beat El Salvador 10:1 – to this day, this is the highest victory at a World Cup final tournament since Hungary's 9:0 win against South Korea in 1954 and Yugoslavia's 9:0 against Zaire in 1974. In the aforementioned semi-final between Germany and Brazil in 2014, four German goals were scored in just six minutes – a pace that nobody would have expected in a semi-final.
And then there's Antonio Carbajal from Mexico: He was the first player to participate in five World Championships (1950 to 1966). This record was later shared by, among others, Lothar Matthäus, Rafael Márquez, Gianluigi Buffon, and Lionel Messi, who played his fifth World Cup in 2022 and won the title.
A fun fact to smile about: The fastest red card happened in 1986 when José Batista from Uruguay was sent off against Scotland after just 56 seconds. And the youngest World Cup participant so far was Norman Whiteside (Northern Ireland), who debuted in 1982 at 17 years and 41 days old – younger than Pelé was in 1958.
Speaking of Pelé: He remains the only player to become World Champion three times (1958, 1962, 1970). Will this record ever be broken? Probably not. Currently, there is no active player who already holds two World Cup titles. The last active double World Champions are Cafu and Ronaldo (Brazil), who became World Champions in 1994 and 2002.
Those who want to follow current developments around upcoming national teams, player form curves, and the FIFA World Ranking will regularly find new analyses on fussball-wm.eu. Because one thing is certain: The 2030 World Cup in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco will also write new records and curious stories.