Women's World Cup penalties record for a single FIFA tournament as 2023 edition sees rash of pens awarded
The 2023 Women's World Cup has been packed with penalty incidents in the opening block of fixtures in Australia and New Zealand.
Penalties have been the major talking point Down Under with referees and VAR opting to award spot kicks on a regular basis in the tournament so far.
Based on the early rate of penalties, a new World Cup record could be set in the coming weeks, as the 2023 edition begins to hot up, with no shortage of controversy.
The Sporting News looks at the latest penalty picture at the 2023 tournament and compares it to previous tournaments.
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The 2023 Women's World Cup has not disappointed in terms of excitement in the opening fixtures with penalties a key early theme.
From the five opening matches, all five featured a penalty, but with a mixed rate of success from the spot, in each match.
The 2019 Women's World Cup broke a new record for penalties awarded in the competition with 26 spot kicks given in an increase from 22 in 2015.
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar set a new benchmark for penalties being awarded to one team, with eventual champions Argentina given five spot kicks, not including those taken in knockout stage shootouts.
The previous record of four was jointly held by the Netherlands (1978) and Portugal (1966).
Lionel Messi converted four of the five penalties he took for Argentina in the tournament with his only miss coming in the group stages against Poland.
In terms of overall penalties awarded, the 2022 final tally of 19 is below the record of 29, from the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
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