FIFA World Cup 2026: Five records that could finally be broken at the biggest tournament ever

When the FIFA World Cup, football's biggest carnival, kicks off across the United States, Canada and Mexico, one thing is certain: the old records will turn to dust, and the new ones will take their place.

The upcoming tournament will be the biggest FIFA World Cup ever organised. The structure has been overhauled, with the number of teams participating having increased from 32 to 48, and this will automatically increase the number of matches from 64 to a staggering 104 matches.

This will add one more knockout match – the round of 32 – towards the road to the finals.

While some of the notable names of the game, like Jamie Carragher, Toni Kroos and Michel Platini, raised concerns over the dilution of the quality because of this new format, it is undeniable that, given the volume of the matches, many long-standing records are now virtually poised to be shattered.

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With that in mind, these are the five historic milestones that are now hanging by a thread.

1. The goal-scoring boom

One of the most expected records to go down is the all-time high for total goals scored in a single World Cup. Currently, Qatar 2022 owns it, with 172 goals and a goal-scoring average of 2.69 goals per match. Now with 104 matches to be played, which will be 40 more than the last time, and even if the tournament slows down and crawls to a defensive 2010 World Cup average of a meagre 2.27 goals per match, the threshold of 172 will be easily met. The chances are that we will see a number over 200 goals thanks to the mathematical volume of the tournament.

2. The six-timer club

In the history of football, there have been players who went on to play in five World Cups, which surely is considered the pinnacle of human endurance and durability when it comes to the game of football. In women's football, Brazilian midfielder Formiga shattered the 5-tournament ceiling long before and went on playing her seventh one in 2019.

In the men’s football World Cup, five players – Antonio Carbajal (Mexico), Lothar Matthäus (Germany), Rafael Márquez (Mexico), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), and Lionel Messi (Argentina) – featured in five editions of the World Cup.

Out of these five players, two modern legends of the game, Messi and Ronaldo, are now on the course to play their sixth World Cup edition. Even if they step out for a second onto the pitch during the game time, it will make them the first to reach this milestone.

3. All-Time top scorer throne

Germany's Miroslav Klose built his historic 16-goal legacy across four tournaments, but even this record can come under threat as two stars will take the field. Lionel Messi, who will be entering the World Cup with 13 goals against his name, and the 27-year-old Frenchman, Kylian Mbappé, trail just one goal behind Messi and four goals behind Miroslav.

4. Most individual match wins

Miroslav Klose's lore is not limited to scoring goals but also to walking out victorious off the pitch. He also holds the record for most victories in World Cup history, with 17 wins. Lionel Messi is sitting on 16 victories. If Argentina can gain winning momentum in North America and win just two games in the group stage, Messi could overtake Klose for a second historic crown as well and will officially become the most successful match-winner in World Cup history.

5. Most managerial match wins

Helmut Schön’s (West Germany) record of 16 victories as a manager has stood firm for nearly half a century, but it faces its biggest challenge in this year's World Cup from the French manager Didier Deschamps – he won the 1998 World Cup as a player and captain – who currently sits at 14 wins, and if the French team manages to win two in the tournament, Deschamps will tie Schön at 16 wins, and a third victory will shatter the 48-year-old record.