From Pele, Maradona to Ronaldo: Who are the goal scorers in FIFA World Cup semifinals before Qatar 2022?

The 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup will see the semifinals be played between Argentina and Croatia in the first match and France and Morocco next, in Qatar.

Diego Maradona and Ronaldo have two goals each in the semifinals of the FIFA World Cup and have both won the trophy once, in 1986 and 2022, respectively. | Photo Credit: GETTY IMAGES

The FIFA World Cup has seen some brilliant semifinal goals historically, from Diego Maradona’s brace against Belgium to Roberto Baggio’s stunner against Bulgaria in 1994.

The World Cup, starting in 1930, saw a number of changes in its format over the years, with semifinals being re-introduced in 1982, after missing it in 1978. Till 1978, teams qualified for the finals after group stages, the first and second round respectively.

So far, 36 semifinals have been played since and 79 goals have been scored, which includes Brazil’s infamous 1-7 loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup.

The 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup will see the semifinals be played between Argentina and Croatia in the first match and France and Morocco in the next, in Qatar.

Here is a list of the goalscorers in FIFA World Cup semifinals so far:

1930 FIFA World Cup

• Argentina 6-1 USA (Luis Monti 20’, Alejandro Scopelli 56’, Guillermo Stabile 69’,87’, Carlos Peucelle 80’,85’ – Jim Brown 89’)
• Uruguay 6-1 Yugoslavia (Pedro Cea 18’, 67’, 72’, Peregrino Anselmo 20’, 31’, Santos Iriarte 61’ – Dorde Vujadinovic 4’)

1934 FIFA World Cup

• Italy 1-0 Austria (Enrique Guatia 19’)
• Czechoslovakia 3-1 Germany (Oldrich Nejedly 21’, 69’, 80’ – Rudolf Noack 62’)

1938 FIFA World Cup

• Hungary 5-1 Sweden (Sven Jacobsson 19’ (OG), Pal Titkos 37’, Gyula Zsengeller 39’, 85’, Gyorgy Sarosi 65’ – Arne Nyberg 1’)
• Italy 2-1 Brazil (Gino Colaussi 51’, Giuseppe Meazza 60’ – Romeu Pellicciari 87’)

1954 FIFA World Cup

• West Germany 6-1 Austria (Hans Schafer 31’, Maximilian Morlock 47’, Friedrich Walter 54’ (P), 64’ (P), Ottmar Walter 61’, 89’ – Erich Probst 51’)
• Hungary 4-2 Uruguay (Zoltan Czibor 13’, Nandor Hidegkuti 46’, Sandor Kocsis 111’, 116’ – Juan Hohberg 75’, 86’)

1958 FIFA World Cup

• Brazil 5-2 France (Vava 2’, Didi 39’, Pele 52’, 64’, 75’ – Just Fontaine 9’, Roger Piantoni 83’)
• Sweden 3-1 West Germany (Lennart Skoglund 32’, Gunnar Gren 81’, Kurt Hamrin 88’ – Hans Schafer 24’)

Pele during Brazil’s 5-2 semi-final victory over France at the 1958 World Cup. The youngster, just 17, scored three goals in the match. | Photo Credit: DPA

1962 FIFA World Cup

• Czechoslovakia 3-1 Yugoslavia (Josef Kadraba 48’, Adolf Scherer 80’, 84 (P) – Drazan Jerkovic 69’)
• Brazil 4-2 Chile (Garrincha 9’, 32’, Vava 47’, 78’ – Jorge Toro 42’, Leonel Sanchez 61’ (P))

The Brazilian team in the 1962 FIFA World Cup. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives

1966 FIFA World Cup

• West Germany 2-1 Soviet Union (Helmut Haller 43’, Franz Beckenbauer 67’ – Valeriy Porkujan 88’)
• England 2-1 Portugal (Bobby Charlton 30’, 80’ – Eusebio 82’)

1970 FIFA World Cup

• Uruguay 1-3 Brazil (Luis Cubilla 19’ – Clodoaldo 44’, Jairzinho 76’, Rivellino 89’)
• Italy 4-3 West Germany (Roberto Boninsegna 8’, Tarcisio Burgnich 98’, Gigi Riva 104’, Gianni Rivera 111’ – Karl-Heinz Schnellinger 90’, Gerd Muller 94’, 110’)

🎊 Buon compleanno, Gianni Rivera

🇮🇹 The @Azzurri legend, who participated in four editions of the #WorldCup, turns 76 today

⚽️ Here's one of his most famous goals, the winner in a thrilling 4-3 semi-final victory against West Germany at Mexico 1970 pic.twitter.com/0yL5B1IOIW

