Youngest defenders to play in a World Cup semifinal: 18-198 Giuseppe Bergomi (Italy 1982 v Poland) 19-173 Pau Cubarsí (Spain 2026 v France)
Most World Cup matches involving the same teams: 7 Brazil v Sweden (1938, 1950, 1958, 1978, 1990, 2x 1994) 7 (West) Germany v Argentina (1958, 1966, 1986, 1990, 2006, 2010, 2014) 6 Netherlands v Argentina (1974, 1978, 1994, 2006, 2014, 2022) 6 England v Argentina (1962, 1966, 1986, 1998, 2002, 2026)
Father/son that have started against the same country in a World Cup knockout tie: Domingos da Guia (Brazil, 1938 R16 v Poland / Ademir da Guia (Brazil, 1974 3rd place v Poland) Martí Ventolrà (Spain, 1934 QF-replay v Italy) / José Ventolrá (Mexico, 1970 QF v Italy) Diego Simeone (Argentina, 1998 R16 v England) / Giuliano Simeone (Argentina, 2026 SF v England)
Countries that have played in consecutive World Cup Finals: 3 West Germany (1982, 1986, 1990) 3 Brazil (1994, 1998, 2002) 2 Italy (1934, 1938) 2 Brazil (1958, 1962) 2 Netherlands (1974, 1978) 2 Argentina (1986, 1990) 2 France (2018, 2022) 2 Argentina (2022, 2026)
Teams that won the World Cup final with an extra day of rest: Italy 2006 Germany 2014 France 2018 Argentina 2022 (Spain 2026) Teams that won the World Cup final with one less day of rest: Uruguay 1930 England 1966 Germany 1990 France 1998 Brazil 2002 Spain 2010 (Argentina 2026)
Most goals scored in a World Cup match: 12 - Austria 7-5 Switzerland, 1954 quarterfinals 11 - Brazil 6-5 Poland, 1938 round of 16 11 - Hungary 8-3 West Germany, 1954 group stage 11 - Hungary 10-1 El Salvador, 1982 group stage 10 - France 7-3 Paraguay, 1958 group stage 10 - England 6-4 France, 2026 3rd place playoff
Milestone World Cup goals. 1 - Lucien Laurent (1-0 France v Mexico, 1930) 100 - Angelo Schiavo (5-1 Italy v USA, 1934) 500 - Bobby Collins (2-3 Scotland v Paraguay, 1958) 1,000 - Rob Rensenbrink (1-0 Netherlands v Scotland, 1978) 1,500 - Claudio Caniggia (1-1 Argentina v Nigeria, 1994) 2,000 - Marcus Allback (1-1 Sweden v England, 2006) 2,500 - Fakhreddine Ben Youssef (1-1 Tunisia v Panama, 2018) 3,000 - Enzo Fernández (3-2 Argentina v Egypt, 2026)
World Cup finals contested between teams that had never won the tournament (guaranteeing a first-time champion): 1930 Uruguay v Argentina 1934 Italy v Czechoslovakia 1954 West Germany v Hungary 1958 Brazil v Sweden 1978 Argentina v Netherlands 2010 Spain v Netherlands
Today Espana became the first side since the modern seeding system and KO rounds format were created in 1986 that has defeated four seeded teams (POR, BEL, FRA, ARG) in the KO rounds of a WC. (An extra [fifth, R32] KO round was added of course for 2026.) Since 1986, the largest number of seeded teams that a WC champion has ever beaten in a KO stages of a single tournament was two. Espana also defeated three seeded teams (GER, FRA, ENG) in the KO stages of Euro 2024.
