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

528

Players in window

Teams

22.0

Avg squad size

Tournaments

1986

Squads by position

Players in the selected window, split by role

GET /aggregates/players?years=1986

By confederation

Where the players come from

GET /aggregates/players?years=1986

Hemisphere split

Northern vs Southern hemisphere national teams

Northern440 (83.3%)

Southern88 (16.7%)

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: Apr — 9 players (12.9%). Range: 3—9.

Defenders

Birth-month distribution + 2 GOAT markers

Franz Beckenbauer· Sep

Fabio Cannavaro· Sep

Modal month: Mar — 17 players (10.2%). Range: 8—17.

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: Jan — 24 players (13.8%). Range: 10—24.

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: Apr — 17 players (14.5%). Range: 5—17.

All players

Every player from the 1986 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

528 / 528

Player	Country	Position	DOB	Birth month	Club	Ht	WCs	Goals
Gary Lineker	England	Attacker	1960-11-30	Nov	Everton	177cm	1	6
Careca	Brazil	Attacker	1960-10-05	Oct	São Paulo	183cm	1	5
Diego MaradonaC	Argentina	Midfielder	1960-10-30	Oct	Napoli	165cm	1	5
Emilio Butragueño	Spain	Attacker	1963-07-22	Jul	Real Madrid	170cm	1	5
Alessandro Altobelli	Italy	Attacker	1955-11-28	Nov	Internazionale	181cm	1	4
Ihor Belanov	Soviet Union	Midfielder	1960-09-25	Sep	Dynamo Kyiv	—	1	4
Jorge Valdano	Argentina	Attacker	1955-10-04	Oct	Real Madrid	188cm	1	4
Preben Elkjær	Denmark	Attacker	1957-09-11	Sep	Hellas Verona	182cm	1	4
Jan CeulemansC	Belgium	Midfielder	1957-02-28	Feb	Club Brugge	191cm	1	3
Jesper Olsen	Denmark	Midfielder	1961-03-20	Mar	Manchester United	168cm	1	3
Nico Claesen	Belgium	Attacker	1962-10-07	Oct	Standard Liège	171cm	1	3
Rudi Völler	West Germany	Attacker	1960-04-13	Apr	Werder Bremen	180cm	1	3
Abderrazak Khairi	Morocco	Attacker	1962-11-20	Nov	FAR Rabat	176cm	1	2
Enzo Scifo	Belgium	Midfielder	1966-02-19	Feb	Anderlecht	178cm	1	2
Fernando Quirarte	Mexico	Defender	1956-05-17	May	Guadalajara	180cm	1	2
Jean-Pierre Papin	France	Attacker	1963-11-05	Nov	Club Brugge	176cm	1	2
Jorge Burruchaga	Argentina	Midfielder	1962-10-09	Oct	Nantes	177cm	1	2
Josimar	Brazil	Defender	1961-09-19	Sep	Botafogo	—	1	2
Julio César Romero	Paraguay	Midfielder	1960-08-28	Aug	Fluminense	—	1	2
Klaus Allofs	West Germany	Attacker	1956-12-05	Dec	1. FC Köln	174cm	1	2
Michel PlatiniC	France	Midfielder	1955-06-21	Jun	Juventus	179cm	1	2
Ramón Calderé	Spain	Midfielder	1959-01-16	Jan	Barcelona	177cm	1	2
Roberto Cabañas	Paraguay	Attacker	1961-04-11	Apr	América de Cali	183cm	1	2
Sócrates	Brazil	Midfielder	1954-02-19	Feb	Flamengo	192cm	1	2
Yannick Stopyra	France	Attacker	1961-01-09	Jan	Toulouse	180cm	1	2
