The World Cup Penalty Shootout Almanac: Every Shootout, Every Number
Published on July 3rd, 2026 2:15 pm ESTWritten By: Dave Manuel
Germany had never lost a World Cup penalty shootout. Four shootouts across five decades, seventeen of eighteen kicks scored, the closest thing football had to a law of physics - and on Monday night Paraguay repealed it in sudden death. There is no better week to open the full ledger. We tabled all 37 penalty shootouts in World Cup history: every match, every national record, every conversion rate, the three sudden deaths, the two goalkeepers who never conceded a kick, and the one team left with a perfect record. This is the complete almanac, current to July 3, 2026.
Sports-King Feature
The World Cup Penalty Shootout Almanac
All 37 shootouts ever taken, every national ledger, every conversion rate, and the week the most reliable stat in football finally died.
For forty-four years, one line in this almanac never changed: Germany do not lose World Cup penalty shootouts. Four shootouts, four wins, seventeen of eighteen kicks converted, a nation that treated the so-called lottery like a scheduled bank transfer. Then, on Monday night in the Round of 32, Paraguay's Orlando Gill saved two, Jonathan Tah put the sudden-death kick over the bar, and the single most dependable fact in this sport went into the past tense. There is no better week to publish the complete ledger. This is every World Cup shootout ever taken, by the numbers.
Shootouts All-Time37
Kicks Converted69.4%
Reached Sudden Death3
Finals Decided on Pens3
The Ledger
The shootout was written into the World Cup for 1978, and then nobody needed it. It finally arrived on a July night in Seville in 1982, when West Germany and France played the most famous semi-final ever staged, drew 3-3, and settled it from the spot. Since that night the count has climbed to 37, and the curve is bending upward: 2022 produced five shootouts, the most of any tournament, and the expanded 48-team bracket now adds a whole extra knockout round of chances. The 2026 edition needed just two days of knockout football to produce its first two.
Penalty shootouts by tournament, 1982-2026
The 2022 World Cup's five shootouts are the record. The 2026 bar shows two through the first days of the Round of 32, with the Round of 32 still finishing and sixteen more knockout matches to follow - the expanded bracket plays a record 32 knockout matches in all, so this tournament has more shootout runway than any in history.
The Price of Pressure
Here is the almanac's cruelest number. Across all World Cup shootouts through 2022, takers converted 69.4 per cent of their kicks: 222 scored from 320 attempts. Penalties taken during normal and extra time in World Cups go in at roughly 79 per cent. Same distance, same ball, same goalkeeper restrictions, and ten percentage points evaporate. The only variable that changed is what the kick is worth. Nobody has ever produced a cleaner measurement of pressure in professional sport.
Shootout conversion rate by tournament (all-time average 69.4%)
The two friendliest editions for takers, 1986 and 2010, both hit 77.8 per cent. The meanest was 1994 at 62.1 per cent, the tournament that ended with Roberto Baggio over the bar in the final, and 2022 was nearly as brutal at 63.4 despite producing a record five shootouts. There is no trend toward takers getting better. Half a century of sports science has not moved the number.
The National Ledgers
Thirty-one nations have stood on the twelve-yard line with a World Cup on it. The board below covers everyone with at least four shootouts, and it has been redrawn twice in four days: Germany's bar stopped being gold on Monday, and the Netherlands slid to one win in five the same night, their third consecutive World Cup ended from the spot. Which leaves exactly one team that has never lost.
Win percentage, nations with 4 or more World Cup shootouts
Croatia are now the only nation with multiple World Cup shootouts and a perfect record. Argentina have the most wins with six. Spain's four defeats are the most of anyone, and Italy, England, the Netherlands and Spain have a combined record of four wins and fourteen losses, which is a remarkable amount of shared trauma for four football superpowers.
