Scroll is the clock. Ninety minutes: eight moments the sport is actually made of, then one career taken apart and drawn as a line, then a penalty you take yourself and an argument you get to settle.
Moments
08
1950—2022
Years covered
72
Maracanã to Lusail
Penalties
∞
you take them
Verdicts
00
we give none
Crests and player records load live from TheSportsDBScroll to start the match
12′ — The Archive8 matches that changed what came after· keep scrolling, it moves sideways01/08
1950
195079'
The Silence
BRABRA1–2URUURUMaracanã, Rio de Janeiro
Two hundred thousand people stopped breathing at once.
Brazil needed only a draw. Ghiggia went past the full-back and shot at the near post. The loudest stadium ever built made no sound at all.
Fig. 01 — the move
Competition
FIFA World Cup
Stage
Final round, deciding match
Attendance
173,850 official
What it changed
Brazil abandoned their white kit in response. The yellow shirt was designed three years later.
1970
197086'
The Team Goal
BRABRA4–1ITAITAEstadio Azteca, Mexico City
Nine touches. Eight players. One inevitability.
It began in Brazil's own half and ended with Pelé rolling the ball sideways without looking, into the run of a captain nobody had tracked.
Fig. 02 — the move
Competition
FIFA World Cup
Stage
Final
Attendance
107,412
What it changed
Brazil's third title let them keep the Jules Rimet trophy permanently. A new trophy had to be commissioned.
1986
198655'
Sixty Metres
ARGARG2–1ENGENGEstadio Azteca, Mexico City
Four minutes after the worst goal, the best one.
He collected it in his own half facing his own goal, turned, and beat half a team across sixty metres and roughly eleven seconds.
Fig. 03 — the move
Competition
FIFA World Cup
Stage
Quarter-final
Attendance
114,580
What it changed
Voted Goal of the Century by FIFA voters in 2002. Argentina went on to win the tournament.
1999
199990+3'
Ninety Seconds
MUNMUN2–1BAYBAYCamp Nou, Barcelona
The trophy already had the wrong ribbons on it.
Bayern led into stoppage time. United scored twice in a hundred seconds from two corners. Football, as the commentary went, bloody hell.
Fig. 04 — the move
Competition
UEFA Champions League
Stage
Final
Attendance
90,245
What it changed
Completed the only treble in English football at that point — league, FA Cup and European Cup in one season.
2005
2005HT
Three Down
LIVLIV3–3MILMILAtatürk Stadium, Istanbul
Nobody comes back from three goals down in a European Cup final.
Six minutes in the second half undid forty-five in the first. It went to penalties, and a goalkeeper's wandering legs settled it.
Fig. 05 — the move
Competition
UEFA Champions League
Stage
Final — won 3–2 on penalties
Attendance
69,000
What it changed
Liverpool's fifth European Cup earned them the trophy permanently, and a special exemption to defend it.
2012
201293:20
Agüerooo
MCIMCI3–2QPRQPREtihad Stadium, Manchester
A forty-four year wait decided with twenty seconds left in the season.
City needed two goals in stoppage time to take the title on goal difference. They got both. The second arrived at 93 minutes and 20 seconds.
Fig. 06 — the move
Competition
Premier League
Stage
Matchday 38 — final day
Attendance
47,435
What it changed
City took the title from United on goal difference alone, having been eight points behind in April.
2014
201429'
Seven
BRABRA1–7GERGERMineirão, Belo Horizonte
Four goals in six minutes, in a World Cup semi-final, at home.
Between the 23rd and 29th minute the host nation conceded four times. The stadium went from noise, to silence, to applauding the opposition.
Fig. 07 — the move
Competition
FIFA World Cup
Stage
Semi-final
Attendance
58,141
What it changed
Brazil's heaviest ever defeat, and the end of a 62-year unbeaten run in competitive home matches.
2022
2022108'
The Last One
ARGARG3–3FRAFRALusail Stadium, Qatar
The only thing he had never won, in the last match he would ever play for it.
Two goals up, pegged back, ahead again in extra time, pegged back again. Then penalties. The best final anyone could remember.
Fig. 08 — the move
Competition
FIFA World Cup
Stage
Final — won 4–2 on penalties
Attendance
88,966
What it changed
Argentina's third title, 36 years after their second. Only the second final ever to feature a hat-trick.
