The 2026 World Cup Qualifiers start in 2025 and once again England are amongst the favourites with bet365 Sport to land the trophy. As such, I thought it might be nice to update and review our list of the ten best World Cup goals of all time.
Now, how do you quantify a goal as being great? Of course, if it is spectacular, then it is always going to have many people claiming it is one of the very best but there are, I believe, other factors to consider.
I think the quality of opponents needs to be considered, as does the stage of the competition in which the goal was scored and the context of the goal.
Perhaps more controversially, I think the difficulty factor of the goal must also be a prime consideration and this may well be the thing that fans differ most widely on.
Diego Maradona’s amazing dribble and goal against England in the 1986 Mexico World Cup tends to come out on top list of the ten best World Cup goals.
While I appreciate how brilliant this goal is, and a clear show of Maradona’s undeniable genius, it does not come top of my list of the ten best World Cup Goals.
The sole reason being, I have seen many goals where players have dribbled from their own half to score. I have never seen anything similar to some of the goals on my list in any other football or World Cup games.
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So let’s take a look at my top ten best World Cup goals, and for this list, we will proceed in reverse order.
England’s best-ever World Cup goal came from an 18-year-old youngster, Michael Owen, who took a pass from David Beckham, sprinted past his marker Jose Luis Chamot, swerved past Roberto Ayala and then slammed the ball into the top corner of the net to put England 2-1 up in the game.
Argentina levelled on half time with a well-rehearsed set-piece goal from Javier Zanetti, and then after David Beckham was sent off in the second half, Argentina triumphed 4-3 on penalties.
This was one of the most dramatic, heartbreaking and memorable England World Cup games of the modern era.
It also just makes it into our list of the ten best World Cup goals as no goal from the 2022 Finals made it into this updated list!
Argentina may have come through against England but they were put to the sword in the next game by a last-minute wonder goal from Dutch ace Dennis Bergkamp.
With the game level in the final minute, Frank De Boer got the ball and played a long raking pass over the Argentinean defence.
Dennis Bergkamp looked like he couldn’t do much with the pass but showed exquisite control to bring the ball down, turn inside his defender and then half-volley the ball into the net with the outside of his boot.
The Dutch commentators' disbelieving commentary on the goal also makes it that little bit extra special! It is well deserving of its place in the ten best World Cup goals!
It is one of the best team goals scored in any era of football and had to be an inclusion in our top ten best World Cup goals.
This Argentina goal saw every player on the team involved in a series of outstanding passing movements before they worked the ball into the box for Hernan Crespo to backheel and Esteban Cambiasso to apply the finish.
As team goals go at the highest level, they do not come much better than this.
The 1982 Brazil team was one of the best teams never to win the World Cup, but they started the 1982 tournament slowly against Russia and trailed to a goal from Bal late into the game.
Skipper Socrates hammered home a fantastic equaliser (which was unfortunate not to make this list).
Then a few minutes later the sublime left winger Eder, who could strike the ball harder than any player I’ve ever seen, received the ball outside the box, flicked it up and then volleyed it past brilliant Russian goalkeeper Rinat Dasaev to put Brazil in front.
It was a magnificent goal that put this superb team of Zico, Falcao, Junior, Cerezo, Socrates and of course Eder on the way in the 1982 World Cup.
This game set the tone for Brazil in 1982, a team that lives long in the memory and a goal that will remain in the top ten best World Cup goals for a long time.
Scotland needed an unlikely 3-goal victory over Holland to qualify for the next stage of the 1978 World Cup Finals. While they fell just short, they did land a win over the beaten finalists and in the process, Archie Gemmill scored a goal that lives on in Scottish football legend.
Receiving the ball on the right, he jinked his way past three Netherlands defenders, nutmegging the last before clipping a beautiful chipped finish over the goalkeeper Jan Jongbloed for one of the best World Cup goals ever scored by a British player at a World Cup Finals.
It made the score 3-1 to Scotland and gave the Scots hope of an upset win, but a Johnny Rep goal a short time later extinguished that hope and saw Scotland eliminated. But this goal lives on in Scottish fans hearts.
Little wonder Archie Gemmill is still loved by Scotland fans the world over.
The first of two entries on this list in the top five for Diego Maradona came in the 1986 World Cup Semi-Final against Belgium. Fresh from his two World Cup goals against England (more on the second one of those later in the list), Maradona was required to be the man again against a tough Belgian side.
Once again, the little genius answered the call, scoring a beautiful opening goal with a flick of his left boot before adding a sublime second.
Maradona took on the Belgian defence single-handedly before slamming the ball home to earn Argentina a World Cup Final spot, which they would go on to win 3-2 against West Germany.
Both semi-final World Cup goals are included in the video above, but it is the second one that makes this list.
The best team goal scored at the World Cup, just pipping Esteban Cambiasso’s effort from above in the list. This famous goal starts with Clodoaldo leading the tired Italians on a merry jig on the halfway line before lays the ball to Rivelino.
He finds Jairzinho on the left wing and he cuts inside prodding the ball to Pele who waits an instant for Carlos Alberto to come haring forward from right back.
A gentle pass and the full back smacks the ball first time into the bottom corner to confirm the World Cup win. Arguably, this is the most iconic of all World Cup goals.
Arie Haan scored two incredible long-distance goals at the 1978 World Cup, one against Germany and there was also this stunner against Italy.
What is incredible about this goal is that it looks like it was hit from at least 35-40 yards from Dino Zoff in between the sticks for Italy.
It is only when you see the different angles of this goal that you realise just how much it swerved and moved in the air. Curling away from the despairing dive of the best goalkeeper in the world at that time, Dino Zoff.
The fact it flies in off the post also gives it a rather pleasing flourish too. Goals always look better when they clatter in off the bar or post!
This goal has to be in the list of the best World Cup goals and I’ve put it second because it is the clearest example of Diego Maradona’s football genius.
This game showcased his personality perfectly, the first goal a dubious handball that cheated the game and should never have stood.
Then there is his second goal, a thing of such beauty and brilliance that it was clear that Maradona was on a different level to any other player.
Admittedly, as an England fan, I do think that Peter Reid should have hacked him down on the halfway line, or Terry Fenwick should have rugby-tackled him, but with more objective glasses on, that would have been a shame as this goal is close to art.
It is as clear a demonstration of football genius as you will see. It ranks alongside Pele's famous dummy against Uruguay in 1970 as a moment of rare unequalled brilliance.
For most people, this is number one, but for me, there’s one goal that just pips it.
This is the greatest goal I have ever seen scored. Therefore, it is top of our list of the ten best World Cup goals because of two reasons. Firstly, it’s a rarity.
I have never seen a goal that is comparable with this that has been hit using the most difficult of skills (the outside of the right foot) and from such an acute angle and with so much swerve.
The difficulty level of this goal is off the charts. It was also scored by a player who played right-back!
Secondly, this is not a third-rate country Nelinho scored against; it was against Italy and, arguably, the most outstanding defence and goalkeeper of that time (Dino Zoff).
It also played a key role in Brazil finishing 3rd in the 1978 tournament.
So what do you think? What World Cup goals would make your top ten from World Cup Final Tournaments past?
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Updated on 19th December 2024
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