How many penalties have there been at the World Cup 2022?

THERE'S nothing more nerve racking in football than a penalty kick - and the winter World Cup has had its fair share of them already.

The huge tournament in Qatar was always destined to throw up some major talking points.

And alongside the semi-automatic VAR system, controversial penalty decisions has been on the lips of most fans.

Even legendary footballers Graeme Souness and Roy Keane got into a heated argument over the spot-kick during Saudi Arabia's upset over Argentina.

Find out how many penalties there has been at the World Cup so far below...

How many penalties has there been at the World Cup 2022?

In total, there has been 12 penalties awarded at the World Cup so far.

Here is how they have gone:

Enner Valencia (scored) - Qatar vs ECUADOR

Mehdi Taremi (scored) - England vs IRAN

Gareth Bale (scored) - USA vs WALES

Lionel Messi (scored) - ARGENTINA vs Saudi Arabia

Robert Lewandowski (saved) - POLAND vs Mexico

Ilkay Gundogan (scored) - GERMANY vs Japan

Ferran Torres (scored) - SPAIN vs Costa Rica

Alphonso Davies - (saved) CANADA vs Belgium

Cristiano Ronaldo - (scored) PORTUGAL vs Ghana

Salem Al Dawsari - (saved) Poland vs SAUDI ARABIA

Bruno Fernandes - (scored) Uruguay vs PORTUGAL

Lionel Messi - (saved) Poland vs ARGENTINA

Andre Ayew - (saved) GHANA vs Uruguay

Lionel Messi (scored) Netherlands vs ARGENTINA

How many penalties were awarded at the World Cup 2018?

There were a record number of penalties given to teams as the World Cup Russian edition was the first to use VAR.

In 64 matches, there were a total of 29 penalties - with 22 scored and seven either saved or missed.