List of FIFA World Cup penalty shoot-outs

This is a list of all penalty shoot-outs that have taken place in the final tournaments of the Men's FIFA World Cup. For knockout matches tied after regulation and extra time, the first editions of the Men's World Cup up until 1958 used the rule of replaying the game. With fixtures becoming increasingly crowded, drawn matches from 1962 in quarter-finals and semi-finals would have been decided by drawing of lots. Replacement of the rules was first proposed in 1970 to the IFAB, and penalty shoot-outs were adopted for the new format of the 1978 tournament, although the replay rule for the final matches remained in place until 1982. In practice, penalty shootouts did not occur before 1982. Three times, in 1994, 2006, and 2022, the Men's World Cup title has been decided by a penalty shoot-out. Of the 35 shoot-outs that have taken place in the competition, only two reached the sudden death stage after still being tied at the end of "best of five kicks". Three times the shootouts required only 7 kicks, compared to the theoretical minimum of 6 kicks necessary.