Soccer games usually stay under five goals, especially at the professional level where most of the game takes place in the middle of the field with a few key breakaways to win a game. But, there are always those choice few that jump the score into double, or even triple-digits. Continue reading to see which games are ranked in the top ten highest-scoring soccer games ever, and how the scores were possible.
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What’s the Average Score for a Soccer Game?
The average score for a professional soccer game stays within two to three goals between both teams, especially if they are both equal in skill. Sometimes you may get scores that have two to three goals per team, but those are quite normal too, since there are more breakaways during the game. It’s when scores jump into the double digits in the professional leagues that the game becomes abnormal, due to an imbalance of skill or another issue.
What’s the Highest Scoring FIFA Game?
The highest-scoring FIFA game occurred in 1982 when Hungary won against El Salvador 10-1 in the first group stage. This is the biggest scoreline in men’s FIFA World Cup finals history, with Hungarian substitute László Kiss scoring a hat-trick; the only World Cup hat-trick scored by a substitute, and the fastest one completed in seven minutes.
There are some other reasons why the score was so drastic, especially in the World Cup. First, Hungary had already had the experience of playing in the finals of the 1938 and the 1954 World Cups, giving them an idea of the level of competition. El Salvador on the other hand qualified for the World Cup when the country was in the middle of a civil war.
The El Salvadorans could not properly prepare for the World Cup and struggled to schedule training sessions and friendly games. They even brought two fewer men than the standard 22-man roster, due to economic reasons. Due to these factors, it led to an imbalance of skill and practice, and Hungary was able to score ten goals in the 90 minutes.
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What’s the Highest Scoring MLS Playoff Game?
The highest-scoring MLS game was much more recent, occurring in the Audi 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs where LAFC played LA Galaxy. LAFC won over LA Galaxy 5-3, tying the previous highest-scoring playoff game that was set in 1998 by Columbus and the New York Red Bulls (then known as the MetroStars).
There have been several games that hit the seven-goal mark, but only two so far in MLS playoff history that have combined hit eight goals.
What is the Highest Score One Team Recorded in One Game?
The highest score one team recorded in one game may sound false, but it is true. In 2002 AS Adema and SO l’Emyrne were slotted to play in Toamasina, Madagascar for a round-robin play-off to determine the national championship. Due to refereeing decisions that didn’t go their way in a previous four-team playoff tournament, SO l’Emyrne decided to prove a point by scoring on themselves as much as they could in the allotted game time. This resulted in a score of 149-0 in favor of AS Adema, and found a spot in The Guinness Book of Records.
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10 Highest Scoring Soccer Games
Continue reading for the top ten highest scoring soccer games in history so far:
10. 1887 Preston North End (26) vs. Hyde United (0)
Played in the world’s oldest continuously used football stadium Deepdale, Preston North End was able to demolish Hyde Football Club in an FA Cup tie. The amazing thing about Preston North End was they had been a soccer-paying organization for less than a decade, being previously known for playing cricket. Some of the English football records achieved during the match include scoring the most goals in a single game, having the highest home-winning margin, and securing the highest aggregate score, with many of these records still standing today.
9. 2009 Villarreal (27) vs. Navata (0)
Our next highest-scoring soccer game is between Villarreal and Navata. Even though Villarreal lost their manager Manuel Pellegrini to Real Madrid the summer before play, they were able to dominate the Navata team with a score of 27-0. The new coach Ernesto Valverde played a different 11 in each half, and the Villarreal team went on to have a great season, finishing fifth in La Liga and narrowly missing out on a spot in the Champions League.
8. 1971 Tahiti (30) vs. Cook Islands (0)
The 1971 Tahiti versus Cook Islands is an instance of a new national team taking a beating from a more experienced team. The Cook Islands played their first national team match on September 2, 1971, against Tahiti at the 1971 South Pacific Games, and lost by 30-0. This remains their biggest loss to this date.