1
Never lost a shootout
Shootouts4
Record4-0
Kicks14/18
Keeper Saves8
Eras2018, 2022
StatusPerfect
The signature: two shootout wins in 2018, two more in 2022, and a goalkeeper with four saves in each run
Croatia have played four World Cup shootouts and won them all: Denmark and Russia back to back in 2018 on the way to the final, then Japan and Brazil back to back in 2022 on the way to third place. Two different goalkeepers did it. Danijel Subasic saved four penalties in 2018, Dominik Livakovic saved four in 2022, and between them they turned a nation of four million people into the most feared shootout opponent on earth. Luka Modric took a kick in three separate shootouts across those runs, a feat shared only with Roberto Baggio and Lionel Messi. With Germany's fall this week, the crown is Croatia's alone, and they are still alive in this tournament to defend it.
2
Six wins from seven
Shootouts7
Record6-1
Kicks25/31
Finals Won1
Only Loss2006
Win %86
The signature: the 2022 final itself, Emiliano Martinez in the French heads and Montiel sealing the trophy from the spot
No country has taken more World Cup shootouts and no country has won more. Sergio Goycochea carried them through two in 1990, saving four penalties on the way to the final. They broke England in 1998, the Netherlands in 2014, and then in 2022 did the thing that defines the modern Albiceleste: beat the Netherlands again in a poisonous quarter-final, then won the final itself from the spot against France, Emiliano Martinez waving, dancing and saving while Gonzalo Montiel ended it. Their only defeat came in Berlin in 2006, when Jens Lehmann stood with a crumpled cheat sheet tucked in his sock and guessed right all night. One loss in seven, and it took a piece of paper to do it.
3
The record that died this week
Shootouts5
Record4-1
Kicks20/24
First Loss2026
Streak44 yrs
Win %80
The wound: three missed kicks against Paraguay, a sudden-death shootout lost, and a 44-year aura gone in one night
This entry read differently a week ago. West Germany won the first shootout ever staged, in Seville in 1982, and the nation then went 44 years without losing one: Mexico in 1986, England in 1990, Argentina in 2006, seventeen conversions from eighteen kicks, at one point fifteen scored in a row. German penalties were football's only guarantee. Then came Monday in the Round of 32. Orlando Gill saved from Kai Havertz and then from Nick Woltemade, the teams were level after five, and in sudden death Jonathan Tah sent the kick over the bar while Jose Canale buried the winner for Paraguay. It was only the third World Cup shootout ever to reach sudden death, and it ended the most reliable record in the sport. Paraguay's president declared a national holiday. Germany's aura is now a memory.
4
Combined: 4 wins, 14 losses
Spain1-4
Netherlands1-4
England1-3
Italy1-3
Combined4-14
Trophies Lost2
The wound: Spain have failed to score a single kick in a shootout, England went 0-for-3 across 16 years, and Italy lost a final on the last kick
Four superpowers, one shared nightmare. Spain's four defeats are the most in World Cup history, and the 2022 loss to Morocco was the worst of them: zero kicks scored, only the second team ever blanked in a shootout after Switzerland in 2006. The Netherlands have now been eliminated from three consecutive World Cups on penalties, twice by Argentina and this week by Morocco. England lost three in a row across 1990, 1998 and 2006 before Jordan Pickford and Eric Dier finally broke the curse against Colombia in 2018, still their only win. And Italy are the strangest case of all: three defeats including the 1994 final, where Baggio, the best player in the world that summer, put the last kick over the bar in Pasadena, and then one win, which happened to be the 2006 final itself, Fabio Grosso converting the kick that won the World Cup minutes after Zidane's head-butt ended his career. The lottery gives and the lottery takes.
5
Two shootouts, two wins each
Morocco2-0
Paraguay2-0
KeepersBounou, Gill
VictimsESP, NED, JPN, GER
Span2010-26
Defeats0
The signature: Bounou has never conceded a losing shootout, and Paraguay just beat the one team nobody ever beat
The almanac's two rising powers both cashed in this week. Morocco's Yassine Bounou blanked Spain 3-0 in 2022 without conceding a single kick, one of only two goalkeepers ever to get through a World Cup shootout untouched, and on Monday he saved from Crysencio Summerville before Ismael Saibari finished the Netherlands 3-2 in Monterrey. Paraguay's pair is somehow better: a 5-3 win over Japan in 2010, and now the win over Germany, a team that had gone four shootouts across five decades without ever losing one. Two shootouts each, no defeats, and both are still in the bracket.
