Who Has Won The Most Soccer World Cups?

Whilst the prominence and importance of club football dominates social media sites and the columns of publications on a daily basis, there remains one undisputed king of soccer tournaments.

The World Cup has long been the premier soccer tournament in world soccer, one of the highlights of the world sporting calendar every four years.

It is the piece de resistance of the soccer-playing world and with the game’s governing body FIFA providing the governance to the World Cup, it pits the best international teams on the planet against each other.

A peruse down the list of previous FIFA World Cup winners is a mere indication of the level of prestige the World Cup is held in amongst players, fans, and soccer experts alike.

No country has won the World Cup on more occasions than Brazil, with the South American giants having claimed the trophy 5 times.

Broadly speaking, the FIFA World Cup format has remained the same over the years – with teams from around the world taking part in fiercely competitive qualification processes to reach the showpiece event.

Europe, South America, Oceania, Africa, Asia and CONCAF (North & Central America) all have their own qualification tournaments, with the top sides progressing to the FIFA World Cup finals.

soccer fans in stadium

A host nation is traditionally appointed to host the World Cup, with the most recent incarnation taking place in Russia in 2018 and the upcoming tournament to be held in Qatar in 2022.

Historically, anywhere between 16 and 24 sides have qualified for the World Cup, adding further weight to the argument that it is the pinnacle of the game – with a relatively small number of sides taking part.

One of the key developments for 2022 is the progression to 32 teams taking part in the tournament, something that it is hoped won’t dilute from the quality of the competition moving forwards.

With such a broad and fabled history as a tournament, the FIFA World Cup has inevitably served up a whole host of memorable moments and records – all of which etch the relevant players and teams into soccer history.

Here is a rundown of some of the World Cup all-time record holders:

Which team has won the most FIFA World Cups?

As mentioned, the World Cup is held as the ultimate in terms of soccer playing accolades by all of the soccer playing fraternity and the heritage and prestige associated with it is unwavering.

Winning the World Cup has the ability to bring a nation together like no other sport and with soccer the most played and popular sport on the planet, the global appeal of the World Cup is astronomical.

First held in 1930, the World Cup has been the backbone of the sporting and soccer playing landscape ever since and the list of countries to have won the competition previously merely undermines the importance of the tournament in the context of global soccer.

Brazil – 5 Time Winners

No country has won the World Cup on more occasions than Brazil, with the South American giants having claimed the trophy 5 times.

The late 1950’s and early 1960’s saw Brazilian soccer come to prominence, with incredible tournament wins in Sweden in 1958 and Chile in 1962 – where they blew away all before them in both competitions.

The aftermath of that golden generation of Brazilian soccer continued in 1970, as they claimed their third tournament win at the expense of Italy – something they repeated in winning their fourth World Cup at USA 1994.

Remarkably, it has been 20 years since Brazil won their last world cup, triumphing with another incredible pool of players in South Korea and Japan in 2002 – something they will be looking to rectify at Qatar 2022.

Few countries are as synonymous with soccer as Brazil and their global impact on the game is representative in their World Cup success, winning tournaments with their unique, flair-driven approach to the game.

Germany – 4 Time Winners

In terms of approach, the German doctrines when it comes to soccer could not be more polar opposite to that of the Brazilians – however, they too have enjoyed heaps of World Cup success.

The impact of World Wars 1 and 2 was felt on Germany’s participation in the tournament until the 1950’s but they showed their soccer playing prowess in winning their maiden World Cup in Switzerland in 1954.

Hosting a tournament can often have a transformative effect on the host nation and West Germany were able to back up playing host by winning their second world cup in 1974.

Italia 1990 was the next World Cup where Germany triumphed, with a repeat showing in the 2014 incarnation of the tournament in Brazil.

Stereotypical German efficiency is often a trait that accompanies their style of play but with four World Cups in the bank (and potentially many more to come), they are one of the undisputed kings of world soccer.

Italy – 4 Time Winners

Sitting pretty alongside Germany with 4 World Cup wins are fellow European heavyweights Italy, who have an unrivaled passion for soccer across the global landscape.

Few sports are as ingrained in culture across the world as soccer is in Italy and their history in the game is very deep rooted.

