The Best And Worst Teams When It Comes To Penalty Shootouts

The beginning of the end of this men’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar is upon us. Among other things, it also means that the jittery, nail-biting anxieties of watching a penalty shootout would inevitably follow, as it did when Ismail Elfath blew his whistle at the end of extra-time, with the deadlock staying unbroken between Croatia and Japan in the Round of 16. 

The only time a World Cup didn’t require the intervention of a penalty shootout to settle a stalemate in any of its fixtures was in 1978 in Argentina, the edition where FIFA officially inaugurated this rule. 

The next edition was in Spain in 1982, where we first got exposed to the euphoria and the heartbreaks induced by penalty shootouts when West Germany nosed out France 5-4 on penalties in the semifinals.  

Ever since, each World Cup has dallied with this phenomenon at some point in time, with four World Cups (1990, 2006, 2014 and 2018) seeing four penalty shootouts – the most produced in a single competition. 

Luck, chance, and unexplainable, incomprehensible events contribute to the beauty of penalty shootouts, but experts would argue that there is also some method to the madness. Historically, there have been some teams who have cracked the code, and others who cannot catch a break once they find themselves in this tiebreak situation. 

Of the teams remaining in the men’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which ones have the best and the worst records at World Cups? Let’s find out. 

The best teams at penalty shootouts

1. Argentina

Since the Germans, who share the most loving relationship with penalty shootouts, are already out of the World Cup, it leaves Argentina on the top of the pile. After all, besides Die Mannschaft, it is only Argentina who have scored 17 times in shootouts at men’s World Cups.  

With a success rate of 80%, La Albiceleste have featured in the most penalty shootouts in a men’s World Cup (5). They did so in twice in the 1990 Italy World Cup, beating Yugoslavia and Italy, and once each in France 1998, Germany 2006, and Brazil 2014 against England, Germany, and the Netherlands, respectively. 

Which is the only team they couldn’t go beyond in penalties? Obviously, Germany, when the two locked horns in the quarterfinal in 2006. 

Along with Croatia’s Danijel Subasic, Argentina’s stopper Sergio Goycochea holds the record for the most penalty saves in a single edition of the World Cup (4).

2. Brazil

If Argentina are in the conversation, how can one expect…