Picture : Spain’s Aymeric Laporte entered in the undefeated list of players !
World Cup’s top never beaten players
Listed here are the World Cup participants who remained undefeated in the competition and have played the highest number of matches (10 or more) in this category of players.
The record stands since 1962 and has been equaled three times, including at this year’s tournament.
Mário Zagallo played for Brazil in two winning campaigns (1958 and 1962), during which the team did not lose a single match. Zagallo took part in all 12 games (10 wins, 2 draws), thereby becoming the most experienced World Cup player among the undefeated.
The first to match this feat was the Argentine Julio Olarticoechea. He played in all seven matches of the victorious 1986 World Cup campaign—during which Argentina remained unbeaten—and subsequently in five matches during the 1990 edition; although Argentina suffered two defeats in the latter (against Cameroon and Germany), Olarticoechea did not play just in either of those specific games.
The next players to share this record were the Dutchmen Daley Blind and Memphis Depay. The Netherlands remained unbeaten across their last three World Cup campaigns (2014, 2022, and 2026), being eliminated via penalty shootouts on each occasion.
Blind accumulated his 12 appearances across the first two of these three tournaments (he was not selected for the 2026 squad), while Depay reached the same total in 2026.
During this year’s tournament, Casemiro was on track to break the record. He had luckily avoided the defeats Brazil suffered in 2018 (against Belgium) and 2022 (against Cameroon), skipping both games. By the time of the 2026 Round of 16, he had amassed 12 matches without a single loss. However, a defeat against Norway—in a match where he played—removed Casemiro from this ranking.
Aymeric Laporte also entered the rankings following the 2026 tournament. He trails the record by just one match, having played 11 of the 12 games Spain contested across the last two World Cups; he missed just the only match the team lost (against Japan in 2022).
| WORLD CUP | |||||||
| UNBEATEN | PLAYERS | MOST | GAMES | ||||
| Player | Games | W | D | Team | Years | By Edition | |
| 1 | Mário Zagallo | 12 | 10 | 2 | Brazil | 58-62 | 6-6 |
| 2 | Julio Olarticoechea | 12 | 8 | 4 | Argentina | 86-90 | 7-5 |
| 3 | Daley Blind | 12 | 8 | 4 | Netherlands | 14-22 | 7-5 |
| 4 | Memphis Depay | 12 | 8 | 4 | Netherlands | 14-22-26 | 4-5-2003 |
| 5 | Ricardo Giusti | 11 | 7 | 4 | Argentina | 86-90 | 7-4 |
| 6 | Aymeric Laporte | 11 | 8 | 3 | Spain | 22-26 | 3-8 |
| 7 | Zito | 10 | 9 | 1 | Brazil | 58-62 | 4-6 |
| 8 | Vavá | 10 | 8 | 2 | Brazil | 58-62 | 4-6 |