During the 2026 FIFA World Cup, researcher William Peracchio will be closely monitoring the scoreboards, perhaps more than most viewers.
Although he isn’t an avid soccer fan, Peracchio makes a point to watch the World Cup every four years. His time is already occupied with his tech role at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and pursuing a master’s degree in public administration at both Harvard and Stamford.
This year, however, he’s particularly excited about the possibility of witnessing a “Scorigami.”
A Scorigami refers to a one-of-a-kind final score in a game. The term was coined by sportswriter Jon Bois in 2014, who pointed out unique scorelines in the NFL that had never occurred before. For instance, scores like 15-8 or 25-18 had yet to happen.
“Scorigami is a term I came up with to describe the creation of a score in a football game that’s never been seen before,” Bois explained.
The concept of Scorigami has since expanded to other sports. For example, did you know that an NBA score of 138-102 has never occurred? And in Major League Baseball, there has yet to be a 22-0 game, although 23-0 has happened twice?
This same Scorigami idea applies to the World Cup, and in just four days, a near Scorigami occurred when Germany defeated Curaçao 7-1.
Thanks to his passion for sports analytics, Peracchio created his own World Cup Scorigami chart, known as World Cupigami.
“It’s just a fun little project,” says Peracchio. “I found some free datasets online… and thought it would be entertaining. Plus, if we get a wild 5-4 result, that’s even better!”
(Credit: William Peracchio, World Cupigami)
What Are the Most Likely Remaining World Cup Scorigami?
To achieve a Scorigami in this World Cup, we would need either an extraordinarily lopsided score or an intense goal fest. Thanks to FIFA’s expansion to 48 teams, the likelihood of either scenario has increased.
During Germany’s 7-1 defeat of debutants Curaçao, a Scorigami almost materialized. While a 7-1 result isn’t unique—it has happened three times before, including Germany’s own memorable rout of Brazil in the 2014 semifinals—an 8-1 score has never occurred.
In the 88th minute, when Germany forward Kai Havertz scored his team’s seventh goal, the potential for history seemed within reach, but that final goal never materialized.
Nonetheless, the group stage still has many anticipated mismatches and potential Scorigami possibilities, such as 8-2, 10-0, and 9-1. However, not all one-sided scores are guaranteed to be unique, as matches like 8-3 (Hungary vs. Germany, 1954) and 10-1 (Hungary vs. El Salvador, 1982) have already occurred. Thus, the next most plausible Scorigami is likely to arise from a high-scoring back-and-forth clash. A scoreline of 5-4 or even 5-5 has never happened; however, we have seen scores like 6-5 (Brazil vs. Poland, 1938) and 7-5 (Austria vs. Switzerland, 1954).
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Why You Should Cheer for a Scorigami
One might assume Scorigamis occur frequently. In the NBA, for instance, the Indiana Pacers’ victory over the Chicago Bulls marked the first 145-126 result in league history. Additionally, the NFL saw five Scorigami scores last season. In fact, some unusual scores, like 44-22, had only been recorded once before but happened twice within three weeks in 2025.
However, Scorigamis are much rarer at the World Cup. In fact, there hadn’t been one for 40 years until England achieved a unique 6-2 victory over Iran in 2022. Before that, the last unique score was Hungary’s 10-1 win over El Salvador during the 1982 group stage.
Predictably, the most frequent scoreline in World Cups is a 1-0 win, which has occurred 183 times and continues to rise. Meanwhile, there are more 2-1 results (153) than 2-0 outcomes (113).
At its core, a Scorigami is simply a niche statistic—barely even a topic for discussion. Yet, it represents a reason to celebrate. Past NFL Scorigamis have motivated fans to raise money for charitable organizations, and Peracchio hopes that a World Cup Scorigami could inspire similar efforts.
“If we do witness a crazy Scorigami, I’ll probably find a charity relevant to the country where it occurred and retweet about it,” he mentions. “At the very least, I think it should be a fun little celebration.”