Every Shootout Ever
The complete record, all 37, in order. Gold rows are World Cup finals decided from the spot. Red match names are the three shootouts that survived five kicks apiece and went to sudden death: the very first one ever staged, the 1994 marathon in Stanford, and Monday night's burial of the German record. Scores read winner first, with the 120-minute score alongside.
| # | Year | Round | Match | After 120 | Pens | The Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1982 | SF | West Germany d. France | 3-3 | 5-4 | The first ever. Sudden death, 12 kicks |
| 2 | 1986 | QF | France d. Brazil | 1-1 | 4-3 | Socrates and Platini both miss |
| 3 | 1986 | QF | West Germany d. Mexico | 0-0 | 4-1 | Schumacher saves two more |
| 4 | 1986 | QF | Belgium d. Spain | 1-1 | 5-4 | Spain's curse begins |
| 5 | 1990 | R16 | Ireland d. Romania | 0-0 | 5-4 | O'Leary sends Ireland through |
| 6 | 1990 | QF | Argentina d. Yugoslavia | 0-0 | 3-2 | Goycochea saves two, Maradona misses |
| 7 | 1990 | SF | Argentina d. Italy | 1-1 | 4-3 | Goycochea again, hosts eliminated |
| 8 | 1990 | SF | West Germany d. England | 1-1 | 4-3 | Pearce and Waddle. England's wound opens |
| 9 | 1994 | R16 | Bulgaria d. Mexico | 1-1 | 3-1 | Mexico convert one of four |
| 10 | 1994 | QF | Sweden d. Romania | 2-2 | 5-4 | Sudden death, 12 kicks, Ravelli the hero |
| 11 | 1994 | F | Brazil d. Italy | 0-0 | 3-2 | THE FINAL. Baggio over the bar |
| 12 | 1998 | R16 | Argentina d. England | 2-2 | 4-3 | Ince and Batty miss |
| 13 | 1998 | QF | France d. Italy | 0-0 | 4-3 | Italy's third straight shootout exit |
| 14 | 1998 | SF | Brazil d. Netherlands | 1-1 | 4-2 | Taffarel saves two |
| 15 | 2002 | R16 | Spain d. Ireland | 1-1 | 3-2 | Spain's only win ever |
| 16 | 2002 | QF | South Korea d. Spain | 0-0 | 5-3 | Hosts perfect from the spot |
| 17 | 2006 | R16 | Ukraine d. Switzerland | 0-0 | 3-0 | Switzerland score zero kicks |
| 18 | 2006 | QF | Germany d. Argentina | 1-1 | 4-2 | Lehmann and the cheat sheet |
| 19 | 2006 | QF | Portugal d. England | 0-0 | 3-1 | Ricardo saves three |
| 20 | 2006 | F | Italy d. France | 1-1 | 5-3 | THE FINAL. Grosso wins it, Zidane gone |
| 21 | 2010 | R16 | Paraguay d. Japan | 0-0 | 5-3 | Paraguay perfect, five from five |
| 22 | 2010 | QF | Uruguay d. Ghana | 1-1 | 4-2 | After Suarez's handball and Gyan's miss |
| 23 | 2014 | R16 | Brazil d. Chile | 1-1 | 3-2 | Jara hits the post to end it |
| 24 | 2014 | R16 | Costa Rica d. Greece | 1-1 | 5-3 | Navas and a perfect five |
| 25 | 2014 | QF | Netherlands d. Costa Rica | 0-0 | 4-3 | Krul subbed on just for the shootout |
| 26 | 2014 | SF | Argentina d. Netherlands | 0-0 | 4-2 | Romero saves two in Sao Paulo |
| 27 | 2018 | R16 | Russia d. Spain | 1-1 | 4-3 | Akinfeev's foot on the last kick |
| 28 | 2018 | R16 | Croatia d. Denmark | 1-1 | 3-2 | Subasic saves three |
| 29 | 2018 | R16 | England d. Colombia | 1-1 | 4-3 | England's first ever shootout win |
| 30 | 2018 | QF | Croatia d. Russia | 2-2 | 4-3 | Croatia's second in six days |
| 31 | 2022 | R16 | Croatia d. Japan | 1-1 | 3-1 | Livakovic saves three |
| 32 | 2022 | R16 | Morocco d. Spain | 0-0 | 3-0 | Bounou untouched, Spain score zero |
| 33 | 2022 | QF | Croatia d. Brazil | 1-1 | 4-2 | Livakovic again, Rodrygo saved |