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7. 2001 Australia (31) vs. American Samoa (0)
Our seventh highest scoring soccer game occurred in April 2001 when the Australian and American Samoan national football teams played against each other in the Oceanian qualifying match for the 2002 World Cup. During the game Australia set a record for the largest victory in an international football match with 31 goals, along with a record for most goals scored by a player in an international match (13). After the match was completed, debates were had about the format of qualification tournaments and an introduction of a preliminary round in the Oceanian zone qualification was instilled for the 2006 World Cup.
6. 1885 Dundee Harp (35) vs. Aberdeen Rovers (0)
The next two highest-scoring soccer games were remarkably achieved on the same day – September 12th, 1885 – and were within one goal of each other. In our first game, Dundee Harp was against Aberdeen Rovers and completed the game with a 35-0 victory. The interesting thing about this game is that the referee had noted 37 goals, but Harp’s secretary suggested a miscount since he had only noted 35. The official went with the lower score, not knowing that the same day this record would be beaten with Arbroath’s score of 36 goals.
5. 1885 Arbroath (36) vs. Bon Accord (0)
Unfortunately, there are just some games where the opponents are vastly mismatched, and you get results like the Bon Accord vs. Arbroath game in 1885. Bon Accord was said to have arrived at the match without any form of standard football kit, a foreshadowing for what was to come in the game.
Arbroath was up 15-0 when the halftime whistle was blown, and later scored another 21 goals in the second half. It is said that fans were scribbling down each goal fervently as though they were at a cricket match, while the Arbroath goalie found shelter under a fan’s umbrella for the duration of the game.
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4. 2015 Vanuatu (46) vs. Micronesia (0)
The origin of Vanuatu’s high score against Micronesia came out of need for the goals, rather than proving a point or rigging the game. To move on to the Pacific Games knockout stage, Vanuatu would have to overturn a 39-goal deficit and hope that Fiji lost to Tahiti later in the day. Right as the whistle blew Vanuatu attacked the ball and was able to score not only 39 goals but a total of 46 by the end of the game. Since Fiji and Tahiti tied their game though, Vanuatu was not able to progress even though they had scored an unthinkable amount of goals.
3. 2013 Police Machine FC (67) vs. Bubayaro FC (0)
Our second and third highest-scoring soccer games happened not only in the same year but on the same day as well. Police Machine was playing against Bubayaro FC and needed to gain promotion to the Professional League, but were tied in goals going into their respective games. Since each was nearly equal going into the second half, they decided to kick it up a notch and Police Machine beat Bubayaro 67-0.
During each game, there were questionable refereeing decisions, unexplainable added time, and club officials returning balls into play immediately after goals had been scored.
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2. 2013 Plateau United Feeders (79) vs. Akurba (0)
As mentioned above, the Plateau United Feeders played the same day as the Police Machine in a competition to see who would earn a promotion to the Professional League. Though Plateau United Feeders won the game with a score of 79-0, they were investigated for game-fixing not long after completion of the match. After consideration, the Nigerian Football Federation banned all four teams involved, as well as the match officials who participated in the match-fixing scandal. Some of these players and officials were even banned for life.
1. 2002 AS Adena (149) vs. Stade Olympique de l’Emyrne (0)
Already mentioned above, the highest-scoring game was between AD Adena and SO l’Emyrne, with a score of 149-0. The match itself wasn’t that unbalanced, rather there was residual anger from a previous game that led to a protest by some of the SO l’Emyrne players. During the round-robin games, SOE had previously played DSA Antananarivo where the referee awarded a late and disputed penalty leaving the game a 2-2 draw.
With SOE being knocked out of the title game, they decided to protest by deliberately scoring 149 own goals. Reports showed that after each kick-off the ball was kicked into their own goal with the opposing players looking on. The coach and some of the players were suspended for a few years, but SOE made a point and will continue to reign as the highest-scoring soccer game of all time.
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Soccer games are one of the least-scoring games out of all the sports, but still hold a lot of suspense for the fans who wait for that key breakaway that leads to a goal. Though many games can go scoreless, the even rarer games are those that drive the score up into double digits like the ten games above. Hopefully, you believe all ten of these highest-scoring soccer games, and maybe this year there will be more high-scoring games.