How to take a World Cup shootout penalty

By Emlyn Begley BBC Sport journalist Published 8 July 2026 Updated 7 minutes ago The World Cup is into the quarter-final stage, which means we could have a few more high-stake penalty shootouts ahead of us. Before the knockout stage, BBC Sport and Opta had a look at every World Cup shootout penalty ever taken. But after four memorable shootouts in the last 32 and last 16, we thought it was worth crunching the numbers once again. We have already seen the first World Cup sudden-death spot-kicks since 1994, two different shootouts with a joint record five penalties missed, and only the second goalkeeper to come on as a substitute for a shootout. So what have we learned from the 360 penalties taken in 39 shootouts since 1982? Which countries fare best and worst? The Netherlands, after losing to Morocco in the last 32, joined Spain on a record four shootout defeats. Both sides have only won one of their five shootouts - and have missed nine penalties in total. England (eight misses) are one of three teams on three defeats. The most successful country is, by some margin, Argentina, who have won six of their seven, including in the 2022 final in Qatar. Croatia have won four out of four, while Germany lost their first World Cup penalty shootout this summer to Paraguay - to make it four from five. Colombia, who lost to Switzerland in the last 16 on Tuesday, Japan, Mexico and Romania have lost two out of two. With their win over Australia in the last 32, Egypt joined Belgium and South Korea as the only teams to have scored all their penalties. Mexico have the worst record with a 29% success rate from the spot (two scored from seven). Switzerland had a 0% record (three misses from three) before beating Colombia to make it 50%. Which players are the shootout kings? Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Lionel Messi has scored all his World Cup shootout penalites, but has a 50-50 success rate during games Only two players have scored penalties in three different World Cup shootouts before - Argentina's Lionel Messi and Croatia's Luka Modric, who both have a 100% success rate. One of Messi's came in the 2022 final against France. However, Messi's record from the spot during World Cup games is only four from eight, including two missed at the 2026 tournament. Some 26 players have netted two out of two in shootouts, while Italy's Roberto Baggio scored two out of three - but the one he missed was the crucial penalty in the 1994 final. There must be something in the water in Zadar because Modric and two of the four goalkeepers to save the most World Cup shootout penalties are from Croatia's fifth largest city. Danijel Subasic (all in 2018) and Dominik Livakovic (all in 2022) have saved four spot-kicks in World Cup shootouts (from 10 and eight faced respectively). West Germany's Harald Schumacher (faced nine) and Argentina's Sergio Goycochea (faced 10) have also saved four. Subasic, Livakovic and Portugal's Ricardo are the only keepers to save three in one shoo