Players analysis, in distribution.

What month were most goalkeepers born? Do attackers cluster differently from defenders? Where do the GOATs (Pelé, Maradona, Cruyff, Messi, CR7, R9…) fall on the curve — on the modal month or as outliers?

Tournament (single-year)

1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026

Hemisphere filterteam country's hemisphere

All playersevery nation NorthernCONCACAF + UEFA + AFC + most CAF SouthernCONMEBOL + OFC + sub-Saharan

352

Players in window

Teams

22.0

Avg squad size

Tournaments

1978

Squads by position

Players in the selected window, split by role

GET /aggregates/players?years=1978

By confederation

Where the players come from

GET /aggregates/players?years=1978

Hemisphere split

Northern vs Southern hemisphere national teams

Northern286 (81.3%)

Southern66 (18.8%)

ApiTeam.country × hemisphere classification

Birth month, by position

One chart per role. GOAT pin-marks (gold dots above the bars) call out where iconic players sit. Look for the “relative-age effect” — many youth-academy systems privilege Q1 birthdays (Jan-Mar) for early physical development, and you sometimes see the same skew in elite squads.

Goalkeepers

Birth-month distribution + 1 GOAT marker

Lev Yashin· Oct

Modal month: Feb — 9 players (19.1%). Range: 1—9.

Defenders

Birth-month distribution + 2 GOAT markers

Franz Beckenbauer· Sep

Fabio Cannavaro· Sep

Modal month: Oct — 15 players (13.6%). Range: 4—15.

Midfielders

Birth-month distribution + 10 GOAT markers

Bobby Charlton· Oct

Diego Maradona· Oct

Michel Platini· Jun

Zico· Mar

Zinedine Zidane· Jun

Ronaldinho· Mar

Kaká· Apr

Andrés Iniesta· May

Xavi Hernández· Jan

Luka Modrić· Sep

Modal month: Oct — 19 players (18.1%). Range: 3—19.

Attackers

Birth-month distribution + 17 GOAT markers

Pelé· Oct

Garrincha· Oct

Eusébio· Jan

Gerd Müller· Nov

Johan Cruyff· Apr

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge· Sep

Paolo Rossi· Sep

Romário· Jan

Ronaldo (R9)· Sep

Cristiano Ronaldo· Feb

Lionel Messi· Jun

Kylian Mbappé· Dec

Neymar· Feb

Robert Lewandowski· Aug

Mohamed Salah· Jun

Karim Benzema· Dec

Vinícius Jr· Jul

Modal month: Jul — 11 players (12.4%). Range: 4—11.

All players

Every player from the 1978 squad. Search by name or filter by country, position, birth year or birth month. The C badge marks captains. Change the hemisphere filter in the hero above.

