Germany just opened their 2026 World Cup campaign by putting seven goals past Curaçao. The scoreline: 7-1. If that number feels familiar, it should.
Twelve years after humiliating Brazil with an identical 7-1 result in the 2014 semifinal, Germany appears to be reminding the world, and one country in particular, that they remain the most prolific goal-scoring nation in World Cup history.
The record that won’t stay settled
After that infamous 2014 semifinal in Belo Horizonte, Germany overtook Brazil as the highest-scoring team in FIFA World Cup history. That match pushed Germany’s all-time tally to 223 goals, edging past Brazil’s 221.
The 2014 demolition was the kind of result that rewrites how people talk about a sport. Thomas Müller opened the scoring. Miroslav Klose added one to become the tournament’s all-time leading individual scorer with 16 goals. Toni Kroos scored twice in the span of about 70 seconds. Sami Khedira and André Schürrle piled on. Oscar’s consolation goal in the 90th minute barely registered as anything more than a footnote.
