Germany's penalty shootout record at the FIFA World Cup ended in Boston after Kai Havertz, Nick Woltemade and Jonathan Tah all missed against Paraguay. The loss broke a perfect run built over four previous World Cup shootouts and changed the standard that had defined Germany from 12 yards.
Boston Breaks Germany
Three misses in one shootout told the story. Germany had won all four of their previous World Cup shootouts, and the sequence against Paraguay ended that run in the harshest possible way: Havertz, Woltemade and Tah could not convert.
That is the sharp turn. Germany entered the match with a flawless record in the format and left with their first World Cup shootout defeat on record, a reversal that came in Boston rather than after a long drought.
Stielike, Ettori and the Record
The earlier edge was not built on one tournament. Before Havertz, Woltemade and Tah missed against Paraguay, the only German player to fail to score in a World Cup shootout was Uli Stielike in 1982, when France's Jean-Luc Ettori saved his shot. Between 1982 and 2026, Germany converted every single penalty they had taken at the tournament.
The numbers around the record show how tight it had been. Out of 24 total penalties taken by German players in World Cup shootouts, Germany scored 20. Opponents scored 14 out of 24 against Germany, while German goalkeepers saved eight penalties.
Paraguay and the Long Run
Germany's reputation had been built over years of spot-kick control, but the Boston shootout exposed the first clean break in that story. Paraguay also had its own miss in the 2026 meeting, when Antonio Sanabria shot wide, leaving the decisive damage with the three German failures.
The history around the record also includes Chris Waddle, who blazed one over the bar in 1990. Even with moments like that across the years, Germany had kept its World Cup shootout standard intact until Paraguay pushed it off course in Boston.
