List of FIFA World Cup top goalscorers

Men's FIFA World Cup top goalscorers From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A total of over 3,000 goals[1] have been scored in matches across the 23 final tournaments of the men's FIFA World Cup, not counting penalties scored during shoot-outs.[2] Since the first goal scored by French player Lucien Laurent in 1930,[3] nearly 1,300 footballers have scored goals at the World Cup tournaments,[4] of whom 108 have scored five or more.

More information Goals, ≥11 ...
Numbers of goals scored[4][5]
Goals≥11109876 5432 1Total
Nos. of players 11611792539 >60>120>220>750 >1,250
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Lionel Messi currently holds the record at twenty-one goals.

The top goalscorer of the inaugural competition was Argentina's Guillermo Stábile, with eight goals. Since then, only 27 players have scored more World Cup goals in total than Stábile did during the 1930 tournament. The first to do so was Hungary's Sándor Kocsis, scoring eleven in 1954. At the following tournament, France's Just Fontaine improved on this record, recording thirteen goals in just six matches. Gerd Müller then scored ten goals for West Germany in 1970, before breaking the overall record when he scored his fourteenth World Cup goal during West Germany's win in the 1974 final. Müller's record stood for more than three decades, until Ronaldo recorded fifteen goals between 1998 and 2006 for Brazil. Germany's Miroslav Klose broke Ronaldo's record with his 16th goal in 2014; his record stood until the current record holder, Argentina's Lionel Messi, scored his 17th through 21st goals in 2026.

Of all the players who have played at the World Cup, only six have achieved an average of two goals or more per match played: Kocsis, Fontaine, Stábile, Russia's Oleg Salenko, Switzerland's Josef Hügi, and Poland's Ernst Wilimowski – the latter of whom scored four in his only ever World Cup match, played in 1938.[6] The top 108 goalscorers have represented 31 nations, with 15 players scoring for both Brazil and Germany or West Germany. In total, 73 footballers came from UEFA (Europe), 30 from CONMEBOL (South America), and only five from elsewhere: Cameroon, Ghana and Senegal from CAF (Africa), Australia from AFC (Asia) (formerly from OFC of Oceania), and the United States from CONCACAF (North/Central America).

Fontaine's thirteen goals in 1958 remains the record for the most scored in a single World Cup tournament. The players that came closest to this tally were Kocsis in 1954 (eleven goals), Müller in 1970 (ten goals), and Portugal's Eusébio in 1966 (nine goals). The top scorers with the fewest goals were from the 1962 tournament, when six players finished joint-top with just four goals each. Across the 22 tournaments of the World Cup, 31 footballers have been credited as the tournament top scorer, and no one has achieved this feat twice. Ten of these players scored at least seven goals in a tournament, while Brazil's Jairzinho in 1970 and Argentina's Lionel Messi in 2022 were the only footballers to record at least seven goals but still not finish as the tournament's top scorer. These 31 top goalscorers played for 19 nations, with the most (five) coming from Brazil. Another five came from other South American countries, with the remaining 21 coming from Europe.

In 2006, Ronaldo became the first player to score eight goals in knockout matches (excluding the match for third place) at the World Cup, coming in his three tournaments for Brazil, a feat which would be equalled in 2022 by France's Kylian Mbappé.[7] Mbappé himself became the first player to score four goals in World Cup final matches: he netted one in the 2018 final followed by a hat-trick in the 2022 final. England's Geoff Hurst is the only other player to record a hat-trick in a World Cup final, doing so in 1966.

Overall top goalscorers

As of 10 July 2026.
More information Bold (player), ♦ ...
Table key
Bold (player) Denotes players still active at international level
Denotes national top scorers (or joint top scorers) at the World Cup
[ ] Denotes tournaments where the player was part of the squad, but did not play in a match
( ) Denotes tournaments where the player played in one or more matches, but did not score a goal
Bold (year) Denotes tournaments where the player's team won the World Cup
T Denotes tournaments where the player was top scorer
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Timeline

1930
1934
1938
1942
1946
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
2026
2030
2034
2038
     Argentina      Brazil      Hungary      France      Germany
Leônidas in 1940, posing for camera with hand at his waist.
Leônidas scored a record eight World Cup goals for Brazil across the 1934 and 1938 tournaments, all of them in knockout matches—a record that stood until 2026.[116]
Portrait photograph of Ademir de Menezes
Ademir scored a record nine World Cup goals for Brazil, all coming at the 1950 tournament.
Sándor Kocsis, dressed in formal jacket and tie.
Sándor Kocsis was the first player to score ten or more goals in a single World Cup: he scored a record eleven goals in just five matches for Hungary during the 1954 tournament.
Just Fontaine in 1958, dressed in football shirt
Just Fontaine scored a record thirteen World Cup goals for France, all coming at the 1958 tournament.
More information Key ...
Key
Goal set a new record
Goal equalled the existing record
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More information Goals, Date ...
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Gerd Müller
Gerd Müller scored ten goals for West Germany at the 1970 World Cup, and was top goalscorer from 1974 to 2006.
Ronaldo
Ronaldo was top goal scorer from 2006 to 2014, scoring fifteen goals for Brazil, including two in the 2002 final.
Scoring 16 goals for Germany, Miroslav Klose was top goalscorer from 2014 to 2026.
With six goals for Ghana, Asamoah Gyan is the only player outside of Europe or South America to score more than five goals at the World Cup.

