How many finals in FIFA World Cup history have finished goalless?

The FIFA World Cup final is arguably the most intense matchup in all of sports. It’s the right to be called world champion and it’s a game that happens once every four years. Hence, goals are needed, but that doesn’t mean they are at the order of the day.

Given that this is a tournament that has been played since 1930, and that spans throughout 23 editions, it could come as a shock that there are more high-scoring FIFA World Cup finals than low-scoring affairs.

Given how many FIFA World Cup finals went to extra time, it’s hard to fathom the two best teams in world’s premiere soccer tournament to not be able to score at a maximum of 120 minutes.

There’s only been one scoreless FIFA World Cup final

The only scoreless FIFA World Cup final was in 1994 between Brazil and Italy. It was quite hard to believe that this game went 120 minutes without a goal when you consider the attacking prowess on both teams. For Brazil, they had Bebeto and Romario. For Italy, Roberto Baggio was at the forefront of the Azzurri.

Still, this FIFA World Cup final has one of the most memorable moments of all time. In the penalty shootout to determine who was going to be crowned as world champions, Roberto Baggio, Italy‘s best player, sent his penalty flying over the bar. His stance looking down became an iconic photo famously named as “The man who died standing.”

See also

Spain vs Argentina: Is 2026 World Cup final postponed?

Another two FIFA World Cup finals were close to going scoreless

While 1994 is the only final that ended 0–0, two other World Cup finals came incredibly close to a goalless finish before late drama broke the deadlock in extra time:

• 2010 (Spain 1–0 Netherlands): The game was 0–0 after 90 minutes. Andrés Iniesta scored the winning goal in the 116th minute of extra time.
• 2014 (Germany 1–0 Argentina): Also 0–0 at the end of regulation. Mario Gotze struck in the 113th minute to win the World Cup for Deutschland.