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41 days to go: Goal-thirsty fours

May 7, 2026 3 min read
41 days to go: Goal-thirsty fours

Forty-one players have scored World Cup goals while wearing the number four shirt. The highest-scoring is Croatia's Ivan Perisic with six goals, followed by West Germany's Franz Beckenbauer and Australia's Tim Cahill with five each. Five number fours have netted in World Cup finals: Nils Liedholm for Sweden in 1958, Zito for Brazil in 1962, Carlos Alberto for Brazil in 1970, Daniel Bertoni for Argentina in 1978, and Perisic for Croatia in 2018.

Other memorable goals by number fours include Antonio Cabrini for Italy against Argentina in 1982, Steven Gerrard for England against Trinidad and Tobago in 2006, Tim Cahill for Australia against the Netherlands in 2014, David Luiz for Brazil against Colombia in 2014, and Nacho for Spain against Portugal in 2018.

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