NameCountryPositionBirth yearBirth monthHemisphereClub country

352 / 352

Player	Country	Position	DOB	Birth month	Club	Ht	WCs	Goals
Mario Kempes	Argentina	Attacker	1954-07-15	Jul	Valencia	184cm	1	6
Rob Rensenbrink	Netherlands	Attacker	1947-07-03	Jul	Anderlecht	180cm	1	5
Teófilo Cubillas	Peru	Midfielder	1949-03-08	Mar	Alianza Lima	173cm	1	5
Hans Krankl	Austria	Attacker	1953-02-14	Feb	Rapid Wien	182cm	1	4
Leopoldo Luque	Argentina	Attacker	1949-05-03	May	River Plate	178cm	1	4
Dirceu	Brazil	Midfielder	1952-06-15	Jun	Vasco da Gama	172cm	1	3
Ernie Brandts	Netherlands	Defender	1956-02-03	Feb	PSV	187cm	1	3
Johnny Rep	Netherlands	Attacker	1951-11-25	Nov	Bastia	—	1	3
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge	West Germany	Attacker	1955-09-25	Sep	Bayern Munich	182cm	1	3
Paolo Rossi	Italy	Attacker	1956-09-23	Sep	Vicenza	174cm	1	3
Roberto Dinamite	Brazil	Attacker	1954-04-13	Apr	Vasco da Gama	186cm	1	3
Archie Gemmill	Scotland	Midfielder	1947-03-24	Mar	Nottingham Forest	165cm	1	2
Arie Haan	Netherlands	Midfielder	1948-11-16	Nov	Anderlecht	183cm	1	2
Daniel Bertoni	Argentina	Attacker	1955-03-14	Mar	Independiente	179cm	1	2
Dieter Müller	West Germany	Attacker	1954-04-01	Apr	1. FC Köln	182cm	1	2
Grzegorz Lato	Poland	Attacker	1950-04-08	Apr	Stal Mielec	175cm	1	2
Heinz Flohe	West Germany	Midfielder	1948-01-28	Jan	1. FC Köln	175cm	1	2
Nelinho	Brazil	Defender	1950-07-26	Jul	Cruzeiro	—	1	2
Roberto Bettega	Italy	Attacker	1950-12-27	Dec	Juventus	184cm	1	2
Zbigniew Boniek	Poland	Midfielder	1956-03-03	Mar	Widzew Łódź	182cm	1	2
Alberto Tarantini	Argentina	Defender	1955-12-03	Dec	Free agent[a]	178cm	1	1
Ali Kaabi	Tunisia	Defender	1953-11-15	Nov	COT Tunis	—	1	1
Andranik Eskandarian	Iran	Defender	1951-12-31	Dec	Taj	175cm	1	1
András Tóth	Hungary	Attacker	1949-09-05	Sep	Újpesti Dózsa	—	1	1
Andrzej Szarmach	Poland	Attacker	1950-10-03	Oct	Stal Mielec	178cm	1	1
Arturo Vázquez AyalaC	Mexico	Defender	1949-06-26	Jun	UNAM Pumas	—	1	1
Bernard Lacombe	France	Attacker	1952-08-15	Aug	Lyon	171cm	1	1
Bernd Hölzenbein	West Germany	Attacker	1946-03-09	Mar	Eintracht Frankfurt	172cm	1	1
Berti VogtsC	West Germany	Defender	1946-12-30	Dec	Borussia Mönchengladbach	168cm	1	1
César Cueto	Peru	Midfielder	1952-06-16	Jun	Alianza Lima	171cm	1	1
Christian Lopez	France	Defender	1953-03-15	Mar	Saint-Étienne	—	1	1
Dani	Spain	Attacker	1951-06-28	Jun	Athletic Bilbao	—	1	1
Daniel PassarellaC	Argentina	Defender	1953-05-25	May	River Plate	170cm	1	1
Dick Nanninga	Netherlands	Attacker	1949-01-17	Jan	Roda JC	—	1	1
Dominique Rocheteau	France	Midfielder	1955-01-14	Jan	Saint-Étienne	177cm	1	1
Erich Obermayer	Austria	Defender	1953-01-23	Jan	Austria Wien	182cm	1	1
Franco Causio	Italy	Midfielder	1949-02-01	Feb	Juventus	170cm	1	1
Hansi Müller	West Germany	Midfielder	1957-07-27	Jul	VfB Stuttgart	180cm	1	1
Hassan Rowshan	Iran	Attacker	1955-06-02	Jun	Taj	169cm	1	1
Iraj Danaeifard	Iran	Midfielder	1951-03-11	Mar	Taj	—	1	1
Joe Jordan	Scotland	Attacker	1951-12-15	Dec	Manchester United	185cm	1	1
José Velásquez	Peru	Midfielder	1952-06-04	Jun	Alianza Lima	—	1	1
Juan Manuel Asensi	Spain	Midfielder	1949-09-23	Sep	Barcelona	178cm	1	1
Károly Csapó	Hungary	Midfielder	1952-02-23	Feb	Tatabányai	182cm	1	1
Kazimierz DeynaC	Poland	Midfielder	1947-10-23	Oct	Legia Warsaw	180cm	1	1
Kenny Dalglish	Scotland	Attacker	1951-03-04	Mar	Liverpool	173cm	1	1
Marc Berdoll	France	Attacker	1953-04-06	Apr	Marseille	170cm	1	1
Michel Platini	France	Midfielder	1955-06-21	Jun	Nancy	179cm	1	1
