Brazil's Record World Cup Tally and World Cup History

The World Cup is the most prestigious sporting event, not just in football but in the entire world of sports; nothing comes close (unless you’re Ronaldo - then it’s just a seven-game tournament).

The first rendition of the tournament was all the way back in 1930; 13 teams participated, Uruguay was the host nation and the eventual winners as they beat Argentina 4-2 in the final and Argentina's Guillermo Stabile was the top scorer with eight goals.

Now moving on to answering the question and the talking point of this article. The country with the most World Cups is none other than Brazil. They have won it a mega five times, winning their first one back in 1958 and most recently in 2002.

It’s no surprise to anyone that Brazil have won the most; they have an incredible football-driven culture. If you go on the beaches in Rio, all you see is people playing football; they live and breathe it over there.

Their Very First World Cup

This World Cup win is an incredibly special one for a couple of reasons. For starters, it was their first ever World Cup; they went unbeaten through the whole tournament, topping their group after beating Austria 3-0 and the Soviet Union 2-0, and they also drew with England 0-0.

Moving onto the knockout stages. They scraped past Wales with a 1-0 win but who was the goal scorer? 17-year-old Pelé – this is the tournament where he announced himself on the world stage - at the time, he was the youngest to ever play at a World Cup. In the semi-final they would thrash France 5-2 and that man again, Pele, would go on to score a hat trick.

Onto the final and once again they’d thrash their opponents 5-2, this time Sweden being the unlucky nation. Two from Vava, one from Zagallo, and once again Pele ends up on the scoresheet again as he bags a brace and becomes the youngest player to ever win a World Cup.

🇧🇷 Pelé campeão do Mundo aos 17 anos em 1958. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/hWeXdCq235

— Futebol Nostálgico! (@futnostalgico) December 29, 2024

Back to Back

Brazil became only the second country alongside the Italians to win the World Cup back to back. Taking place in Chile, Brazil once again won the World Cup without losing a match.

Beating Mexico 2-0, then Spain 2-1 and drawing 0-0 with Czechoslovakia. However, the big story of the group stage was Pelé going down injured and subsequently missing the rest of the tournament. Despite the big loss, another Brazilian legend in Garrincha stepped up; he went on to share the Golden Boot and win the Golden Ball. Solidifying himself as a Brazilian great.

Into the knockouts and they cruised past England 3-1 and Chile 4-2, onto the final, where it was a rematch with Czechoslovakia. Brazil won 3-1 thanks to goals from Amarildo, Zito and Vavá.

1962, World Cup holders Brazil 🇧🇷 successfully defended their title, beating Czechoslovakia 🇨🇿 3-1 in the Final at the Estadio Nacional in Santiago, Chile 🇨🇱, before a crowd of 68,679. pic.twitter.com/rvNeOh5OKX

— FootballRetroPlus (@robertmdaws) August 24, 2025

Pele's Farewell

Perhaps the most special out of the lot, this was Pele’s final World Cup for Brazil and it was written in the stars for one of the all-time greats to win it. This was one of the greatest sides to ever play in a World Cup and is argued to be the greatest team to ever play the game; it led to one of the most dominant World Cup campaigns ever.

Beating Czechoslovakia 4-1, England 1-0 and Romania 3-2, they finished the group stages flawlessly. Heading into the knockout stages, from the get-go it was pure domination. In the quarter-finals they beat Peru 4-2, in the semi-finals they beat Uruguay 3-1 and then in the final they thrashed Italy 4-1.

Pele scored the opening goal of the final, which made it fitting that he got on the scoresheet one last time. Jairzinho also managed to score in every single game of the tournament for Brazil, a feat that has only been accomplished three times. Head Coach Mario Zagallo also became the first person to win the World Cup as a player and then as a manager.

Pele became the only person to win the World Cup three times and still is to this day; it's a record that is near impossible to equal, let alone break.

BRAZIL 🇧🇷1970 pic.twitter.com/L3KozvE1Jk

— FootballRetroPlus (@robertmdaws) August 11, 2025

24 Year Drought Over

A new look from Brazil's last World Cup-winning squad: players like Garrincha and Pele were long retired by this stage, so players like Cafu, Romario, Bebeto and many more proved key to this squad.

In the group stage they comfortably saw off Russia with a 2-0 win and Cameroon with a 3-0 win. However, they were held to a point by Sweden.

Into the Round of 16, they faced the USA; Leonardo got sent off but Brazil still managed to progress thanks to a goal from Bebeto in a 1-0 win.

Into the quarter-final, and it was a 3-2 thriller against the Netherlands with goals from Romario, Bebeto and Branco, and then in the semi-final, it was a rematch against Sweden. Romario came up with the goods and headed home late on to book Brazil a place in the final.

They faced Italy in what would be a historic game. Neither team could break one another down, which led to the game finishing 0-0 and the first-ever World Cup Final was to be decided via penalties. Brazil came out victors, winning 3-2 on pens, with the iconic Baggio miss giving Brazil their fourth.

Roberto Baggio: “I still don't sleep well at nights. I always score that penalty in my dreams" pic.twitter.com/BzfEm7RcJy

— 90s Footballers (@90sPlayers) May 21, 2024

Fifth and Final World Cup Win, For Now…

Now moving on to the latest World Cup win for the Brazilians.

This tournament was dominated by “the Three R’s”. Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. The three combined for a total of 15 goals across the seven games, with at least one of them scoring in every game.

In the group stages they faced China, Turkey and Costa Rica. They thrashed China 4-0 as well as Costa Rica 5-2 and just snuck past Turkey with a 2-1 win. Into the knockout stages, they faced Belgium, which they won 2-0 thanks to goals from Rivaldo and Ronaldo.

They faced England in the quarter-final, winning 2-1 thanks to that iconic Ronaldinho free kick.

23 years ago, Ronaldinho fooled everyone with 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 free-kick against England 🤙

(via @FIFAWorldCup) pic.twitter.com/nyelzzbIIf

— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 21, 2025

They then faced Turkey once again, this time in the Semi Final and thanks to Ronaldo, they once again, just like in the group, snuck past them, winning 1-0 this time and securing their place in the final.

They faced Germany, who had stars such as Klose, Kahn, Frings and many more. But the biggest talking point before the game was what Ronaldo had told his barber to do to his hair. He came out of the tunnel with that iconic haircut. The reasoning for it was to try to get the media to stop going on about his injury problems and to get them talking about something else so it could calm him down.

Ronaldo Nazário, two time World Cup winner, two time Ballon d'Or winner and the owner of football's craziest haircut 🏆😮‍💨

The Brazilian was the most feared striker of his generation, scoring 371 goals in 580 games across numerous clubs ⚽️

He played for Barcelona, Real Madrid,… pic.twitter.com/j49uIrekC7

— OneFootball (@OneFootball) September 18, 2024

It clearly worked, as he would go on to score a brace and help Brazil to a 2-0 win. He went on to win the Golden Boot and finish what was an incredible comeback from his collapse in the 1998 World Cup.