Hungary Scores 10 in Elche to Set Highest Scoring World Cup Game
Hungary’s 10-1 win over El Salvador remains the highest scoring world cup game, and no other team has matched the 10-goal mark in World Cup play. The match was played on June 15, 1982, in Elche, Spain, and the record has stood for more than 40 years.
Laszlo Kiss Changes the Match
The headline number was already out of reach by halftime. Hungary led 3-0 at the break and then scored seven more after halftime, turning the group-stage match into the only World Cup game in which one team reached double digits.
Laszlo Kiss made the widest gap in the scoreline even harder to close. The Hungary substitute forward came off the bench and scored a hat-trick in seven minutes, the fastest hat-trick in World Cup history and the only one ever scored by a substitute.
Hungary’s Other Scorers
Hungary spread the goals across six scorers. Tibor Nyilasi, Gabor Poloskei, Laszlo Fazekas, Jozsef Toth, Lazar Szentes and Kiss all scored in the 10-1 win, while Luis Ramirez Zapata scored El Salvador’s lone goal.
The 9-goal margin still sits at the top of World Cup history. Germany’s 8-0 win over Saudi Arabia in 2002 and Spain’s 7-0 win over Costa Rica in 2022 both fell short of Hungary’s mark, and FIFA and Guinness World Records still list the 10-1 result as the biggest scoring outburst in the tournament.
Hungary’s Group-Stage Exit
The result did not carry Hungary beyond the group stage. After the El Salvador match, Hungary lost to Argentina and drew with Belgium, then finished third in its group and went home.
That leaves one match carrying the weight of the entire record book. Hungary’s 10-1 rout in Elche still defines the category, and every World Cup since has chased a total that has not been touched.
