Germany were knocked out of the 2026 World Cup on penalties, an outcome that feels unbelievable to anyone who has watched international football over the past 50 years. Paraguay beat them 4-3 in a shootout in Boston on Monday after their last-32 tie ended 1-1 after extra time.
- Antonín Panenka's legendary spot-kick condemned West Germany in 1976, beginning the narrative that fuelled Germany's shootout reputation.
- Germany converted 15 consecutive World Cup shootout penalties, defeating France, Mexico, England and Argentina.
- Gianluigi Buffon's Euro 2016 save from Thomas Müller ended a run of 22 consecutive converted penalties; Mesut Özil and Bastian Schweinsteiger also missed.
- Three German takers missed; despite strong records from Kai Havertz (23/24) and Nick Woltemade (16/18), José Canale's penalty was rated 99% by Opta.
Germany had won six consecutive shootouts in all competitions before this, their only previous defeat occurring in 1976. Antonín Panenka’s legendary spot-kick condemned West Germany to a 5-3 shootout defeat in the semi-final of the European Championship.
Their penalty record thereafter became the stuff of legend. It was not only that they routinely won but also that they rarely missed.
Chart showing Germany’s record in penalty shootouts
After Uli Stielike had his effort saved by France’s Jean-Luc Ettori in the 1982 World Cup semi-final, (West) Germany scored 15 consecutive shootout penalties in the competition to see off France, Mexico (in 1986), England (1990) and Argentina (2006). All six German takers beat David Seaman in the semi-final of Euro 96.
Not even Germany’s fearsome penalty shootout record could last for ever, though. They scraped past Italy 6-5 at Euro 2016 after Thomas Müller, Mesut Özil and Bastian Schweinsteiger failed against Gianluigi Buffon.
His save from Müller ended a sequence of 22 consecutively converted penalties for Germany in tournament shootouts. Özil and Schweinsteiger did not even hit the ball on target, the latter when having the opportunity to win the tie.
Three Germans also missed against Paraguay. If Jonathan Tah’s failure was not unexpected given he had not previously taken a spot-kick, Transfermarkt’s data shows Kai Havertz had a penalty record of 23 successes out of 24. Nick Woltemade (16 from 18) was also above the average hit rate of about 80% but did not score.
José Canale made no such mistake for Paraguay, slamming his kick just under the bar. His penalty was rated as 99% likely to be scored in Opta’s post-shot expected goal model, as close to unstoppable as it can get. Even with three misses by Germany, it took a spot-kick of that standard to end their half-century of shootout dominance.
