Biggest wins in FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup has seen some breathtaking results over the years where teams have gone on to score a flurry of goals in a single match to leave the footballing fraternity in awe.

However, there’s only one team that breached the 10-goal mark in a given match.

The 1982 edition saw Hungary register the biggest win in FIFA World Cup history by scoring 10 past struggling El Salvador.

The floodgates opened with Hungarian midfielder Tibor Nyilasi scoring the first goal past El Salvador goalie Luis Guevara Mora in the fourth minute.

Nonetheless, attacker Laszlo Kiss was the one who stole the limelight with a stunning seven-minute hat-trick to become the footballer with the fastest treble at the global event and also the only player to score three goals after coming off the bench.

El Salvador forward Luis Zapata netted the consolation goal for his side.

Unfortunately, this historic victory wasn’t enough for Hungary to progress past Round 1 as Belgium and Argentina made it to the next stage from their group.

The previous record for the biggest wins in the FIFA World Cup was held by the Hungary national team, who slotted nine against South Korea in 1954.

In the Round 1 game against South Korea, Sandor Kocsis scored a hat-trick as Hungary recorded the then biggest win in the history of the tournament. The Hungarian forward also appears on the list of most goals in the FIFA World Cup.

The 1954 edition was also Hungary’s joint-best performance in their history at the marquee event as they finished as runners-up to eventual champions West Germany.

The Yugoslavia national football team’s 9-0 win over minnows Zaire at the FIFA World Cup 1974 also features among the biggest wins at the showpiece event.

Zaire, the only team from Africa to qualify for the 1974 World Cup, faced a humiliating 9-0 loss against Yugoslavia courtesy of the centre-forward Dusan Bajevic’s treble.

While Zaire were eliminated in Round 1, Yugoslavia exited in Round 2 with three losses from as many games.

Moving forward, three teams have put eight past their opponents without conceding a goal to make it to the list of biggest wins in FIFA World Cup history.

While Sweden national football team defeated Cuba 8-0 in the 1938 quarter-final, Uruguay national football team recorded a similar win over Bolivia in their title-winning 1950 campaign thanks to a fantastic hat-trick by striker Oscar Miguez.

Germany is the third side to record an astonishing 8-0 win.

In the group phase clash of the 2002 edition, Miroslav Klose’s hat-trick helped Germany thrash Saudi Arabia. Die Mannschaft eventually finished as runners-up, losing 2-0 to Brazil in the final.

Uruguay, Turkey, Poland, Portugal and Spain are the other teams to score seven goals in a single match without conceding a single goal, with La Roja becoming the latest addition to the list of biggest wins in the competition’s history when they won 7-0 against Costa Rica in a group stage encounter of the FIFA World Cup 2022.

Germany’s famous 7-1 win over hosts Brazil in their title-winning 2014 edition also deserves a mention.

Toni Kroos and Andre Schurrle scored braces as Thomas Muller, Miroslav Klose and Sami Khedira scored one goal each on a night which will live long in German football history.