Historic thrashings and kings of the World Cup: the records that endure
From Austria 7-5 Switzerland in 1954 to Hungary 10-1 El Salvador, and Brazil's five titles: a look at some of the World Cup's most striking records.
The World Cup holds records that withstand the passing of the decades. The highest-scoring match in history is still Austria 7-5 Switzerland from 1954: twelve goals in a single game that no one has matched.
As for the biggest thrashings, the record margin is shared by three matches with a nine-goal gap: Hungary 9-0 South Korea (1954), Yugoslavia 9-0 Zaire (1974) and Hungary 10-1 El Salvador (1982). The last of these has a unique twist: Hungary are the only team to have scored ten goals in a World Cup match.
On the title front, Brazil lead clearly: five World Cups (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002), more than any other team. They are the tournament's great historical benchmark.
And among individual feats, England's Geoff Hurst set a milestone in the 1966 final (England 4-2 West Germany after extra time): he was the first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, something no one repeated until Kylian Mbappé matched it in the 2022 final. Records that, like football itself, never stop being rewritten.
Source: Wikipedia (List of FIFA World Cup records; 1954, 1966 and 1982 finals).