Mokhtar Dhouieb	Tunisia	Defender	1952-03-23	Mar	CS Sfaxien	—	1	1
Néjib Ghommidh	Tunisia	Midfielder	1953-03-12	Mar	Club Africain	—	1	1
Reinaldo	Brazil	Attacker	1957-01-11	Jan	Atlético Mineiro	—	1	1
Renato Zaccarelli	Italy	Midfielder	1951-01-18	Jan	Torino	180cm	1	1
René Houseman	Argentina	Attacker	1953-07-19	Jul	Huracán	165cm	1	1
René van de Kerkhof	Netherlands	Midfielder	1951-09-16	Sep	PSV	—	1	1
Romeo Benetti	Italy	Midfielder	1945-10-20	Oct	Juventus	176cm	1	1
Rüdiger Abramczik	West Germany	Attacker	1956-02-18	Feb	Schalke 04	182cm	1	1
Sándor Zombori	Hungary	Midfielder	1951-10-31	Oct	Vasas	171cm	1	1
Thomas Sjöberg	Sweden	Attacker	1952-07-06	Jul	Malmö FF	—	1	1
Víctor Rangel	Mexico	Attacker	1957-03-11	Mar	Guadalajara	—	1	1
Walter Schachner	Austria	Attacker	1957-02-01	Feb	DSV Alpine Donawitz	180cm	1	1
Willy van de Kerkhof	Netherlands	Midfielder	1951-09-16	Sep	PSV	—	1	1
Zico	Brazil	Midfielder	1953-03-03	Mar	Flamengo	—	1	1
Abderraouf Ben Aziza	Tunisia	Attacker	1953-09-23	Sep	Étoile Sportive du Sahel	—	1	—
Abel	Brazil	Defender	1952-09-01	Sep	Vasco da Gama	—	1	—
Adam Nawałka	Poland	Midfielder	1957-10-23	Oct	Wisła Kraków	181cm	1	—
Adrie van Kraay	Netherlands	Defender	1953-08-01	Aug	PSV	184cm	1	—
Alan Rough	Scotland	Goalkeeper	1951-11-25	Nov	Partick Thistle	—	1	—
Aldo Maldera	Italy	Defender	1953-10-14	Oct	Milan	180cm	1	—
Alfredo Quesada	Peru	Midfielder	1949-09-22	Sep	Sporting Cristal	175cm	1	—
Alfredo Tena	Mexico	Defender	1956-11-21	Nov	América	185cm	1	—
Ali ParvinC	Iran	Midfielder	1946-10-12	Oct	Persepolis	169cm	1	—
Ali Shojaei	Iran	Midfielder	1953-03-23	Mar	Zob Ahan	—	1	—
Alireza Ghashghaean	Iran	Defender	1954-02-27	Feb	Bargh Shiraz	—	1	—
Amaral	Brazil	Defender	1954-12-25	Dec	Guarani	—	1	—
Américo Gallego	Argentina	Midfielder	1955-04-25	Apr	Newell's Old Boys	170cm	1	—
Amor Jebali	Tunisia	Defender	1956-12-24	Dec	AS Marsa	—	1	—
Anders Linderoth	Sweden	Midfielder	1950-03-21	Mar	Marseille	170cm	1	—
András Törőcsik	Hungary	Attacker	1955-05-01	May	Újpesti Dózsa	172cm	1	—
Andrzej Iwan	Poland	Attacker	1959-11-10	Nov	Wisła Kraków	175cm	1	—
Antonello Cuccureddu	Italy	Defender	1949-10-04	Oct	Juventus	180cm	1	—
Antoni Szymanowski	Poland	Defender	1951-01-13	Jan	Wisła Kraków	180cm	1	—
Antonio Biosca	Spain	Defender	1948-12-08	Dec	Real Betis	173cm	1	—
Antonio Cabrini	Italy	Defender	1957-10-08	Oct	Juventus	177cm	1	—
Antonio de la Cruz	Spain	Defender	1947-05-07	May	Barcelona	171cm	1	—
Antonio de la Torre	Mexico	Midfielder	1951-09-21	Sep	América	—	1	—
Antonio Guzmán	Spain	Midfielder	1953-12-02	Dec	Rayo Vallecano	—	1	—
Antonio Olmo	Spain	Defender	1954-01-18	Jan	Barcelona	183cm	1	—
Asa Hartford	Scotland	Midfielder	1950-10-24	Oct	Manchester City	170cm	1	—
Bahram Mavaddat	Iran	Goalkeeper	1950-01-30	Jan	Sepahan	—	1	—
Batista	Brazil	Midfielder	1955-03-08	Mar	Internacional	—	1	—
Behtash Fariba	Iran	Attacker	1955-02-11	Feb	Pas	178cm	1	—
Béla Várady	Hungary	Attacker	1953-04-12	Apr	Vasas	183cm	1	—
Benny Wendt	Sweden	Attacker	1950-11-04	Nov	1. FC Kaiserslautern	185cm	1	—
Bernard Dietz	West Germany	Defender	1948-03-22	Mar	MSV Duisburg	178cm	1	—
Bernhard Cullmann	West Germany	Midfielder	1949-11-01	Nov	1. FC Köln	181cm	1	—
Björn NordqvistC	Sweden	Defender	1942-10-06	Oct	IFK Göteborg	—	1	—
Bo Larsson	Sweden	Midfielder	1944-05-05	May	Malmö FF	175cm	1	—
Bobby Clark	Scotland	Goalkeeper	1945-09-26	Sep	Aberdeen	—	1	—
Bohdan Masztaler	Poland	Midfielder	1949-09-19	Sep	ŁKS Łódź	173cm	1	—
Bruce RiochC	Scotland	Midfielder	1947-09-06	Sep	Derby County	180cm	1	—

