* Most wins: Five - Brazil (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002)
* Most wins (player): Three - Pele (1958, 1962, 1970)
* Most times runner-up: Four - Germany (1966, 1982, 1986, 2002)
* Most finals: Eight - Germany (1954, 1966, 1974, 1982, 1986, 1990, 2002, 2014)
* Most goals: 16 - Miroslav Klose, Germany (2002-2014)
* Most goals at a single tournament: 13 - Just Fontaine, France, 1958
* Most goals at a single tournament (country): 27 - Hungary, 1954
* Most goal in a single match: 5 - Oleg Salenko, Russia (1994)
* Most appearances: 25 - Lothar Matthaus, Germany (1982-1998)
* Most appearances as captain: 16 - Diego Maradona, Argentina (1986-1994)
* Most minutes played: 2217 - Paolo Maldini, Italy (1990-2002)
* Most matches won: 17 - Miroslav Klose, Germany (2002-2014)
* Most cards received (yellow and red): Zinedine Zidane, France (1998-2006) and Cafu, Brazil (1994-2006)
* Most clean sheets (goalkeeper): 10 - Peter Shilton, England (1982-1990) and Fabien Barthez, France (1998-2006)
* Youngest player: 17 years, 41 days - Norman Whiteside, Northern Ireland (1982)
* Oldest player: 43 years, 3 days - Faryd Mondragon, Colombia (2014)
* Youngest goalscorer: 17 years, 7 months, 27 days - Pele, Brazil (1958)
* Oldest goalscorer: 42 years, 1 month, 8 days - Roger Milla, Cameroon (1994)
* Only manager to win tournament twice: Vittorio Pozzo, Italy (1934, 1938)
* First played in 1930 in Uruguay, this is 21st edition of the tournament
* Of 32 countries competing in Russia, only Iceland and Panama are debut nations
* Since and including 1986, Cup winners have always topped their group
* Host nations have reached the knockout phase at every World Cup except South Africa in 2010
* The last hosts to win the World Cup were France in 1998. Other host winners: Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934), England (1966), West Germany (1974), Argentina (1978).
* The 20 World Cups have been won only by nations from Europe (11) or South America (nine)
* Only consecutive Cups: Italy (1934, 1938) and Brazil (1958, 1962)
* The past two defending champions have been knocked out in the group stage (Italy 2010, Spain 2014)
* Mexico have qualified for the Cup the most times (16) without winning it
* All 20 World Cups have been won by a coach with the same nationality as the triumphant team