Abdelkrim Merry "Krimau"	Morocco	Attacker	1955-01-13	Jan	Le Havre	—	1	1
Ahmed Radhi	Iraq	Attacker	1964-03-21	Mar	Al-Rasheed	186cm	1	1
Andoni Goikoetxea	Spain	Defender	1956-08-23	Aug	Athletic Bilbao	185cm	1	1
Andreas Brehme	West Germany	Defender	1960-11-09	Nov	1. FC Kaiserslautern	176cm	1	1
Antonio Alzamendi	Uruguay	Attacker	1956-06-07	Jun	River Plate	175cm	1	1
Bernard Genghini	France	Midfielder	1958-01-18	Jan	Monaco	178cm	1	1
Carlos Manuel	Portugal	Midfielder	1958-01-15	Jan	Benfica	176cm	1	1
Cho Kwang-rae	South Korea	Midfielder	1954-03-19	Mar	Daewoo Royals	171cm	1	1
Choi Soon-ho	South Korea	Attacker	1962-01-10	Jan	POSCO Atoms	185cm	1	1
Colin Clarke	Northern Ireland	Attacker	1962-10-30	Oct	AFC Bournemouth	—	1	1
Daniel Veyt	Belgium	Attacker	1956-12-09	Dec	Waregem	174cm	1	1
Diamantino	Portugal	Midfielder	1959-08-03	Aug	Benfica	—	1	1
Djamel Zidane	Algeria	Attacker	1955-04-28	Apr	Waterschei Thor	180cm	1	1
Dominique Rocheteau	France	Attacker	1955-01-14	Jan	Paris Saint-Germain	177cm	1	1
EdinhoC	Brazil	Defender	1955-06-05	Jun	Udinese	—	1	1
Eloy	Spain	Attacker	1964-07-10	Jul	Sporting Gijón	—	1	1
Enzo Francescoli	Uruguay	Attacker	1961-11-12	Nov	River Plate	181cm	1	1
Erwin Vandenbergh	Belgium	Attacker	1959-01-26	Jan	Anderlecht	184cm	1	1
Franky Vercauteren	Belgium	Midfielder	1956-10-28	Oct	Anderlecht	174cm	1	1
Gordon Strachan	Scotland	Midfielder	1957-02-09	Feb	Manchester United	168cm	1	1
Hugo Sánchez	Mexico	Attacker	1958-07-11	Jul	Real Madrid	174cm	1	1
Huh Jung-moo	South Korea	Midfielder	1955-01-13	Jan	Hyundai Horangi	176cm	1	1
Ivan Yaremchuk	Soviet Union	Midfielder	1962-03-19	Mar	Dynamo Kyiv	168cm	1	1
Jean Tigana	France	Midfielder	1955-06-23	Jun	Bordeaux	168cm	1	1
Jean-Marc Ferreri	France	Midfielder	1962-12-26	Dec	Auxerre	172cm	1	1
John Eriksen	Denmark	Attacker	1957-11-20	Nov	Feyenoord	180cm	1	1
José Luis Brown	Argentina	Defender	1956-11-10	Nov	Deportivo Español	183cm	1	1
Juan Antonio Señor	Spain	Midfielder	1958-08-26	Aug	Real Zaragoza	—	1	1
Julio Salinas	Spain	Attacker	1962-09-11	Sep	Athletic Bilbao	188cm	1	1
Karl-Heinz RummeniggeC	West Germany	Attacker	1955-09-25	Sep	Internazionale	182cm	1	1
Kim Jong-boo	South Korea	Attacker	1965-11-03	Nov	Korea University	183cm	1	1
Lajos Détári	Hungary	Midfielder	1963-04-24	Apr	Budapest Honvéd	178cm	1	1
László Dajka	Hungary	Attacker	1959-04-29	Apr	Budapest Honvéd	178cm	1	1
Lothar Matthäus	West Germany	Midfielder	1961-03-21	Mar	Bayern Munich	174cm	1	1
Luis Fernandez	France	Midfielder	1959-10-02	Oct	Paris Saint-Germain	178cm	1	1
Luis Flores	Mexico	Attacker	1961-07-18	Jul	UNAM Pumas	—	1	1
Manuel Amoros	France	Defender	1962-02-01	Feb	Monaco	172cm	1	1
Manuel Negrete	Mexico	Midfielder	1959-05-15	May	UNAM Pumas	—	1	1