GOAT reference

Curated. Inclusion in this list isn't a championship ranking — it's a span of Ballon-d'Or winners + nominees + commonly-cited GOATs across eras, used for the overlay above.

NameCountryPositionBirth yearBirth month

30 / 30

Player	Country	Position	DOB	Birth month	Club	Ht	Goals
Pelé	Brazil	Attacker	1940-10-23	Oct	—	—	—
Garrincha	Brazil	Attacker	1933-10-28	Oct	—	—	—
Eusébio	Portugal	Attacker	1942-01-25	Jan	—	—	—
Bobby Charlton	England	Midfielder	1937-10-11	Oct	—	—	—
Lev Yashin	Soviet Union	Goalkeeper	1929-10-22	Oct	—	—	—
Gerd Müller	West Germany	Attacker	1945-11-03	Nov	—	—	—
Johan Cruyff	Netherlands	Attacker	1947-04-25	Apr	—	—	—
Franz Beckenbauer	West Germany	Defender	1945-09-11	Sep	—	—	—
Diego Maradona	Argentina	Midfielder	1960-10-30	Oct	—	—	—
Michel Platini	France	Midfielder	1955-06-21	Jun	—	—	—
Zico	Brazil	Midfielder	1953-03-03	Mar	—	—	—
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge	West Germany	Attacker	1955-09-25	Sep	—	—	—
Paolo Rossi	Italy	Attacker	1956-09-23	Sep	—	—	—
Romário	Brazil	Attacker	1966-01-29	Jan	—	—	—
Ronaldo (R9)	Brazil	Attacker	1976-09-22	Sep	—	—	—
Zinedine Zidane	France	Midfielder	1972-06-23	Jun	—	—	—
Ronaldinho	Brazil	Midfielder	1980-03-21	Mar	—	—	—
Kaká	Brazil	Midfielder	1982-04-22	Apr	—	—	—
Fabio Cannavaro	Italy	Defender	1973-09-13	Sep	—	—	—
Andrés Iniesta	Spain	Midfielder	1984-05-11	May	—	—	—
Xavi Hernández	Spain	Midfielder	1980-01-25	Jan	—	—	—
Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	Attacker	1985-02-05	Feb	—	—	—
Lionel Messi	Argentina	Attacker	1987-06-24	Jun	—	—	—
Luka Modrić	Croatia	Midfielder	1985-09-09	Sep	—	—	—
Kylian Mbappé	France	Attacker	1998-12-20	Dec	—	—	—
Neymar	Brazil	Attacker	1992-02-05	Feb	—	—	—
Robert Lewandowski	Poland	Attacker	1988-08-21	Aug	—	—	—
Mohamed Salah	Egypt	Attacker	1992-06-15	Jun	—	—	—
Karim Benzema	France	Attacker	1987-12-19	Dec	—	—	—
Vinícius Jr	Brazil	Attacker	2000-07-12	Jul	—	—	—

Hat-tricks (3+ goals in a match)

Every individual 3+ goal performance in World Cup history. Oleg Salenko's 5-goal haul in 1994 v Cameroon is the all-time single-match record.

