The 2022 Fifa World Cup will play out in Qatar between 20 November and 18 December and will involve the highest stakes in football.
As with previous editions of the tournament, games are set to carry a distinct air of tension, thus many matches will probably be decided by narrow scorelines.
As such, penalties in normal time and extra time often mark decisive moments at World Cups, while the shootouts that the knockout stages bring are designed for that very purpose. At the 2018 World Cup, 29 penalties were awarded, with 22 scored and seven missed or saved. All three figures were records (it is worth noting that the competition in Russia was the first world championship to involve VAR); at the previous World Cup, in Brazil in 2014, 13 penalties were awarded.
Penalty shootouts of course involve multiple players taking spot-kicks, but most teams have a designated penalty-taker for in-game occasions. Sometimes there are two or three especially viable options for a team, though, and injuries and suspensions can prevent a side’s spot-kick specialist(s) from being able to step up in a moment of need.
Below, we look at every team’s most likely penalty-taker for the group stages as well as in normal time and extra time of the knockout phases. Each player listed is also likely to be the first to step up for their nation in a shootout. The below list may come in handy for anyone playing Fifa’s official Fantasy World Cup game...
Nation |
Most likely penalty-taker |
Argentina |
Lionel Messi |
Australia |
Jason Cummings |
Belgium |
Romelu Lukaku |
Brazil |
Neymar |
Cameroon |
Vincent Aboubakar |
Canada |
Junior Hoilett |
Costa Rica |
Celso Borges |
Croatia |
Luka Modric |
Denmark |
Christian Eriksen |
Ecuador |
Enner Valencia |
England |
Harry Kane |
France |
Kylian Mbappe |
Germany |
Ilkay Gundogan |
Ghana |
Jordan Ayew |
Iran |
Karim Ansarifard |
Japan |
Takumi Minamino |
Mexico |
Raul Jimenez |
Morocco |
Sofiane Boufal |
Netherlands |
Memphis Depay |
Poland |
Robert Lewandowski |
Portugal |
Cristiano Ronaldo |
Qatar |
Akram Afif |
Saudia Arabia |
Salem Al-Dawsari |
Senegal |
Sadio Mane |
Serbia |
Aleksandar Mitrovic |
South Korea |
Son Heung-min |
Spain |
Alvaro Morata |
Switzerland |
Ricardo Rodriguez |
Tunisia |
Wahbi Khazri |
USA |
Christian Pulisic |
Uruguay |
Luis Suarez |
Wales |
Gareth Bale |