Márton Esterházy	Hungary	Attacker	1956-04-09	Apr	AEK Athens	182cm	1	1
Michael Laudrup	Denmark	Attacker	1964-06-15	Jun	Juventus	183cm	1	1
Nasko Sirakov	Bulgaria	Attacker	1962-04-26	Apr	Vitosha Sofia	186cm	1	1
Norman Whiteside	Northern Ireland	Midfielder	1965-05-07	May	Manchester United	188cm	1	1
Oleh Blokhin	Soviet Union	Attacker	1952-11-05	Nov	Dynamo Kyiv	180cm	1	1
Oleksandr Zavarov	Soviet Union	Midfielder	1961-04-24	Apr	Dynamo Kyiv	170cm	1	1
Oscar Ruggeri	Argentina	Defender	1962-01-26	Jan	River Plate	185cm	1	1
Park Chang-sunC	South Korea	Midfielder	1954-02-02	Feb	Daewoo Royals	170cm	1	1
Pavlo Yakovenko	Soviet Union	Midfielder	1964-12-19	Dec	Dynamo Kyiv	180cm	1	1
Pedro Pasculli	Argentina	Attacker	1960-05-17	May	Lecce	172cm	1	1
Peter Beardsley	England	Attacker	1961-01-18	Jan	Newcastle United	173cm	1	1
Plamen Getov	Bulgaria	Midfielder	1959-03-04	Mar	Spartak Pleven	176cm	1	1
Raúl Servín	Mexico	Defender	1963-04-29	Apr	UNAM Pumas	169cm	1	1
Sergei Aleinikov	Soviet Union	Midfielder	1961-11-07	Nov	Dinamo Minsk	182cm	1	1
Sergey Rodionov	Soviet Union	Attacker	1962-09-03	Sep	Spartak Moscow	186cm	1	1
Søren Lerby	Denmark	Midfielder	1958-02-01	Feb	Bayern Munich	184cm	1	1
Stéphane Demol	Belgium	Defender	1966-03-11	Mar	Anderlecht	188cm	1	1
Vasyl Rats	Soviet Union	Midfielder	1961-04-25	Apr	Dynamo Kyiv	175cm	1	1
Włodzimierz Smolarek	Poland	Midfielder	1957-07-16	Jul	Widzew Łódź	171cm	1	1
Abdelaziz Souleimani	Morocco	Midfielder	1958-04-30	Apr	Maghreb Fez	179cm	1	—
Abdelfettah Mouddani	Morocco	Goalkeeper	1956-07-30	Jul	Kenitra	—	1	—
Abdelfettah Rhiati	Morocco	Attacker	1963-02-25	Feb	Maghreb Fez	179cm	1	—
Abdelhamid Sadmi	Algeria	Defender	1961-01-01	Jan	JE Tizi-Ouzou	—	1	—
Abdellah Bidane	Morocco	Defender	1965-09-10	Sep	CODM Meknes	—	1	—
Abdellah Medjadi Liegeon	Algeria	Defender	1957-12-01	Dec	Monaco	—	1	—
Abdelmajid Dolmy	Morocco	Midfielder	1953-04-19	Apr	Raja Casablanca	168cm	1	—
Abdelmajid Lamriss	Morocco	Defender	1959-02-12	Feb	FAR Rabat	170cm	1	—
Adolfino Cañete	Paraguay	Midfielder	1956-09-13	Sep	Cruz Azul	172cm	1	—
Ahmad Jassim	Iraq	Goalkeeper	1960-05-04	May	Al-Rasheed	—	1	—
Alain Giresse	France	Midfielder	1952-09-02	Sep	Bordeaux	162cm	1	—
Alan McDonald	Northern Ireland	Defender	1963-10-12	Oct	Queens Park Rangers	—	1	—
Alan Rough	Scotland	Goalkeeper	1951-11-25	Nov	Hibernian	—	1	—
Albert Rust	France	Goalkeeper	1953-10-10	Oct	Sochaux	—	1	—
Aldo Serena	Italy	Attacker	1960-06-25	Jun	Juventus	183cm	1	—
Alejandro Domínguez	Mexico	Midfielder	1961-02-09	Feb	América	—	1	—
Aleksandar Markov	Bulgaria	Defender	1961-08-17	Aug	Spartak Pleven	174cm	1	—
Aleksandr Bubnov	Soviet Union	Defender	1955-10-10	Oct	Spartak Moscow	189cm	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