Top goalscorers for each tournament

Portrait photograph of Guillermo Stábile
Guillermo Stábile scored a then-record eight goals for Argentina at the 1930 World Cup.
More information † ...
Key
Denotes the record for the most goals in a single tournament
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Goalscorers at multiple tournaments

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player to have scored in six World Cups, while Argentina's Lionel Messi has scored in five. Five players (Uwe Seeler, Pelé, Miroslav Klose, Ivan Perišić and Neymar) have each scored in four tournaments, while another 37 have each scored in three.

In the table below players with the same rank are listed in order of achieving their tally.

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Top goalscorers in knockout matches

More information Bold (player), ( ) ...
Table key
Bold (player) Denotes players still active at international level
( ) Denotes tournaments where the player played in one or more matches, but did not score a goal
Bold (year) Denotes tournaments where the player's team won the World Cup
Italic (year) Denotes ongoing tournament for the player's team
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More information Rank, Player ...
Players with most goals in FIFA World Cup knockout stages[133]
Rank Player Team Goals scored Matches played Ratio Years
1 Kylian Mbappé  France 12 11 1.09 2018, 2022, 2026
2 Leônidas  Brazil 8 5 1.60 1934, 1938
Ronaldo  Brazil 10 0.80 1998, 2002, 2006
4 Just Fontaine  France 7 3 2.33 1958
Vavá  Brazil 5 1.40 1958, 1962
Oldřich Nejedlý  Czechoslovakia 6 1.17 1934, 1938
Pelé  Brazil 1958, 1970
Lionel Messi  Argentina 14 0.50 (2006), (2010), (2014), (2018), 2022, 2026
9 Eusébio  Portugal 6 3 2.00 1966
György Sárosi  Hungary 5 1.20 1934, 1938
Gary Lineker  England 6 1.00 1986, 1990
Harry Kane  England 8 0.75 2018, 2022, 2026
Roberto Baggio  Italy 9 0.67 1990, 1994, (1998)
14 Gyula Zsengellér  Hungary 5 4 1.25 1938
Silvio Piola  Italy 1938
Helmut Rahn  West Germany 6 0.83 1954, 1958
Zinedine Zidane  France 7 0.71 1998, 2006
Thomas Müller  Germany 2010, 2014
Wesley Sneijder  Netherlands 8 0.63 (2006), 2010, 2014
Miroslav Klose  Germany 14 0.36 (2002), 2006, 2010, 2014
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Top goalscorers in final matches

More information Rank, Player ...
Players with multiple goals in FIFA World Cup Finals
Rank Player Team Goals scored Final matches
Played Scored in Years
1 Kylian Mbappé  France 4 2 2 2018, 2022 (3)
2 Geoff Hurst  England 3 1 1 1966 (3)
Vavá  Brazil 2 2 1958 (2), 1962
Pelé  Brazil 2 2 1958 (2), 1970
Zinedine Zidane  France 2 2 1998 (2), 2006
6 Gino Colaussi  Italy 2 1 1 1938 (2)
Silvio Piola  Italy 1 1 1938 (2)
Helmut Rahn  West Germany 1 1 1954 (2)
Mario Kempes  Argentina 1 1 1978 (2)
Paul Breitner  West Germany 2 2 1974, 1982
Ronaldo  Brazil 2 1 (1998), 2002 (2)
Lionel Messi  Argentina 2 1 (2014), 2022 (2)
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  • Bold indicates winning final
  • Parentheses around a year indicates no goals scored

See also

Notes

  1. Outside this list is Ernst Wilimowski of Poland, the player with the highest goals-to-games ratio in the World Cup. His ratio is 4.00 as he scored four goals in his only World Cup appearance, in 1938.[10]
  2. There was a controversy regarding the number of goals scored by Ademir in 1950 because of incomplete data from the final group round game against Spain, that ended in a 6–1 victory for Brazil. The first Brazilian goal was credited as own goal and the fifth was credited to Jair,[29] but both are now credited to Ademir.[30]
  3. FIFA initially credited Leônidas with eight goals in the 1938 tournament, but in November 2006, FIFA revised it to seven (he scored one additional goal in the 1934 tournament).[43]
  4. FIFA initially credited Nejedlý with only four goals in 1934. However, FIFA changed it to five goals in November 2006, meaning he scored a total of seven goals overall (he scored two goals in 1938).[43]
  5. The progressive record for most goals scored in a single final tournament comprises all the entries as far as Just Fontaine in 1958, excluding Leônidas in 1938, since the others each scored all their goals within a single tournament.
  6. The two initial games of the 1930 FIFA World Cup (France vs Mexico[118] and United States vs Belgium[119]) were played at the same time, as seven players scored, with André Maschinot scoring two goals. The order in which these players are listed reflects the actual elapsed time in the games when their goals were scored.

References

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