Every time a FIFA World Cup takes place everything stops. The best players across the globe reunite to battle each other for the title. But there aren’t only great teams participating in it. This tournament also has room for humble squads that are happy just being a part of it.

That is a good thing about the World Cup since it includes all types of mindsets. Although there were times where that led to wide margins in the scoreboard when those opposites encountered. Watching a lot of goals is fun, though not that much when all of them come from one side.

Something that will be noticed immediately is that most of this results happened a long time ago. Particularly, Switzerland 1954 was the edition that had the majority of them. Stay here to know more about some wild results from the past.

The worst and most humiliating defeats in the history of the World Cup

Switzerland 1954: Hungary 9 - 0 South Korea

The list of champions doesn’t include this National Team, though it was probably the most dominant squad in this time in history. Hungary had a lineup that included non-other than Ferenc Puskas. Curiously enough, Puskas scored the opening and closing goals, but he wasn’t the top scorer of the match since Sandor Kocsis ended with three. This game was played on June 17 for the first round. They would also go on to lose in the final against Germany besides being 2-0 up.

Germany 1974: Yugoslavia 9 - 0 Zaire

Yugoslavia are also part of the record books for having the biggest margin in a win. The player that stood out was Dušan Bajević with three scores to his name. As it happened in the previous case, Yugoslavia didn’t take the crown. This clash was played on June 18.

France 1938: Sweden 8 - 0 Cuba

This was a more important game in the tournament since it was the quarterfinals. For the Swedish national team the one that shined was Gustav Wetterström with three goals. It was a great result for what it meant, but their title hopes were erased by Hungary in the next match. After losing vs Brazil in the third-place duel, they took the fourth spot. June 12 was the exact date of it.

Brazil 1950: Uruguay 8 - 0 Bolivia

The match that had two squads from South America represents a different outcome from other examples. That’s because Uruguay did finish their participation with the glory, taking down the home team. But this World Cup had a peculiarity in that there weren’t elimination games, only rounds involving groups. July 2 was the date it took place.

Korea-Japan 2002: Germany 8 - 0 Saudi Arabia

Another exception from this list, though for another reason since it was a more recent one. Miroslav Klose started writing history in the FIFA World Cup thanks to the hattrick he got for the German squad. This is another story that didn’t end perfectly for the game winner, losing 2-0 to Brazil in the final. It was a group E matchup played on June 1.

Switzerland 1954: Uruguay 7 - 0 Scotland

Uruguay pop up as another top team in the early years of the World Cup. Being the defending champions in 1954, they stomp over their Scottish foes in the first round. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t able to repeat the title losing vs Hungary in the semifinals. The match happened on June 19.

Switzerland 1954: Turkey 7 - 0 South Korea

Now it starts to appear a certain pattern, being the 1954 World Cup a common scenario for this type of results. While the South Koreans repeat in this list, Turkish make their first appearance thanks in part to Sargin Burhan’s hattrick. But luck was not on their side since they shared the group with the then finalists Germany and Hungary, being eliminated in the first round. This occurred on June 20.

Germany 1974: Poland 7 - 0 Haiti

It took exactly two decades to see this result happen again. Poland had a tough group having to go up against Italy and Argentina as well, but they finished in the first place. Then they would end in the second place of the group in the next round, which meant participating in the third-place match. There they beat Brazil 1-0 to complete the podium. The game was played on June 19.

South Africa 2010: Portugal 7 - 0 North Korea

This jumps up as the most recent one in the list, though it’s still a very uncommon result nowadays. As a curious fact it could be said that Cristiano Ronaldo only scored the sixth goal, but they weren’t able to go that far in the tournament. That ended in a disappointing 1-0 loss against Spain in the round of 16. This match happened on June 21.

Notable mentions

There were some scoreboards that didn’t have the margin of the ones mentioned above, though they are worth noting. For example, another match from Switzerland 1954. This appears as one of the strangest things in FIFA World Cup history because it included the finalists. In the first round Hungary beat Germany 8-3, but the Germans had the last laugh by defeating the Hungarians in the final. Others are the 7-1 Brazil got vs Sweden in the last round in 1950, with that score being repeated in favor of Italy over the US in 1934.

The most iconic defeat in the modern era

There is yet another 7-1 result that had Brazil as a protagonist. It’s a game that took place in their own country when they hosted the 2014 FIFA World Cup. But the plot twist was gigantic since they were in the losing side of it. That time, a ruthless German squad had no mercy with the organizers. To make things worse, it was in the semifinals that occurred on July 8. Of course, Germany went on to beat Argentina in the final to take the title.

What is the biggest loss in World Cup history?

All these wins or loses -depending on what side you look at them from- had wide margins that sound unbelievable. There is an extra one that had nine goals of difference as well, though with something unique. That historical game separated itself from the rest since it had one team getting to two-digit scores in Spain 1982. So the biggest loss in World Cup history was the one that Hungary handed El Salvador on June 15. The final scoreboard was 10-1 in favor of the Europeans in a precedent that will most likely not be broken in Qatar 2022.

Using this World Cup Predictor, you can see every potential outcome of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.