📂 Categoría: Football,World Cup | 📅 Fecha: 1777338882
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Some of football’s greatest ever goalscorers have starred at the World Cup, and this summer promises to be no different.
The 2026 World Cup is fast approaching, with Lionel Messi and Argentina heading to the USA, Canada and Mexico looking to defend their title after glory in Qatar four years ago.
And while Messi will soon be targeting back-to-back triumphs with his country, there is another bit of history he will have his eye on.
The 38-year-old has the opportunity to overtake Miroslav Klose as the all-time record goalscorer in World Cup, who he currently trails by three goals at the top of the leaderboard.
Also in contention to make history here is France superstar Kylian Mbappe, having climbed to sixth in the all-time rankings after just two World Cup campaigns.
One man who doesn’t make it into the top 10 is Portugal icon Cristiano Ronaldo, who sits just outside with eight goals overall.
But who joins Messi and Mbappe among the most prolific goalscorers to grace football’s greatest show? talkSPORT.com has taken a look…
10 goals – Six players in joint-tenth
Kicking off the top 10 World Cup goalscorers of all time, there are six players in joint-tenth place on the leaderboard.
Fittingly, they all have 10 goals, with some early tournament icons featuring in the form of Peru’s 1970 and 1974 hero Teofilo Cubilla.
England great Gary Lineker also ranks 10th, who finished as the top scorer at the 1986 World Cup after netting six times, before firing the Three Lions to the semi-finals at Italia 90 with a four-goal haul.
Also equal-tenth is Argentina icon Gabriel Batistuta, with his heroics at the 1994 and 1998 tournament finals making him a national hero.
Among the other stars sneaking into the top 10 are 2014 World Cup winner Thomas Muller, as well as Poland’s 1974 seven-goal hero Grzegorz Lato and Helmut Rahn, who fired West Germany to glory in 1954 with four goals.
The players in joint-tenth on the World Cup’s all-time charts are…
- Helmut Rahn (West Germany) – 1954 (four goals), 1958 (six goals)
- Gary Lineker (England) – 1986 (six goals), 1990 (four goals)
- Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina) – 1994 (four goals), 1998 (five goals), 2002 (one goal)
- Teofilo Cubillas (Peru) – 1970 (five goals), 1978 (five goals), 1982 (no goals)
- Thomas Muller (Germany) – 2010 (five goals), 2014 (five goals), 2018 (no goals), 2022 (no goals)
- Grzegorz Lato (Poland) – 1974 (seven goals), 1978 (two goals), 1982 (one goal)
11 goals – Sandor Kocsis and Jurgen Klinsmann
Sandor Kocsis – Hungary
One of the stars of the 1954 World Cup, Kocsis scored a staggering 11 goals for Hungary in the Swiss-hosted finals.
The striker fired in a hat-trick in his country’s opening game against South Korea, before a further four goals in a win over Germany.
After two more braces, Kocsis’ heroics fired Hungary all the way to the final, where he failed the score as his side were beaten by the Germans.
- World Cups: One – 1954
- Matches played: Five
Jurgen Klinsmann – West Germany/ Germany
A well-known face in England thanks to his exploits at Tottenham, Klinsmann starred in three World Cups for his national team.
His crowning moment came in his first tournament appearance, scoring three goals as West Germany triumphed at Italia ’90.
Klinsmann added a further five goals to his World Cup tally four years later at the 1994 finals hosted in the USA, before notching twice for Germany in 1998 as his country exited at the quarter-final stage.
- World Cups: Three – 1990 (three goals), 1994 (five goals), 1998 (three goals)
- Matches played: 17
12 goals – Pele and Kylian Mbappe
Pele – Brazil
One of football’s greatest-ever players, a huge chunk of Pele’s legendary status is due to his World Cup performances.
Aged just 17 at the time, the sporting icon burst onto the scene at the 1958 tournament as a teenager, where his six goals helped Brazil take home the famous Jules Rimet trophy.
Four years later, Pele was part of his national team that retained their world title, pitching in with one goal in 1962, before adding another in 1966 when Brazil failed to get past the group stage.
But it was in 1970 that he would complete his World Cup journey, firing in four goals to clinch an unprecedented third winners’ medal.
- World Cups: Four – 1958 (six goals), 1962 (one goal), 1966 (one goal), 1970 (four goals)
- Matches played: 14
Kylian Mbappe – France
Another teenager to fire his country to World Cup glory, Mbappe joins Pele in joint-sixth in the tournament’s all-time top scorers.
The Real Madrid star became France’s youngest-ever World Cup scorer in 2018 when he netted his first finals goal against Peru whilst still aged just 19, before going on to notch four times overall.
He followed this up by becoming only the second teenager after Pele to score in a final, as France beat Croatia to claim a second world title.
In 2022, Mbappe again led France to the final, becoming the first player since Geoff Hurst in 1966 to score a hat-trick in the final as his team were beaten by Argentina on penalties, taking his tally to 8 goals and enough to take home the Golden Boot.
