Twenty-three men’s World Cups have been played since Uruguay beat Argentina in Montevideo in 1930, and only eight countries have won one. The World Cup winners list below takes them in order: where each tournament was played, how many teams took part, who won, the score of the final, the beaten finalist, the top scorer, and how many matches and goals the tournament produced.
World Cup winners list, 1930 to 2026
| Year | Host | Teams | Winner | Final | Runner-up | Top scorer (goals) | Matches | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | Uruguay | 13 | Uruguay | 4–2 | Argentina | Guillermo Stábile (8) | 18 | 70 |
| 1934 | Italy | 16 | Italy | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Czechoslovakia | Oldřich Nejedlý (5) | 17 | 70 |
| 1938 | France | 15 | Italy | 4–2 | Hungary | Leônidas (7) | 18 | 84 |
| 1950 | Brazil | 13 | Uruguay | 2–1 (final group) | Brazil | Ademir (9) | 22 | 88 |
| 1954 | Switzerland | 16 | West Germany | 3–2 | Hungary | Sándor Kocsis (11) | 26 | 140 |
| 1958 | Sweden | 16 | Brazil | 5–2 | Sweden | Just Fontaine (13) | 35 | 126 |
| 1962 | Chile | 16 | Brazil | 3–1 | Czechoslovakia | Flórián Albert, Garrincha, Valentin Ivanov, Dražan Jerković, Leonel Sánchez, Vavá (4) | 32 | 89 |
| 1966 | England | 16 | England | 4–2 (a.e.t.) | West Germany | Eusébio (9) | 32 | 89 |
| 1970 | Mexico | 16 | Brazil | 4–1 | Italy | Gerd Müller (10) | 32 | 95 |
| 1974 | West Germany | 16 | West Germany | 2–1 | Netherlands | Grzegorz Lato (7) | 38 | 97 |
| 1978 | Argentina | 16 | Argentina | 3–1 (a.e.t.) | Netherlands | Mario Kempes (6) | 38 | 102 |
| 1982 | Spain | 24 | Italy | 3–1 | West Germany | Paolo Rossi (6) | 52 | 146 |
| 1986 | Mexico | 24 | Argentina | 3–2 | West Germany | Gary Lineker (6) | 52 | 132 |
| 1990 | Italy | 24 | West Germany | 1–0 | Argentina | Salvatore Schillaci (6) | 52 | 115 |
| 1994 | United States | 24 | Brazil | 0–0 (a.e.t.), 3–2 on penalties | Italy | Oleg Salenko, Hristo Stoichkov (6) | 52 | 141 |
| 1998 | France | 32 | France | 3–0 | Brazil | Davor Šuker (6) | 64 | 171 |
| 2002 | South Korea and Japan | 32 | Brazil | 2–0 | Germany | Ronaldo (8) | 64 | 161 |
| 2006 | Germany | 32 | Italy | 1–1 (a.e.t.), 5–3 on penalties | France | Miroslav Klose (5) | 64 | 147 |
| 2010 | South Africa | 32 | Spain | 1–0 (a.e.t.) | Netherlands | Diego Forlán, Thomas Müller, Wesley Sneijder, David Villa (5) | 64 | 145 |
| 2014 | Brazil | 32 | Germany | 1–0 (a.e.t.) | Argentina | James Rodríguez (6) | 64 | 171 |
| 2018 | Russia | 32 | France | 4–2 | Croatia | Harry Kane (6) | 64 | 169 |
| 2022 | Qatar | 32 | Argentina | 3–3 (a.e.t.), 4–2 on penalties | France | Kylian Mbappé (8) | 64 | 172 |
| 2026 | Canada, Mexico and United States | 48 | Spain | 1–0 (a.e.t.) | Argentina | Kylian Mbappé (10) | 104 | 308 |
Two rows need explaining. In 1950 there was no final. The title went to the winner of a four-team final group, and the score in the table is Uruguay’s 2–1 win over Brazil on 16 July, the last match of that group, between the only two teams still able to win it. In 1962 six players finished level on four goals, and FIFA’s match records and Wikipedia both credit all six.
How many World Cups each country has won
Brazil have won the most World Cups, five: 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. Pelé won three of them, and no other player has won more than two. Germany and Italy have four each. Germany’s first three came as West Germany, in 1954, 1974 and 1990, and the fourth in Brazil in 2014; Italy won in 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006. Argentina have three (1978, 1986, 2022). France, Uruguay and Spain have two each, and England one, at home in 1966.
Add it up and European teams have 13 titles, South American teams 10. No team from anywhere else has reached a final: every runner-up in the table is European or South American too.
Six hosts have won at home: Uruguay in 1930, Italy in 1934, England in 1966, West Germany in 1974, Argentina in 1978 and France in 1998. Brazil lost the deciding match at home in 1950, and Sweden lost the 1958 final to Brazil on home soil. Only two teams have won two World Cups in a row, Italy in 1934 and 1938 and Brazil in 1958 and 1962. Until 2014, every World Cup played in the Americas had gone to a South American team. Germany ended that in Brazil, and Spain did it again in 2026, beating Argentina in the final at East Rutherford, New Jersey.
World Cup finals that went to extra time or penalties
Twenty-two finals have been played, since 1950 had none, and nine of them lasted longer than 90 minutes. Six were settled in extra time: 1934, 1966, 1978, 2010, 2014 and 2026. Three went to penalties. Brazil beat Italy 3–2 in the shoot-out after a 0–0 draw in 1994, Italy beat France 5–3 after a 1–1 draw in 2006, and Argentina beat France 4–2 after the 3–3 final of 2022.
The 2026 final was goalless after 90 minutes. Ferran Torres scored the only goal in extra time, and Spain had their second title, sixteen years after the first.
The top scorer at every World Cup
Just Fontaine‘s 13 goals in six matches in 1958 are still the record for a single tournament. Nobody has scored more than ten at one World Cup since. Gerd Müller got to ten in six matches in 1970; Kylian Mbappé needed eight in 2026.
FIFA’s Golden Boot has been awarded since 1982. When scorers finish level, the table lists all of them: six players in 1962, Oleg Salenko and Hristo Stoichkov in 1994, and four players on five goals in 2010, when the Golden Boot went to Thomas Müller. Mbappé is the only player to finish as top scorer at two World Cups, in 2022 and 2026. Career totals are a different list, and every player with ten or more World Cup goals is in the all-time top scorers table.
The 2030 World Cup, a century on
The next line of the World Cup winners list will be written in 2030, at the centenary tournament. Morocco, Portugal and Spain are the hosts, and three matches will be played in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay to mark the hundred years since Montevideo. Spain will defend their title at home. The tournament where it started is on the 1930 World Cup page, with all 18 matches, and the story of the cup the winners lift, and of the one that was stolen, is on the World Cup trophy page.
Sources and method
Hosts, finals, top scorers, matches and goals were counted from FIFA’s match records for all 23 tournaments, read on 26 September 2026, and checked against Wikipedia’s lists of World Cup results, tournament statistics and top scorers. The two agree on every figure in the table. Kicks in a penalty shoot-out are not counted as goals. Own goals count in a tournament’s total but are not credited to any scorer. Germany appears as West Germany for the tournaments it played under that name. How each figure is checked is explained in how we verify.