Ten daft World Cup records which we absolutely guarantee will never be broken | OneFootball

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe will be hunting World Cup records in 2026, but some are genuinely unbreakable.

A silly expanded format and some wonderful raging against ageing means that some World Cup records are almost certain to fall during the 2026 tournament.

But others will forever remain untouchable for a variety of reasons, as explained below.

Most World Cups won as a player

As overrated as he definitely is, no-one has ever matched Pele and his three World Cup winner’s medals, never mind surpassed him.

Most goals scored at one World Cup

With Raymond Kopa setting another imperious bar by assisting eight goals, Just Fontaine had little choice but to indulge for bronze medallists France at the 1958 World Cup. His 13 goals included a hat-trick, two braces and four strikes against West Germany in the third-place play-off.

Most goals scored in a lost match at the World Cup

Four goals scored in a lost match, Jeremy? Four?! That’s really quite absurd of Ernst Wilimowski, the Poland striker reported to have netted 1,079 times in 691 matches.

Only one of those games came at a World Cup, and Wilimowski made the absolute most of the opportunity. But his efforts were in vain as Brazil pipped Poland 6-5 after extra-time in 1938’s round of 16, with Golden Boot winner Leonidas bagging a paltry hat-trick.

Kylian Mbappe came preposterously close to matching Wilimowski’s Roque Santa Cruz tribute on the biggest possible stage, but Randal Kolo Muani and Aurelien Tchouameni let the one-man team down.

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Oldest goalscorer at the World Cup

The World Cup 1994 group-stage game between Russia and Cameroon might be the most heritage-laden in the tournament’s history.

While the expanded format could put Oleg Salenko’s five-goal haul in a crushing 6-1 win at risk, potentially pitting as it might the Erling Haalands and Harry Kanes of this world against your Cape Verdes and your Scotlands in lopsided group meetings, Roger Milla‘s milestone does feel safe.

With his consolation in that defeat, Milla (at 42 years and 39 days) broke the record he himself set four years prior in that iconic Cameroon team as the oldest scorer in World Cup history.

The only players older than him to ever even appear at a tournament were both keepers. Pepe came closer than anyone has with his goal for Portugal against Switzerland in 2022, but even then Milla had a good two years on the centre-half.

Oldest player to appear at the World Cup

Craig Gordon will be complaining about kick-off times, the weather and chronic aches as the oldest player in the 2026 World Cup squads. But at around 43 and a half, he has some catching up to do on Egypt keeper Essam El-Hadary.

The fella even saved a penalty in his dead-rubber appearance in the 2018 edition.

Most different nations played for at World Cups

The Rules will simply never allow Dejan Stankovic‘s feat of playing at the World Cup for three different nations to be repeated.

After taking part in Yugoslavia’s 1998 swansong, Stankovic accompanied Serbia and Montenegro in 2006, then captained Serbia in South Africa four years later.

Most different nations played for in World Cup finals

There will and can never be another Luis Monti, who lost the 1930 final with Argentina before becoming an Italian citizen at the reported behest of Benito Mussolini to win the 1934 edition.

Most World Cup tournaments as a coach

Carlos Alberto Parreira‘s middle name is basically but also definitely not Jules Rimet. He has taken Kuwait (1982), the United Arab Emirates (1990) and South Africa (2010) to group-stage exits. He was sacked mid-tournament by Saudi Arabia (1998), and won the thing with Brazil in 1994 before taking them to the quarters in 2006.

Carlos Queiroz will join Bora Milutinovic on five tournaments as a coach when he takes Ghana to the 2026 edition, but Parreira’s unique half-dozen remains unchallenged.

Most yellow cards received in a World Cup game

VAR will Good Process Boys into oblivion any referee who tries to emulate Graham Poll’s Josip Simunic-based hat-trick in 2006.

Lowest attendance for a World Cup game

Spare a thought for those 300 hardy souls who were reported to have stuck it out to watch Romania 3 Peru 1 at Uruguay 1930. Although the way things are going, FIFA will soon achieve its goal of removing pesky supporters from tournaments entirely.