| 34 | 2022 | QF | Argentina d. Netherlands | 2-2 | 4-3 | Martinez saves two in the grudge match |
| 35 | 2022 | F | Argentina d. France | 3-3 | 4-2 | THE FINAL. Montiel wins the World Cup |
| 36 | 2026 | R32 | Paraguay d. Germany | 1-1 | 4-3 | Sudden death. Germany's first ever loss |
| 37 | 2026 | R32 | Morocco d. Netherlands | 1-1 | 3-2 | Bounou and Saibari in Monterrey |
The Record Book
The individual ledgers inside the ledger. Four goalkeepers share the biggest one, and the two clean sheets belong to men who never let a single kick past them.
The Four-Save ClubOnly three goalkeepers have saved four penalties in the shootouts of a single World Cup: Sergio Goycochea (1990), Danijel Subasic (2018) and Dominik Livakovic (2022). Toni Schumacher also reached four, split two and two across 1982 and 1986. Two of the four names are Croatian, which is not a coincidence, it is a national industry.
The Clean SheetsOnly two goalkeepers have ever finished a World Cup shootout without conceding a kick: Ukraine's Oleksandr Shovkovskyi against Switzerland in 2006 and Morocco's Yassine Bounou against Spain in 2022. Both shootouts ended 3-0, the only two 3-0 shootouts in World Cup history.
The Three-TimersOnly three players have taken kicks in three separate World Cup shootouts: Roberto Baggio, Lionel Messi and Luka Modric. Baggio's trilogy ended with the most famous miss ever taken. Messi's ended with the trophy.
The Zero ClubTwo teams have been blanked outright in a shootout: Switzerland scored none of three against Ukraine in 2006, and Spain scored none of three against Morocco in 2022. Japan, Mexico and Romania have played two shootouts each without ever winning one.
Sports-King's Note
Three honesty flags, same policy as the rest of our lists. First, this is a live document: the ledger is current through July 3, 2026, with two shootouts already played, the Round of 32 finishing as we publish and sixteen knockout matches still to follow it, so the number 37 has every chance of aging within the week. We will keep the master table updated. Second, national records follow the federation: Germany's ledger includes West Germany, and Yugoslavia's single 1990 shootout sits with Serbia in FIFA's books. Third, the kick-by-kick numbers (69.4 per cent converted, 222 of 320) cover the 35 shootouts through 2022, per the official match records; the two 2026 shootouts are counted in the ledger and the table but their kicks are not yet folded into the historical rate. Men's World Cup only throughout.One Last Word
Players call it a lottery, and the almanac says they are wrong. Croatia keep winning them, Spain keep losing them, the conversion rate has not moved in forty years, and the one record everyone called permanent lasted exactly until a 26-year-old goalkeeper from a Paraguayan town called San Lorenzo, who plays his club football for a team called San Lorenzo, decided otherwise. That is not luck. That is a sport keeping score.
Sixteen knockout matches follow the Round of 32 in this World Cup, the biggest bracket the tournament has ever staged, and somewhere in it is shootout number 38. Maybe Croatia defend the perfect record. Maybe England add a chapter to the wrong column. Either way, the table above gets longer, and we will be here to write the note.