Players that have featured in 3 World Cup finals: Cafu (Brazil 1994 [as substitute], 1998, 2002) Lionel Messi (Argentina 2014, 2022, 2026)
Oldest players to play in a World Cup final: 40-133 Dino Zoff (Italy 1982) 39-025 Lionel Messi (Argentina 2026) 38-157 Nicolás Otamendi (Argentina 2026) 37-241 Gunnar Gren (Sweden 1958) 37-212 Jan Jongbloed (Netherlands 1978) 37-032 Nílton Santos (Brazil 1962) Youngest players in the starting lineup in a World Cup final: 17-250 Pelé (Brazil 1958) 18-201 Giuseppe Bergomi (Italy 1982) 19-006 Lamine Yamal (Spain 2026) 19-178 Pau Cubarsí (Spain 2026) 19-207 Kylian Mbappé (France 2018) *19-345 Rubén Morán (Uruguay 1950) *not officially a World Cup final but it was de facto
Managed in 2 World Cup finals: Vittorio Pozzo (Italy 1934, 1938) Helmut Schön (West Germany 1966, 1974) Franz Beckenbauer (West Germany 1986, 1990) Carlos Bilardo (Argentina (1986, 1990) Mário Zagallo (Brazil 1970, 1998) Didier Deschamps (France 2018, 2922) Lionel Scaloni (Argentina 2022, 2026) Goalkeepers who played in 2 World Cup finals: Gilmar (Brazil 1958, 1962) Jan Jongbloed (Netherlands 1974, 1978) Harald Schumacher (West Germany 1982, 1986) Cláudio Taffarel (Brazil 1994, 1998) Fabien Barthez (France 1998, 2006) Hugo Lloris (France 2018, 2022) Emiliano Martínez (Argentina 2022, 2026)
World Cup finals that required extra time: 1934 Italy 2-1 Czechoslovakia 1966 England 4-2 West Germany 1978 Argentina 3-1 Netherlands 1994 Brazil 0-0 Italy (penalties) 2006 Italy 1-1 France (penalties) 2010 Spain 1-0 Netherlands 2014 Germany 1-0 Argentina 2022 Argentina 3-3 France (penalties) 2026 Spain 1-0 Argentina Goal scorers in extra time of a World Cup final: Angelo Schiavio (Italy 1934) Geoff Hurst (England 1966, two goals) Mario Kempes (Argentina 1978) Daniel Bertoni (Argentina 1978) Andrés Iniesta (Spain 2010) Mario Götze (Germany 2014) Lionel Messi (Argentina 2022) Kylian Mbappé (France 2022) Ferran Torres (Spain 2026)
World Cup winners that never trailed in any match throughout the tournament: Italy 1938 Italy 1982 Germany 1990 Spain 2026 World Cup winners that conceded the fewest goals throughout the tournament: 1 - Spain 2026 (8 matches) 2 - France 1998 (7) 2 - Italy 2006 (7) 2 - Spain 2010 (7)
Substitutes who scored in a World Cup final: Dick Nanninga (Netherlands 1978) Alessandro Altobelli (Italy 1982) Rudi Völler (West Germany 1986) Mario Götze (Germany 2014) Ferran Torres (Spain 2026)
Last 12 World Cups: Italy 1982, 2006 Argentina 1986, 2022 Germany 1990, 2014 Brazil 1994, 2002 France 1998, 2018 Spain 2010, 2026 6 countries, twice each!
For the first time in a World Cup, all of the semifinalists came from the same side of the initial brackets. Spain in group H, France in group I, Argentina in group J, and England in group L.
I’m not sure about that. Weren’t all of the semifinalists in 2014 seeded teams? Unless you mean TOP-seeded teams in their groups. I guess Netherlands was seeded second to Spain in their group.
Out of the 83 countries that have participated to the world cup, only 18 went through in more than two knock-out games: Germany (+ West Germany): 31 Brazil : 30 Argentina: 23 Italy, France: 22 England: 14 Spain: 13 Netherlands: 9 Sweden: 8 Uruguay, Czechia (+ Czechoslovakia), Croatia, Belgium: 7 Hungary: 6 Portugal: 5 Morocco, Switzerland: 4 Austria: 3 Those which went through twice: Bulgaria, Colombia, South Korea, United States, Mexico, Norway, Paraguay, Russia (+ Soviet Union), Serbia (+ Yugoslavia), Turkey. Those which went through once: Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, Ghana, Ireland, Romania, Senegal, Ukraine.