The World Cup is entering the knockout stages – and with it the return of the penalty shootout. The 2022 tournament set a record with five shootouts, and with an extra round in 2026 – the last 32 – that mark could fall again.
BBC Sport and Opta have analysed all 320 spot-kicks taken across 35 shootouts since 1982. The findings? England’s shootout misery has finally been surpassed – but not by a rival they would have chosen.
“Spain overtakes England for most missed World Cup shootout penalties after missing all three kicks in 2022.”
England had missed more World Cup shootout penalties than any other nation – eight – until Spain took the unwanted crown in 2022. La Roja missed all three kicks in their last-16 defeat to Morocco, taking their total to nine. Spain have now lost four shootouts out of five, pushing them past England and several other nations stuck on three defeats.
The most successful country by some margin is Argentina, winners of six of their seven shootouts, including the 2022 final. Germany (17 out of 18 kicks scored) and Croatia both boast perfect four-out-of-four records. At the other end, Japan, Mexico and Romania have lost both shootouts they have contested. Belgium, South Korea and Paraguay have scored every kick they have taken – five out of five each – while Switzerland (zero out of three) are the only nation to miss all of theirs.
Only two players have scored in three different World Cup penalty shootouts: Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Croatia’s Luka Modric, both with a 100% success rate. One of Messi’s came in the 2022 final against France. Twenty-three players have netted two out of two, while Italy’s Roberto Baggio scored two out of three – but the one he missed was the crucial kick in the 1994 final.
There must be something in the water in Zadar, Croatia’s fifth-largest city. Two of the four goalkeepers to save the most World Cup shootout penalties are from there: Danijel Subasic (all in 2018) and Dominik Livakovic (all in 2022) have each saved four spot-kicks, from 10 and eight faced respectively. West Germany’s Harald Schumacher and Argentina’s Sergio Goycochea have also saved four. Subasic and Livakovic are two of only three keepers – along with Portugal’s Ricardo – to save three in one shootout. Ricardo holds the highest save percentage at 75%, having faced only four kicks.
It is not all about saves. Argentina’s Emiliano Martinez only stopped one penalty against France in the final, but his mind games seemed to unsettle French takers. And the numbers favour the taker: players who pick a side have a 72.4% success rate, compared with those who go down the middle.
With the 2026 World Cup adding an extra knockout round, the likelihood of more shootouts – and more records being broken – is higher than ever. England’s wait for a shootout win goes on, but they are no longer the worst. Spain now hold that title.