Most goals scored in a World Cup match: Record for teams and players in FIFA tournament

Some of the biggest moments in the history of the FIFA World Cup have come at the expense of a sorry opponent, as the most potent attacking lineups ever constructed in international soccer have exploded into life on the global stage.

Goals are the aim of every team in every game, and sometimes they can come thick and fast. On the other end, blink and you could find yourself down by a huge margin before you know it.

At the biggest sporting event around the globe, the stars tend to shine brightest. Some do so by scoring goals — and lots of them.

The Sporting News brings you a list of the biggest goal-scoring performances in a single World Cup match by one team, two teams, and one player.

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Most goals scored in a World Cup match by one team

The most goals scored by one team in a World Cup match is 10, when Hungary obliterated El Salvador 10-1 in the 1982 World Cup in Spain.

It is both the most goals ever scored by one team in a World Cup game and also tied for the biggest margin of victory in a single match at the tournament.

In this fixture, Laszlo Kiss became the only substitute ever to score a hat-trick in a World Cup match, needing just seven minutes in the second half to get his three goals. Other goal-scorers in the game include Tibor Nyilasi (2), Gabor Poloskei, Laszlo Fazekas (2), Jozsef Toth, and Lazar Szentes.

The other two World Cup games with a nine-goal margin of victory are Hungary's 9-0 win over South Korea in 1954, and Yugoslavia's 9-0 win over Zaire in 1974.

The biggest win for a World Cup participant since the turn of the millennium is Germany's 8-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in 2002. World Cup all-time leading goal-scorer Miroslav Klose got a hat-trick in this game, alongside five other scorers.

MORE: The top scorers in the history of the World Cup — and how the record can be broken soon

Most goals scored in a World Cup match combined by two teams

The most goals combined between two opponents in a World Cup match is 12, reached when Austria defeated Switzerland 7-5 in the 1954 World Cup quarterfinals.

Three times teams have combined for 11 goals, first done in 1938 when Brazil defeated Poland 6-5 in 1938, again in 1954 when Hungary beat West Germany by an 8-3 score, and finally when Hungary blasted El Salvador 10-1 in 1982.

Once, two teams combined for 10 goals as France beat Paraguay 7-3 in the 1958 tournament.

Most goals scored in a World Cup match by a player

The most goals scored in a single men's World Cup match is five, which was accomplished by Oleg Salenko of Russia against Cameroon in 1994.

He scored three goals in the first half, including one from the penalty spot, while bagging his fourth in the 72nd minute and his final strike three minutes later. Russia would win the match 6-1 as Dmitri Radchenko added one late to finish the scoring.

Both teams would eventually find themselves eliminated, as Russia has previously lost to Sweden and Brazil to finish two points back of the top two teams in Group B.

Six times a player has scored four goals in a World Cup match. The first was Ernst Willimowski of Poland in 1938 who was powerless to keep his side from suffering a 6-5 defeat to Brazil in extra-time. Since then, it's been accomplished by Ademir de Menezes (Brazil, 1950 vs. Sweden), Sandor Kocsis (Hungary, 1954 vs. West Germany), Just Fontaine (France, 1958 vs. West Germany), Eusebio (Portugal, 1966 vs. North Korea), and Emilio Butragueno (Spain, 1986 vs. Denmark).