#	Player	Team	Opponent	Stage	Year	Goals
1	Oleg Salenko	Russia	Cameroon	Group	1994	5
2	Ernst Wilimowski	Poland	Brazil	Round of 16	1938	4
3	Ademir	Brazil	Sweden	Final round	1950	4
4	Sándor Kocsis	Hungary	West Germany	Group	1954	4
5	Eusébio	Portugal	North Korea	Quarter-final	1966	4
6	Emilio Butragueño	Spain	Denmark	Round of 16	1986	4
7	Bert Patenaude	United States	Paraguay	Group	1930	3
8	Pedro Cea	Uruguay	Yugoslavia	Semi-final	1930	3
9	Guillermo Stábile	Argentina	Mexico	Group	1930	3
10	Edmund Conen	Germany	Belgium	Round of 16	1934	3
11	Angelo Schiavio	Italy	United States	Round of 16	1934	3
12	Oldřich Nejedlý	Czechoslovakia	Germany	Semi-final	1934	3
13	Leônidas	Brazil	Poland	Round of 16	1938	3
14	Gyula Zsengellér	Hungary	Dutch East Indies	Round of 16	1938	3
15	Harry Andersson	Sweden	Cuba	Quarter-final	1938	3
16	Gustav Wetterström	Sweden	Cuba	Quarter-final	1938	3
17	Oscar Míguez	Uruguay	Bolivia	Group	1950	3
18	Estanislao Basora	Spain	Uruguay	Final round	1950	3
19	Sándor Kocsis	Hungary	South Korea	Group	1954	3
20	Erich Probst	Austria	Czechoslovakia	Group	1954	3
21	Carlos Borges	Uruguay	Scotland	Group	1954	3
22	Suat Mamat	Turkey	South Korea	Group	1954	3
23	Josef Hügi	Switzerland	Austria	Quarter-final	1954	3
24	Just Fontaine	France	Paraguay	Group	1958	3
25	Just Fontaine	France	West Germany	Third place	1958	3
26	Pelé	Brazil	France	Semi-final	1958	3
27	Florian Albert	Hungary	Bulgaria	Group	1962	3
28	Geoff Hurst	England	West Germany	Final	1966	3
29	Franz Beckenbauer	West Germany	Switzerland	Group	1966	3
30	Helmut Haller	West Germany	Switzerland	Group	1966	3
31	Eusébio	Portugal	Brazil	Group	1966	3
32	Gerd Müller	West Germany	Bulgaria	Group	1970	3
33	Gerd Müller	West Germany	Peru	Quarter-final	1970	3
34	Andrzej Szarmach	Poland	Haiti	Group	1974	3
35	Dušan Bajević	Yugoslavia	Zaire	Group	1974	3
36	Robbie Rensenbrink	Netherlands	Iran	Group	1978	3
37	Teófilo Cubillas	Peru	Iran	Group	1978	3
38	Karl-Heinz Rummenigge	West Germany	Chile	Group	1982	3
39	Zbigniew Boniek	Poland	Belgium	Second round	1982	3
40	László Kiss	Hungary	El Salvador	Group	1982	3
41	Paolo Rossi	Italy	Brazil	Second round	1982	3
42	Gary Lineker	England	Poland	Group	1986	3
43	Igor Belanov	Soviet Union	Belgium	Round of 16	1986	3
44	Tomáš Skuhravý	Czechoslovakia	Costa Rica	Round of 16	1990	3
45	Míchel	Spain	South Korea	Group	1990	3
46	Gabriel Batistuta	Argentina	Greece	Group	1994	3
47	Gabriel Batistuta	Argentina	Jamaica	Group	1998	3
48	Miroslav Klose	Germany	Saudi Arabia	Group	2002	3
49	Pauleta	Portugal	Poland	Group	2002	3
50	Gonzalo Higuaín	Argentina	South Korea	Group	2010	3
51	Thomas Müller	Germany	Portugal	Group	2014	3
52	Xherdan Shaqiri	Switzerland	Honduras	Group	2014	3
53	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	Spain	Group	2018	3
54	Harry Kane	England	Panama	Group	2018	3
55	Gonçalo Ramos	Portugal	Switzerland	Round of 16	2022	3
56	Kylian Mbappé	France	Argentina	Final	2022	3

56 hat-tricks · 6with 4+ goals · Salenko's 5 (1994) is the only 5-goal haul on record