Most World Cup penalty shootout defeats by country: Netherlands overtake England | OneFootball

It’s the most heartbreaking way to go out of a World Cup but every penalty shootout has to have a loser – and some countries have suffered that fate multiple times over the years.

Penalty shootouts were introduced in the World Cup for games drawn after extra time in 1978, although the first only took place in 1982.

Since then, there have been more than 30 World Cup penalty shootouts. Here are the sides that have lost the most of them.

=1. Netherlands – 4

The Netherlands are one of the best footballing nations never to win a World Cup and their record in penalty shootouts has played a significant part in that.

There actually hasn’t been a Dutch defeat in normal time of a World Cup game since the 2010 final. Since then, they’ve been knocked out on penalties in every tournament apart from 2018, when they didn’t even qualify.

Misses from Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville sealed their fate this year in the round of 32 loss to Morocco, after a 1-1 draw in normal time.

They previously suffered the heartbreak of being denied a place in the final by losing on penalties in the 1998 and 2014 semi-finals against Brazil and Argentina respectively.

And in 2022, they were one of the teams beaten by eventual champions Argentina on penalties at the quarter-final stage.

You could say these penalty shootouts called for more Dutch courage…

=1. Spain – 4

It feels slightly surprising to see Spain so high up here but then again, they’ve only won the World Cup once, in 2010.

They’ve had two penalty shootout defeats either side of then, bowing out that way in the quarter-finals in 1986 and 2002 and the round of 16 in 2018 and 2022.

Belgium knocked them out in 1986 after an Eloy miss. In 2002, after beating the Republic of Ireland on penalties in the round of 16, they lost to co-hosts South Korea in the next round due to a miss by Joaquin.

It was to a hosting nation that they fell again in 2018, after Koke and Iago Aspas missed against Russia. In 2022, meanwhile, they failed to score a single penalty in a 3-0 defeat to Morocco.

=3. France – 3

France were the first country to lose a World Cup penalty shootout, to West Germany on sudden death in the 1982 semi-final.

Even more agonisingly, they are the only country to have lost multiple World Cup finals on penalties, doing so to Italy in 2006 and Argentina in 2022. Ouch.

=3. Italy – 3

Italy’s three penalty shootout failures came in consecutive tournaments in the 1990s, starting at the World Cup they hosted.

Argentina overcame them on that occasion, before Brazil beat them the same way in the 1994 final. Roberto Baggio is still apologetic to this day for his decisive miss, with the ball just about having landed by the time their hat trick of World Cup penalty shootout defeats was completed – in 1998 via a loss to hosts and future winners France.

Better than failing to qualify for three consecutive tournaments, we suppose.

=3. England – 3

Has it really been two decades since England lost a World Cup penalty shootout? You bet it has.

The curse was lifted in 2018 when, at the fourth time of asking, England finally won a World Cup game on spot kicks.

Before then, they’d suffered agony in the 1990 semi-final against West Germany, with misses from Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle, the 1998 round of 16 against Argentina, misses by Paul Ince and David Batty, and the 2006 quarter-final against Portugal, when the offenders were Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.