Hungary's largest-ever World Cup victory remains unchallenged after four decades

Germany's impressive 7-1 triumph over Curaçao on Sunday hinted at a potential record-breaking victory, but the team ultimately fell short of surpassing the largest win in FIFA World Cup history, a feat that has gone unchallenged for 44 years since Hungary's 10-1 thrashing of El Salvador.

n

The record for the biggest World Cup win still stands, with no team able to surpass Hungary's 10-1 demolition of El Salvador, a margin that has remained unbroken since the match took place 44 years ago.

n

On June 15, 1982, Hungary made history by scoring 10 goals in a single men's World Cup match, defeating El Salvador 10-1 in their tournament opener in Spain, with the nine-goal winning margin remaining a joint World Cup record to this day.

n

László Kiss, a substitute in the match, stole the show by scoring a hat-trick after coming off the bench in the second half, achieving not only the only World Cup hat-trick scored by a substitute but also the fastest hat-trick in tournament history, with his three goals scored in just seven minutes.

n

Twenty-eight years before their record-breaking win over El Salvador, Hungary recorded a 9-0 victory against South Korea, courtesy of the famed Golden Team of the 1950s, which included notable players such as Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, and Nándor Hidegkuti.

n

Gusztáv Sebes' side, dubbed the Golden Team, were heavy favorites to win the tournament in Switzerland and opened the competition with a resounding 9-0 win over South Korea, a performance that remains record-breaking to this day, with Hungary holding the records for most goals scored in a single edition, highest aggregate goal difference, and highest goals-per-game average.

n

In 1974, Yugoslavia achieved a 9-0 victory over Zaire, helping them top a group that included defending champions Brazil and Scotland, with Dušan Bajević leading the rout with a hat-trick, as the Yugoslavs took a 6-0 lead by half-time, the most goals scored by one team in the first half of a World Cup match.

n

A 1938 quarter-final match between Sweden and Cuba remains the biggest World Cup victory recorded outside the group stage, with Sweden scoring eight unanswered goals against Cuba, as Gustav Wetterström and Harry Andersson each scored a hat-trick in a unique match that saw two players from the same team achieve hat-tricks.

n

Uruguay's 8-0 win over Bolivia in 1950 was a straightforward assignment, with the team needing only one match to progress, as they cruised to victory with four goals in each half, and Óscar Míguez scored a hat-trick, becoming one of only three Uruguayans to achieve the feat at a World Cup.

n

Germany's 8-0 victory over Saudi Arabia at the 2002 World Cup remains the biggest winning margin recorded in the 21st century, with Miroslav Klose, the World Cup's all-time leading scorer, netting a hat-trick in the match, including a rare feat of scoring a hat-trick consisting entirely of headers.

n

Aside from the highlighted matches, five teams have recorded seven-goal winning margins at the World Cup, including Uruguay's 7-0 win over Scotland in 1954, Turkey's 7-0 win over Korea Republic in 1954, Poland's 7-0 win over Haiti in 1974, Portugal's 7-0 win over DPR Korea in 2010, and Spain's 7-0 win over Costa Rica in 2022.