45′ — Half TimeFifteen minutes
Half·Time
The first half belonged to everybody. The second narrows to one career, then hands you the ball.
The evidence, then the arc, then your turn
1950 BRA 1–2 URU1970 BRA 4–1 ITA1986 ARG 2–1 ENG1999 MUN 2–1 BAY2005 LIV 3–3 MIL2012 MCI 3–2 QPR2014 BRA 1–7 GER2022 ARG 3–3 FRA
1950 BRA 1–2 URU1970 BRA 4–1 ITA1986 ARG 2–1 ENG1999 MUN 2–1 BAY2005 LIV 3–3 MIL2012 MCI 3–2 QPR2014 BRA 1–7 GER2022 ARG 3–3 FRA
48′ — The NumbersBetween what happened to everyone and what happened to one player
The Evidence
Every match in the archive belongs to everybody. What follows belongs to one player. This is the case for why he gets a section to himself — pick a spell, then go season by season.
Appearances
1147
Goals
896
Trophies
46
Goals per game
0.78
2004—Club and country combined, all senior competitions — the four spells added together.
Seventeen seasons at one club, then two at another. Pick one and the numbers appear here.
91
Goals in a calendar year
2012. The previous record had stood since 1972.
8
Ballon d'Or
Nobody else has more than five.
474
La Liga goals
The competition's all-time record.
21
Seasons scoring 20+
Consecutive, across three countries.
All senior competitions. “Everything” is the four spells added together, so the tabs always reconcile. Barcelona and Paris are closed records; Inter Miami and Argentina are ongoing and rounded. Season-level figures exist for the club years only.
52′ — The ArcRosario, 1987
The Number Ten
A growth hormone deficiency, a napkin contract, and 1,000+ games.
Clubs
3
Years spanned
23
Stops mapped
8
Appearances
0/1,147
Goals
0/896
Trophies
0/46
FCBAGE 13
2000Rosario → Barcelona
LA MASIA
Signs on a paper napkin at thirteen. The club pays for his growth hormone treatment.
0apps0goals0cups
FCBAGE 17
2004Camp Nou
DEBUT
First-team debut at seventeen years and 114 days, as a substitute in a derby.
9apps1goals1cups
FCB×3
2009Rome
FIRST TREBLE
League, cup and European Cup in a single season, plus a header in the final.
207apps93goals8cups
FCB91
2012Barcelona
91 GOALS
A calendar-year scoring record across club and country that still stands.
405apps284goals19cups
FCB×6
2015Berlin
SECOND TREBLE
Barcelona become the only club to have won the treble twice.
589apps458goals24cups
PSG21 YRS
2021Paris
DEPARTURE
Leaves the only club he had ever played for, announced in tears at a press conference.
929apps748goals36cups
ARG★
2022Lusail
THE CUP
The one trophy missing, at the last tournament he would play for it.
1003apps793goals39cups
MIA→
2023Miami
THE LEAGUE
Moves to a league whose club had never won a trophy. It won one within two months.
1147apps896goals46cups
Totals are running career figures at each stop — senior club and country combined, so they include the season table at 48′. The closed spells are exact; the stops in between are rounded, and the last one is the career to date.
66′ — The SpotShootout0/50 / 0 all time
Twelve Yards
Drag the ball where you want it and let go, or just pick a corner. The keeper guesses at the same instant you strike it — and it remembers where you have been putting them.
Distance
12yd
Ball in flight
0.4s
Keeper needs
0.6s
Where they actually go
Roughly 76% of penalties are scored at the top level. Takers overwhelmingly favour the bottom corners, and they are wrong to: height beats width. Every one of the three high targets outscores every one of the low ones, and the worst place on the goal is along the ground down the middle.
Top LTop CTop RLow LLow CLow R
All penalties Your shots
Real conversion
76%
Your conversion
—
Safest corner
Top left · 88%
Worst choice
Low centre · 64%
Hover a corner in the goal to see its real scoring rate.
78′ — The Argument0 / 10 ranked
Settle It
We are not going to tell you who the best is. Drag a name into a tier, or click it to cycle through them. The figures are there to argue with.
