Which country scored the most goals in a single World Cup match? Hungary did, scoring 10 goals against El Salvador in 1982.
The match took place on 15 June 1982 at the Nuevo Estadio in Elche, Spain. Hungary won 10–1, making it the only match in FIFA World Cup history in which one team reached double figures. El Salvador’s lone goal was scored by Luis Ramírez Zapata in the 64th minute.
Hungary’s goals came from several players: Tibor Nyilasi and László Fazekas scored twice each, while Gábor Pölöskei, József Tóth, Lázár Szentes and substitute László Kiss also scored. Kiss’s three goals formed the only World Cup hat-trick by a substitute and were completed in just seven minutes.
The result also matched the World Cup’s largest winning margin: nine goals. That margin had previously appeared in Hungary’s 9–0 victory over South Korea in 1954 and Yugoslavia’s 9–0 win over Zaire in 1974. No team has surpassed Hungary’s 10-goal record.