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) August 18, 2019

1982 FIFA World Cup

• Poland 0-2 Italy (Paolo Rossi 22’, 73’)
• West Germany 3-3 France (Pierre Littbarski 17’, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 102’, Klaus Fischer 108’ – Michel Platini 26’ (P), Marius Tresor 92’, Alain Giresse 98’)

🛡️ Marius Tresor scored a volley in a #WorldCup semi-final, came 6th in @francefootball's French Player of the Century vote and remains one of the greatest centre-backs in history

🎉 Happy 71st birthday to the @FrenchTeam legendpic.twitter.com/G3ZNzyj8yN

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) January 15, 2021

1986 FIFA World Cup

• France 0-2 West Germany (Andreas Brehme 9’, Rudi Voller 89’)
• Argentina 2-0 Belgium ( Diego Maradona 51’, 63’)

10 - Diego Maradona was involved in 10 goals at the 1986 World Cup (5 goals, 5 assists), no player has been involved in as many goals in a single men's World Cup since. Greatest. pic.twitter.com/GxXKga57oP

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 25, 2020

1990 FIFA World Cup

• Argentina 1-1 Italy (Claudio Caniggia 67’ - Salvatore Schillaci 17’)
• West Germany 1-1 England (Andreas Brehme 60’ – Gary Lineker 80’)

🎯 Andi Brehme hit a superb winner in the last 16, was crucially on target in the semi-final, and scored the goal that won West Germany the 1990 #WorldCup. He was a left-back 🤯

🎂 Happy birthday to a multifunctional legend 🏆#HBD | @DFB_Team_ENpic.twitter.com/1RufVkvwB7

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 9, 2021

1994 FIFA World Cup

• Bulgaria 1-2 Italy (Hristo Stoichkov 44’ (P) – Roberto Baggio 21’, 25’)
• Sweden 0-1 Brazil (Romario 80’)

📏 5ft 6ins?
😁 Sem problemas

🇧🇷 Despite being the shortest player on the pitch, @RomarioOnze headed in the semi-final winner for @CBF_Futebol against Sweden #OnThisDay in 1994 pic.twitter.com/4qdOpnEbZH

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) July 13, 2020

1998 FIFA World Cup

• Brazil 1-1 Netherlands (Ronaldo 46’ – Patrick Kluivert 87’)
• France 2-1 Croatia (Lilian Thuram 47’, 70’ – Davor Suker 46’)

8 JULY 1998: Lilian Thuram scores his only two international goals (142 caps) as 🇫🇷 France beat 🇭🇷 Croatia 2-1 in the #WorldCup semi-finals.

Greatest ever goalscoring performance by a defender in a big game? 🤔 #UCLpic.twitter.com/jzm0rfTvRz

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) July 15, 2018

2002 FIFA World Cup

• Germany 1-0 South Korea (Michael Ballack 75’)
• Brazil 1-0 Turkey (Ronaldo 49’)

Ronaldo of Brazil celebrates scoring the equalising goal against Turkey during the second half during the Brazil v Turkey, Group C, World Cup Group Stage match played at the Ulsan-Munsu World Cup Stadium, Ulsan, South Korea on June 3, 2002. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

2006 FIFA World Cup

• Germany 0-2 Italy (Fabio Grosso 119’, Alessandro Del Piero 120+1’)
• Portugal 0-1 France (Zinedine Zidane 33’ (P))

2010 FIFA World Cup

• Uruguay 2-3 Netherlands (Diego Forlan 41’, Alvaro Pereira 90+2’ – Giovanni van Bronckhorst 18’, Wesley Sneijder 70’, Arjen Robben 73’)
• Germany 0-1 Spain (Carles Puyol 73’)

2014 FIFA World Cup

• Brazil 1-7 Germany (Oscar 90’ – Thomas Muller 11’, Miroslav Klose 23’, Toni Kroos 24’, 26’, Sami Khedira 29’, Andre Schurrle 69’, 79’)
• Netherlands 0-0 Argentina

2018 FIFA World Cup

• France 1-0 Belgium (Samuel Umtiti 51’)
• Croatia 2-1 England (Ivan Perisic 68’, Mario Mandzukic 109’ – Keiran Trippier 5’)

1⃣9⃣9⃣8⃣: Suker secures Golden Boot & bronze medal 🥉
2⃣0⃣1⃣8⃣: Mandzukic sinks England to seal final spot 🙌#TBT to two of the greatest days in @HNS_CFF's #WorldCup history, 20 years apart #OTD 🇭🇷🏆 pic.twitter.com/Gd4CblQkOi

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) July 11, 2019