The FIFA World Cup 2018 will long be remembered as the tournament of underdogs and also for its unpredictability. While France lifted the cup for the second time after two decades, we also witnessed a host of lesser-known nations out-performing the so-called favorites of the footballing world. We also had a number of other teams, players, referees, and coaches creating new records during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. There have been a plethora of records being created and broken during the course of the month-long football extravaganza in Russia. Let’s quickly have a look at the records created during FIFA World Cup 2018.
- Croatia is the smallest country by population(4 million approx.) to play in the FIFA World Cup finals.
- Germany could not qualify from the group stages for the first time in its history of the FIFA World Cup. Moreover, they finished last in the group.
- Toni Kroos’s free-kick goal against Sweden in the 94th minute & 39 seconds is the latest winner ever hit in the regulation time of the FIFA World Cup.
- Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo is only the fourth player to score in four World Cups. Other players to score in four separate FIFA World Cup tournaments are Uwe Seller(West Germany), Pele(Brazil) & Miroslav Klose(Germany).
- At the age of 33 years 130 days, Cristiano Ronaldo is the oldest player to score a hattrick. He scored the hattrick against Spain.
- Most penalties (29) were awarded in this edition of the FIFA World Cup.
- Croatia goalkeeper Danijel Subašić’s saves in shoot-outs against Denmark and Russia during his team’s run to the final meant he finished the World Cup with four saves, matching the achievements of West Germany’s Harald Schumacher from 1982 and 1986 and Argentine Sergio Goycochea in 1990.
- England won a penalty shoot-out for the first time in FIFA World Cup when they beat Colombia.
- France vs Argentina’s 4-3 scoreline in the round of 16 matches was the first in regulation time in any FIFA World Cup match.
- Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary at 45 years 161 days he became the oldest player in a FIFA World Cup, beating the previous record by more than two years.
- This year’s World Cup saw the most number of own goals scored during a FIFA World Cup with a total of 12.
- A record of 71 goals was scored from set-pieces in this World Cup beating the previous best of 61 goals scored during the 1998 World Cup.
- At 37 years 120 days, Felipe Baloy (Panama) became the oldest player to score in a FIFA World Cup debut match after scoring against England.
- Croatian striker Mario Mandžukić set the infamous record of scoring the first own goal in a FIFA World Cup final match.
- England skipper Harry Kane equaled the record of scoring the most goals as a captain. Previously Argentine skipper Diego Maradona held this record (in 1986-94).
- Brazil reclaimed the record for the most FIFA World Cup final goals by a team. Their all-time tally now stands at 229 scored between 1934 and 2018. Germany held the record previously with 224 goals.
- Brazil also created a record of winning the most number of matches in the FIFA World Cup. They have now won 73 matches of a total of 109 played.
- Óscar Tabárez, the Uruguayan coach, has created two records. In addition of his title of most FIFA World Cup appearances with the same national team by a Coach, he has also achieved the record for most games as head coach of the same international team, with a grand total of 185 games.
- Mexican skipper Rafael Marquez, at 39-year-old set a new record at having led his nation in five FIFA World Cup (in 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018) tournaments.
- Uzbek referee Ravshan Irmatov has refereed in a record 10 matches in FIFA World Cup matches across 2010,2014 & 2018 tournaments.
