Which Countries Have the Best Penalty Takers?
Penalties have decided some of the biggest matches in football history: World Cup finals, European Championship shootouts, Champions League deciders.
At those moments, the difference between glory and heartbreak often comes down to one player, 12 yards, and a goalkeeper trying to read their mind.
With the 2026 World Cup now upon us, the question of which nations can call on a reliable spot-kick taker matters more than ever.
Checking the betting odds on the tournament’s likely finalists, penalty conversion rates are as relevant a form guide as any.
Here is how the key countries compare, based on career penalty records across all competitions. Shootout conversions are not included in the figures below.
Norway // Erling Haaland
Erling Haaland has scored 57 penalties and missed 10 across his career. His first in UEFA competition came for Molde in a Europa League qualifying win over KF Laci back in 2018, and he has been converting at a high rate ever since.
The most notable blemish on his record came in October 2025, when he missed twice against Israel in a World Cup qualifier, though it barely mattered, as he completed a hat-trick in a 5-0 win. For Norway, he is the designated taker, and that is unlikely to change.
England // Harry Kane
Harry Kane’s penalty record is one of the most substantial of any player in world football. He has scored 105 penalties and missed 13, with his first coming in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualification back in 2010. One of the more striking details of his record is that he has never missed a penalty in the Bundesliga since moving to Bayern Munich, a clean sheet across one of the most competitive leagues in European football.
The miss England supporters remember came in the 2022 World Cup quarter-final in Al Khor against France. With England trailing 2-1 and time running out, Kane stepped up to equalize. He struck the ball over the bar, and England were eliminated. It was his second penalty of the match, having converted the first to make it 1-1. The contrast in those two kicks sums up how fine the margins can be from 12 yards.
Portugal // Bruno Fernandes
Bruno Fernandes has scored 67 penalties and missed eight across his career. His first goal for Manchester United was a penalty, scored at home against Watford in February 2020, and he went on to become the club’s primary penalty taker from that point. His technique, a distinctive skip-and-hop run-up, has become one of the more recognizable routines in the Premier League.
The approach often sends goalkeepers the wrong way, making it a calling card. He is now Portugal’s main taker too, filling the role Cristiano Ronaldo previously occupied for the national team.
Germany // Kai Havertz
Kai Havertz is the key penalty taker for Germany and has scored 22 penalties across his career while missing just one, against Peru in a friendly in 2023. It is a near-flawless record, and the numbers reflect a player who has taken relatively few spot kicks compared to Lionel Messi or Kane, but has been almost perfect with the opportunities he has had.
Of the players in this group, his conversion rate is arguably the most impressive in proportion to the number of attempts.
Turkey // Hakan Calhanoglu
Hakan Calhanoglu has scored 55 penalties and missed 7 across his career, but the detail that stands out most is his record at Inter Milan. He converted 17 consecutive penalties in Serie A before finally missing one against Napoli in November 2024, ending a run that had made him the go-to taker in Italian football. As Turkey returns to the World Cup for the first time since 2002, Calhanoglu is likely to be central to their run in the tournament.
France // Kylian Mbappe
Kylian Mbappe has scored 64 penalties and missed 14 across his career, a miss rate higher than most others in this group. Two of those misses stand out. In November 2024, he stepped up to equalize for Real Madrid against Liverpool in the Champions League at Anfield, only for Caoimhin Kelleher to save his spot kick. A year later, in the October 2025 El Clásico at the Bernabeu, Mbappe missed again from the spot, saved by Wojciech Szczesny.
It was the first time a Real Madrid player had missed a penalty against Barcelona in 34 years, ending a run of 19 consecutive spot kicks scored in the fixture by both clubs. For a player of his profile, the penalty record is one area where the numbers do not fully match the reputation.
Brazil // Raphinha
Raphinha has scored 18 penalties and missed one, his only career miss dating back to December 2017. Since then, he has been near-perfect from the spot. Brazil coach Dorival Junior confirmed him as the national team’s first-choice penalty taker after Vinicius Junior missed a crucial spot kick against Venezuela in World Cup qualifying.
The switch was straightforward, given the numbers. Raphinha has converted both penalties he has taken for Brazil and carries the responsibility without any indication that it weighs on him.
Argentina // Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi has scored 115 penalties across his career and missed 32. The volume reflects two decades at the top of the game, and the miss rate is in part a product of the sheer number of times he has stepped up. For those following sports blog tips on the tournament’s key players, Messi’s record from the spot is one of the more nuanced stories heading into the summer.
The misses that linger in the memory came at the international level, most damagingly in the 2016 Copa America final against Chile, when he struck the bar, and Argentina lost the shootout.
He also missed in the 2021 Copa America semi-final against Colombia before Argentina won that shootout and went on to lift the trophy.
In the 2022 World Cup final, he converted his penalty in both the game and the shootout as Argentina won the title. At 38, his role in the United States this summer is unclear, but the career record is that of someone who has carried the responsibility of the spot more than almost any other player in history.
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