With their first 2 World Cup wins coming back in 1934 (in Italy) and in 1938 (in France), the Italians had won two of the first three incarnations of the tournament and looked set to create a soccer playing dynasty of sorts.

Despite some near misses, they had to wait until 1982 to taste World Cup glory once more – prevailing in Spain, before they made history once more by clinching their 4th World Cup title in Germany in 2006.

As the current European champions, Italy are continuing to blaze a trail at the very top of the world game but their absence from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar due to failing to qualify is somewhat of a shock.

However, Italian fans, players and pundits alike remain as engrossed as ever in the national team and they will be hoping to add to their tally of 4 World Cup wins in 2026 and beyond.

Who has won the most soccer World Cups?

Which soccer player has won the most FIFA World Cups?

Whilst the success of any soccer team is always judged on the collective rather than the individuals, such a rich and fabled history within World Cup soccer inevitably produces certain players that have been able to win the World Cup on more than one occasion.

Only 21 players in the history of the game have managed to win the World Cup more than once, with the majority of the names on the list being either part of the Italian triumphs in 1934 and 1938 or part of the Brazilian squad that prevailed in 1958 and 1962.

The one exception to this rule is Argentinian Daniel Passarella, who managed to lift the trophy in both 1978 and 1986 with his national team.

However, one player stands alone at the top of the charts as the only player to have won the World Cup on three occasions – Brazilian legend Pele.

With a goalscoring record that is unrivaled even in the modern era, Pele was integral parts of both Brazilian triumphs in 1958 and 1970 and scored 12 goals across a stellar World Cup career.

At the start of the 1962, Pele was the undisputedly the best player on the planet and scored in Brazil’s opening game, before picking up an injury that ruled him out for the remainder of the tournament.

He wasn’t awarded a World Cup medal when Brazil went on to win the tournament at the time, however, a ruling by FIFA in 2007 meant that all squad players in World Cups could retrospectively receive a medal – enabling Pele to win his third World Cup medal and he now stands alone at the top of the list of soccer players to have won the FIFA World Cup.

Which country won the first World Cup?

The importance and gravitas of the World Cup has been ingrained into soccer society for nearly a century.

Dating back to 1930, the inaugural World Cup took place in Uruguay, with 13 sides from all over the planet taking part.

As with all tournaments of this magnitude, the historical element to the competition may not have been recognised at the time but it has subsequently gone on to be seen as the birth of international tournament soccer.

Host nations always tend to enjoy excellent runs at World Cups and that precedent was set by hosts Uruguay who blew away all before them to come out on top.

Comfortable group stage wins over Romania and Peru saw Uruguay progress to the last 4, where they hammered the United States 6-1 to reach the first ever World Cup final.

Waiting for them in the final at the Estadio Centenario were old foes and neighbors and it was Uruguay who managed to come through 4-2 and etch their name into soccer playing folklore.

They also managed to back up that win with another World Cup tournament triumph in Brazil 1950, but Uruguay are still waiting to add to their current tally of 2 World Cups won.

Which country won the last World Cup?

2018 saw the FIFA World Cup head to Russia for the very first time and the tournament was an undoubted success.

In an age where club football matches can often be attritional affairs, the 2018 World Cup was particularly refreshing.

Coming into the tournament, France were well fancied by pundits and experts, fresh off the back of an impressive run to the final of Euro 2016, it was expected that les Blues would have the credentials to go all the way in Russia.

Didier Deschamps’s side dominated from the outset, going through the group stages unbeaten against Peru, Denmark, and Australia to reach the last 16.

Perhaps the defining moment of the 2018 World Cup campaign for the French was their stunning 4-3 win over Argentina, which saw their resolve tested to the maximum – a result that set up a tricky looking tie with Uruguay.

This was far more routine, as France prevailed in 2-0 in Nizhny Novgorod, a result that meant they took on neighbors and old foes Belgium.

Billed as the biggest game of the tournament, France came through – sneaking it 1-0 in Saint Petersburg meaning Croatia were all that stood before them and World Cup glory.

In comparison to the rest of the fixtures, this was a far more routine affair, with France dominating throughout to win the match 4-2 and in doing so, clinched the World Cup for the second time in their history (1998 and 2018).

The result meant Didier Deschamps became only the second man in World Cup history to win the tournament as both a player and a manager with his native France.