Updated 24 October 2026: the 2026 World Cup, the first with 48 teams and 104 matches, did not add to this list. Its biggest wins were Germany’s 7–1 against Curaçao and Canada’s 6–0 against Qatar, both by six goals. Hungary’s 10–1 against El Salvador in 1982 is still the biggest win in World Cup history.
Hungary 10–1 El Salvador, 1982
Hungary are the only team to score 10 goals in a World Cup match. Tibor Nyilasi scored the first after four minutes in Elche on 15 June 1982, and Hungary were 5–0 up by the 54th minute.
The substitute László Kiss then scored three times in seven minutes, in the 69th, 72nd and 76th minutes. It is still the fastest hat-trick in World Cup history, measured from first goal to third, and Kiss is still the only substitute to score a World Cup hat-trick. Four players scored hat-tricks at the 2026 World Cup (Lionel Messi, Ousmane Dembélé, Jonathan David and Bukayo Saka), all of them starters.
Luis Ramírez Zapata scored El Salvador’s goal. The win was not enough for Hungary, who went out in the first round as Belgium and Argentina went through from their group.
The 9–0 wins: Hungary in 1954 and Yugoslavia in 1974
Hungary already held the record before 1982. They beat South Korea 9–0 in Zürich on 17 June 1954, with a hat-trick from Sándor Kocsis, and went on to finish runners-up to West Germany, as they had in 1938. That makes Hungary the only team to score nine or more goals in a World Cup match twice.
Yugoslavia matched the 9–0 against Zaire in Gelsenkirchen on 18 June 1974, when Dušan Bajević scored three. Zaire were the only African team at that World Cup and went out in the first round. Yugoslavia went through, then lost all three of their second-round games.
The 8–0 wins
Three teams have won 8–0. Sweden beat Cuba in the 1938 quarter-finals, with hat-tricks from Gustav Wetterström and Harry Andersson. Uruguay beat Bolivia in 1950, with three goals from Óscar Míguez, and went on to win the tournament. Germany beat Saudi Arabia in 2002 with a Miroslav Klose hat-trick, and lost the final 2–0 to Brazil.
Biggest wins in FIFA World Cup history
| Team | Score | Opponent | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hungary | 10–1 | El Salvador | 1982 |
| Hungary | 9–0 | South Korea | 1954 |
| Yugoslavia | 9–0 | Zaire | 1974 |
| Sweden | 8–0 | Cuba | 1938 |
| Uruguay | 8–0 | Bolivia | 1950 |
| Germany | 8–0 | Saudi Arabia | 2002 |
| Uruguay | 7–0 | Scotland | 1954 |
| Turkey | 7–0 | South Korea | 1954 |
| Poland | 7–0 | Haiti | 1974 |
| Portugal | 7–0 | North Korea | 2010 |
| Spain | 7–0 | Costa Rica | 2022 |
Spain’s 7–0 against Costa Rica in Qatar in 2022 is still the most recent seven-goal win.
Six-goal wins
10 more matches have been won by six goals, including Germany’s 7–1 against hosts Brazil in the 2014 semi-final, when Toni Kroos and André Schürrle scored twice each and Thomas Müller, Miroslav Klose and Sami Khedira once:
- Italy 7–1 United States (1934)
- Hungary 6–0 Dutch East Indies (1938)
- Brazil 7–1 Sweden (1950)
- West Germany 6–0 Mexico (1978)
- Argentina 6–0 Peru (1978)
- Soviet Union 6–0 Hungary (1986)
- Argentina 6–0 Serbia and Montenegro (2006)
- Germany 7–1 Brazil (2014)
- Germany 7–1 Curaçao (2026)
- Canada 6–0 Qatar (2026)
Featured Image: AFP