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The GOAT continues to surprise the world as Lionel Messi now reigns supreme at the top of the all-time World Cup goalscoring list.
With his brace against Austria in Argentina’s group stage match on June 22, Messi surpassed the long-standing record held by Germany’s Miroslav Klose. This came a week after Messi scored his first career World Cup hat-trick in a win over Algeria, while also setting the record for the oldest player (38) to record a hat-trick at the tournament – surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2022 feat when he was 33.
But this list could still change. France’s Kylian MbappĂ© has 16 all-time World Cup goals, tied for second in history, and is already adding to his total this summer. That being said, here are the players who have scored the most goals in the history of the Men’s World Cup. Let’s take a look.
1. Lionel Messi (Argentina): 18
Messi’s five goals at the 2026 World Cup earned him a new record on his record. Messi has appeared in every World Cup since 2006 and scored in all but one (2010). He has scored seven goals in the 2022 World Cup. Messi is also Argentina’s all-time top scorer with 122 goals to his name and also holds the record for most World Cup matches played with 28.
T-2. Kylian Mbappé (France): 16 years old
(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Mbappé has scored 16 goals in just 16 World Cup matches during his career. As a 19-year-old in 2018, he scored four goals for France, helping them win their first title since 1998, then he scored eight goals in 2022, including scoring the second hat-trick in a World Cup final against Argentina. In the 2026 tournament, he has four so far.
T-2. Miroslav Klose (Germany): 16
(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Playing in four consecutive World Cups from 2002 to 2014, Klose scored in all four World Cup editions he played in and capped it all off by lifting the trophy in 2016. His 71 goals for Germany are also the most in the national team’s history.
4. Ronaldo (Brazil): 15
(Photo by Gunnar Berning/Bongarts/Getty Images)
Many consider Ronaldo to be the greatest striker of all time, having scored over 350 goals for club and 62 for Brazil. Fifteen of those international goals came at the World Cup, en route to the 1998 tournament’s Ballon d’Or and the 2002 Golden Boot.
5. Gerd MĂĽller (Germany): 14 years old
(Photo by Werner Schulze/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Arguably the greatest Bundesliga goalscorer of all time, MĂĽller scored 10 goals in 1970 and then four more in 1974 during Germany’s title run. He was Germany’s all-time top scorer with 68 goals until Klose overtook him.
6. Juste Fontaine (France): 13
(Photo by dpa/photo alliance via Getty Images)
Fontaine holds one of the most incredible statistics in World Cup history, as his 13 goals came in the 1958 edition of the tournament – ​​the record for the most goals scored by a player in a single World Cup. It’s been 68 years since he set this record, and no one has come close to beating it.
7. Pelé (Brazil): 12
(Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
The great Pelé scored in all four of his World Cup appearances from 1958 to 1970 and won three titles with Brazil during that period. He notably scored in the final in 1958, becoming the youngest to do so, at just 17 years old.
T-8. JĂĽrgen Klinsmann (Germany): 11
(Photo by Mark Leech/Offside/Getty Images).
Klinsmann scored in three consecutive World Cups from 1990 to 1998, helping Germany win the trophy in 1990. His 47 goals for Germany overall place him tied for fourth in national team history.
T-8. Sándor Kocsis (Hungary): 11
(Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Kocsis’ 11 goals all date from 1954, when his Hungarian side scored 27 in five matches before losing in the final to West Germany. He is the only player to have reached a double-digit score at a World Cup, with Fontaine and MĂĽller.
Seven players have exactly 10 World Cup goals: Helmut Rahn (Germany), Gary Lineker (England), Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina), TeĂłfilo Cubillas (Peru), Thomas MĂĽller (Germany) and Grzegorz Lato (Poland).
