Many fans remember the 2014 World Cup semi-final in which Germany beat Brazil 7-1. With eight goals, that match does not even make the list of World Cup games with nine or more goals.

At the top of that list is Austria’s 7-5 win over Switzerland at the 1954 World Cup. Its 12 goals, all scored in 90 minutes, are still the most in a World Cup match more than seven decades later.

The newest entry came at the 2026 World Cup, when England beat France 6-4 in the third-place match: the first World Cup game with ten goals since 1982.

Here is every FIFA World Cup match with nine or more goals.

Highest goal-scoring match in FIFA World Cup

Goals scored Score World Cup
12 Austria 7-5 Switzerland Switzerland 1954
11 Hungary 10-1 El Salvador Spain 1982
11 Hungary 8-3 West Germany Switzerland 1954
11 Brazil 6-5 Poland (aet) France 1938
10 France 7-3 Paraguay Sweden 1958
10 England 6-4 France USA, Canada & Mexico 2026
9 Yugoslavia 9-0 Zaire West Germany 1974
9 France 6-3 West Germany Sweden 1958
9 West Germany 7-2 Turkey Switzerland 1954
9 Hungary 9-0 South Korea Switzerland 1954
9 Argentina 6-3 Mexico Uruguay 1930

Brazil v Poland went to extra time; the other ten matches were decided in 90 minutes.

12 goals | Austria vs Switzerland, 1954 World Cup

The famous Austria-Switzerland quarter-final at the 1954 World Cup saw the Austrians beat the hosts 7-5 in Lausanne. No other World Cup match has produced more goals, and both sides had a hat-trick scorer.

Switzerland led 3-0 inside 20 minutes, two of the goals from Josef Hügi. Austria then scored three times in three minutes, Theodor Wagner getting two of them, and led 5-4 at half-time. Wagner completed his hat-trick early in the second half, and Hügi’s hat-trick for Switzerland went in vain.

11 goals | Hungary vs El Salvador, 1982 World Cup

Hungary’s 10-1 win is the only time a team has scored ten goals in a World Cup match. Hungary appear three times on this list and won all three matches convincingly.

László Kiss came off the bench to score a hat-trick in seven minutes, while László Fazekas and Tibor Nyilasi scored two goals each at the Nuevo Estadio in Elche.

11 goals | Hungary vs West Germany, 1954 World Cup

The Hungarian team of 1954 had some of the greatest attackers in football history: Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti and Zoltán Czibor. Kocsis and Czibor later played for Barcelona, and Puskás for Real Madrid. The side thrashed plenty of opponents on the way to the final, including an 8-3 group-stage win over West Germany.

Kocsis scored four times that day, Hidegkuti twice, and Puskás and József Tóth once each. West Germany avenged the defeat in the final, coming from 2-0 down to win 3-2 for the first of their four World Cup titles.

11 goals | Brazil vs Poland, 1938 World Cup

At the last World Cup before the Second World War, Brazil and Poland played out a 6-5 thriller that Brazil won. The lead kept swinging, and Ernst Wilimowski’s 89th-minute equaliser made it 4-4 and took the game to extra time.

Leônidas, who had scored Brazil’s opening goal, scored twice more in extra time. A late goal from Wilimowski in the 118th minute, his fourth of the match, took the total to 11 goals in 120 minutes.

10 goals | France vs Paraguay, 1958 World Cup

French fans remember the 1958 World Cup for Just Fontaine, who set the record for the most goals at a single World Cup (13). They included a hat-trick against Paraguay in the group stage, in a 7-3 win.

Florencio Amarilla scored twice for Paraguay, but they could not hold back France, who scored five goals in the second half.

10 goals | England vs France, 2026 World Cup

The third-place match of the 2026 World Cup, at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on 18 July, became the highest-scoring World Cup game since 1982. England led 4-0 at half-time through Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa and two goals from Bukayo Saka.

France came back to 4-3, with two goals from Kylian Mbappé and one from Bradley Barcola, before Saka completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot. Ousmane Dembélé and Jude Bellingham traded goals in stoppage time to make it 6-4, the most goals ever scored in a World Cup third-place match.

Highest goal-scoring match at the 2026 World Cup

The first 48-team World Cup had 104 matches. England’s 6-4 win over France was the highest-scoring, followed by Germany’s 7-1 win over Curaçao in Houston in the group stage. Curaçao, the smallest country ever to play at a World Cup, held Germany at 1-1 until the 38th minute.

Highest goal-scoring match at Qatar World Cup 2022

8 goals | England vs Iran, Qatar 2022

England began their bid for a second World Cup in Qatar 2022 with a 6-2 win over Iran, with Bukayo Saka scoring twice. It was the highest-scoring match of the 2022 World Cup, followed by Spain’s 7-0 thrashing of Costa Rica, one of the most one-sided matches in World Cup history.

Cameroon also came from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 with Serbia. Another six-goal match was Germany’s 4-2 win over Costa Rica, in which the four-time FIFA World Cup champions came from 2-1 down.

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