Which records have been broken at the 2022 World Cup and which could still fall?

May 20, 2024

Records tumble at each and every World Cup.

So far in Qatar, the vast majority have remained intact but there are still several which have been broken. With a number of knockout games still to be played, plenty more records — including some pretty significant milestones — could follow.

The story of the group stage was a cluster of goalless games, was that record breaking? Kylian Mbappe is scoring World Cup goals at an alarming rate, are there any records he can break this year?

The Athletic explains all below.

What are the records that have been broken at the 2022 World Cup?

When looking at records in football, it is important to break them down into three categories: tournament records, individual records and team records.

Every host nation aims to make their World Cup the best of all-time and ‘legacy’ has very much been the buzzword in Qatar ever since they controversially won the bid for the 2022 World Cup.

Where better to start at this strangest of tournaments than with the tournament records that have already been broken?

Tournament records

First World Cup to include female referees
First World Cup to be hosted in the Middle East
First World Cup hosts to lose opening match
First World Cup hosts to lose every match

There was a groundbreaking World Cup moment as an all-female team officiated the Group E match between Germany and Costa Rica (Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Of course, as the World Cup moves into the latter stages, more tournament records will likely fall. Onto the records broken by the stars of the show: the players…

Majority of World Cup data prior to 1966 World Cup was not recorded.

Individual records

Cristiano Ronaldo: First male to score at five World Cups
Lionel Messi: First male to register an assist at five World Cups
Lionel Messi: Oldest and youngest player to score and assist in same World Cup game (35y 155d and 18y 357d)
Lionel Messi: Most Player of the Match awards in World Cup history (eight)
Manuel Neuer: Most appearances for a goalkeeper in World Cup history (19)
Kylian Mbappe: First player to score eight World Cup goals, and then nine, before turning 24 years old
Olivier Giroud: Most goals for France (52)
Jamal Musiala: Most dribbles in a World Cup match by a teenager (12, vs Costa Rica)
Leandro Paredes: Most passes completed by a substitute in a World Cup match (77)
Rouzbeh Cheshmi: Latest winning goal in normal time in a World Cup match (97:56, vs Wales)
Stephanie Frappart: First female to referee a World Cup match

Messi became the oldest player to score and assist in the same World Cup match against Mexico (Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Team records

Brazil: First team to play at 22 World Cups
Brazil: Most World Cup matches (109)
Brazil: Longest unbeaten group-stage run (17 matches)
Belgium: Longest winning group-stage run (eight matches)
England: Most goalless draws at the World Cup (12)
Argentina: First team to field four players aged 34 or older in a starting XI for a World Cup match (four, vs Saudi Arabia: Nicolas Otamendi, Angel Di Maria, Alejandro Gomez, Lionel Messi)
Spain: First team to attempt 1,000 or more passes in a World Cup match (1,034, vs Costa Rica)
Japan: Lowest possession in a World Cup win (17.7 per cent, vs Spain)
Ghana: First team to miss two World Cup penalties against a single opponent (vs Uruguay: Asamoah Gyan in 2010 and Andre Ayew in 2022)

Which records could still be broken at the 2022 World Cup?

With plenty of knockout football still to be played in Qatar over the next couple of weeks, some rather significant records could still be broken.

Perhaps the most notable of those is the record for the most World Cup appearances. The current holder is Lothar Matthaus who made 25 appearances across 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998.

Lionel Messi is the only active player who could go ahead of the German legend this year. The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner has 23 World Cup appearances.

That means that should Argentina reach the semi-final, permitting Messi plays every game, he will have the opportunity to break the record. He will need to play in the quarter-final and a potential semi-final to tie Matthaus.

The 35-year-old would then need to play in either the final or the third-place play-off to reach 26 appearances and create more history.

Miroslav Klose’s record of 16 goals at World Cups is very unlikely to be broken this year. Thomas Muller is the closest active player with 10 goals but Germany’s group-stage exit means his chances have been dashed.

Muller’s opportunity to become the all-time leading World Cup goalscorer seems to have passed (Photo: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Staggeringly, Mbappe is the next closest player — alongside Messi — with nine goals already. Needing eight more goals at this tournament in a maximum of three more games makes Klose pretty safe — for now.

There are a couple of other goal-related records that could be broken, including one for the most goalless draws at a World Cup. Six were recorded in the group stage and the record — set at four different tournaments — is seven.

Given there were four matches that didn’t have a goal in the opening round of group games, it is surprising to see that record still intact.

At the other end of the goalscoring spectrum, the 2022 World Cup could still be the highest scoring 32-team World Cup. 1998 and 2014 had 171 goals at a rate of 2.67 per match.

At the time of writing (after four of the eight last-16 ties), there have been 134 goals at this tournament at a rate of 2.58 per match. That means there will have to be 37 goals in the last 12 games — marginally over three goals per game — to break the record.

(Top photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

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