Every four years, the argument starts over: which is the best World Cup of all time? People pick their tournament, defend it as if it owes them something, and dismiss anyone who disagrees. That’s fine. That’s half the point.
But if you actually look at what made each World Cup worth remembering — the football, the upsets, the moments that still get argued about in parking lots — a few editions separate themselves in determining the best World Cup tournament ever.
Here’s how the top contenders stack up.
Top World Cup teams of all time
Mexico 1970 is where this argument usually starts among the best World Cup games of all time, and not just because people like old Brazil clips. That team had Pele dropping off, Jairzinho scoring in every match, Tostao dragging defenders around, Gerson passing through pressure, and Carlos Alberto charging from right-back like he had been invited late. Six matches, six wins. Italy got the full version in the final, 4-1.
The fourth goal keeps getting replayed because it has a beginning, a middle, and a punchline. Clodoaldo wriggles out of trouble first. Brazil move it across the pitch without rushing. Pele holds the last pass for a beat, just enough, then rolls it right. Carlos Alberto storms into the frame and finishes like a full-back who already knew the script.
Italy were not carved open by one pass. They were moved across the pitch until there was nowhere useful left to stand.
Brazil became the first nation to win three World Cups and took permanent possession of the Jules Rimet Trophy as a result. It also helped that 1970 looked different. This was the first World Cup many viewers saw in color, so Brazil did not arrive as just another great side in old footage.
They came through in yellow shirts, blue shorts, hard Mexican sunlight, and pitches that seemed to glow on television. Plenty of people who were nowhere near alive in 1970 still know the tournament by its colors before they know the details.
Qatar 2022 gets this high among the greatest FIFA World Cup options because of Lusail, really. Argentina had France beaten, or close enough that it felt safe to say so. Then Kylian Mbappe scored twice, Lionel Messi scored again, Mbappe hit back from the spot, and the final ended 3-3 after extra time. A World Cup final hat-trick should have belonged to the winner. Instead, it became part of Messi’s ending. Argentina took the shootout, he lifted the trophy at last, and the tournament closed with 172 goals across 64 games.
Morocco reached the semi final — the first African nation ever to do so. Saudi Arabia beat Argentina in the group stage. Japan beat Germany and Spain. There was almost too much happening, which is its own kind of problem, but the final alone earns Qatar 2022 a permanent spot in this conversation.
Switzerland 1954 is the one people forget, which is a mistake. It still holds the record for goals per game — 140 goals in just 26 matches, an average of 5.38 per game that will never be touched given how the tournament has expanded. Hungary scored 27 goals across five games, including a 9-0 win over South Korea and an 8-3 humiliation of West Germany in the group stage.
Austria beat Switzerland 7-5 in a quarter final. The final itself was West Germany coming back from 2-0 down to beat Hungary 3-2 — the same Hungary that had thrashed them by five goals weeks earlier. Germans call it the Miracle of Bern. It holds up.
Which World Cup had the strongest collection of teams?
Mexico 1970. The group stage alone had Brazil, England, West Germany and Italy — all of them genuine contenders, all of them with players who are still referenced as the best at their positions in history. Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Moore, Gerd Müller, and Gordon Banks were all in that tournament. Pelé played his last World Cup in it. The talent density hasn’t been matched since.
The best World Cup ever is Mexico 1970, and the football makes the argument for you without needing much help. But the debate is genuinely open at the top — which is exactly why people are already tracking the World Cup 2026 contenders to see which nation might finally give 1970 Brazil something to worry about.
Which World Cup featured the most iconic final?
Argentina vs France in 2022 is the honest answer if you’re talking about pure drama. Kylian Mbappe’s hat trick against the run of play, the comebacks, the penalties — it had everything. For sheer quality of football, Brazil vs Italy in 1970 still wins. Depends on what you’re measuring.
Which World Cup produced the most goals in tournament history?
Qatar 2022, with 172. Switzerland 1954 had fewer total goals (140) but produced them across only 26 games, which is why the goals-per-game record from that tournament has stood for seventy years.
Which World Cup had the most future Ballon d’Or winners?
Mexico 1970 again. Pelé (winner in 1970), Beckenbauer (1972 and 1976), and Müller (1970) were all present. Several players in that tournament went on to define the decade that followed it.