- World Cups: Two – 2018 (four goals), 2022 (eight goals)
- Matches played: 14
13 goals – Just Fontaine and Lionel Messi
Just Fontaine – France
The title of record goalscorer at a single World Cup campaign belongs to one man – Just Fontaine.
At the 1958 tournament, the striker scored a staggering 13 times, a tally which remains unbeaten to this day, as France finished third in Sweden.
Fontaine’s goals included a hat-trick against Paraguay, as well as putting four past defending champions Germany in the third-place play-off.
- World Cups: One – 1958
- Matches played: Six
Lionel Messi – Argentina
As mentioned, Messi heads into this summer’s World Cup targeting yet another record in his staggering career, with just three goals required to become the competition’s all-time top scorer.
The Barcelona great became Argentina’s youngest goalscorer at a World Cup in 2006 when he notched against Serbia and Montenegro.
After failing to score in South Africa in 2010, Messi has gone on to net at three successive tournaments, with his crowning moment coming four years ago, when his seven goals fired Argentina to glory and saw him clinch the one trophy that had evaded him.
- World Cups: Five – 2006 (one goal), 2010 (no goals), 2014 (four goals), 2018 (one goal), 2022 (seven goals)
- Matches played: 26
14 goals – Gerd Muller
‘Der Bomber’ ranks third in the World Cup’s all-time goalscoring charts, and most impressively, his 14 goals came in just 13 games.
Muller netted an astonishing 10 goals at the 1970 finals to take home the Golden Boot, with his most memorable moment coming as he scored the winner in a 3-2 victory over England in the quarter-finals to knock out the defending champions.
Four years later, his four goals fired Germany to glory, with Muller bagging the winning goal in the final against the Netherlands.
- World Cups: Two – 1970 (10 goals), 1974 (four goals)
- Matches played: 13
15 goals – Ronaldo Nazario
One of football’s greatest ever strikers, Ronaldo made a habit of showing up for Brazil on the biggest stage.
While still a teenager, he was part of the Brazil squad that won the tournament in 1994 but did not play, before announcing himself to the world at the 1998 World Cup in France.
At the tournament, Ronaldo scored four goals to fire his country to the final, where he and his teammates were then beaten 3-0 by home favourites France.
And his greatest moment came four years later, where ‘R9’ found the net a staggering eight times to land Brazil their fifth World Cup.
Ronaldo scored twice in the 2002 final, before rounding things off in 2006 with three more goals in 2006 to end his career with 15 World Cup goals.
- World Cups: Four – 1994 (no goals), 1998 (four goals), 2002 (eight goals), 2006 (three goals)
- Matches played: 19
16 goals – Miroslav Klose
The undisputed king of World Cup goalscoring, Germany icon Klose enjoyed multiple-goal hauls at four straight tournaments.
His legendary story began in Japan at the 2002 tournament, where he netted a hat-trick against Saudi Arabia, and never looked back.
After five goals in 2002, Klose scored another five at the 2006 World Cup to land the Golden Boot, before firing in four in South Africa in 2010.
And the striker enjoyed a fitting end to his international career, as he netted twice in Brazil in 2014 to help Germany triumph with their fourth World Cup title.
- World Cups: Four – 2002 (five goals), 2006 (five goals), 2010 (four goals), 2014 (two goals)
- Matches played: 24
Some of football’s greatest ever goalscorers have starred at the World Cup, and this summer promises to be no different.
The 2026 World Cup is fast approaching, with Lionel Messi and Argentina heading to the USA, Canada and Mexico looking to defend their title after glory in Qatar four years ago.
And while Messi will soon be targeting back-to-back triumphs with his country, there is another bit of history he will have his eye on.
The 38-year-old has the opportunity to overtake Miroslav Klose as the all-time record goalscorer in World Cup, who he currently trails by three goals at the top of the leaderboard.
Also in contention to make history here is France superstar Kylian Mbappe, having climbed to sixth in the all-time rankings after just two World Cup campaigns.
One man who doesn’t make it into the top 10 is Portugal icon Cristiano Ronaldo, who sits just outside with eight goals overall.
But who joins Messi and Mbappe among the most prolific goalscorers to grace football’s greatest show? talkSPORT.com has taken a look…
10 goals – Six players in joint-tenth
Kicking off the top 10 World Cup goalscorers of all time, there are six players in joint-tenth place on the leaderboard.
Fittingly, they all have 10 goals, with some early tournament icons featuring in the form of Peru’s 1970 and 1974 hero Teofilo Cubilla.
England great Gary Lineker also ranks 10th, who finished as the top scorer at the 1986 World Cup after netting six times, before firing the Three Lions to the semi-finals at Italia 90 with a four-goal haul.
Also equal-tenth is Argentina icon Gabriel Batistuta, with his heroics at the 1994 and 1998 tournament finals making him a national hero.
Among the other stars sneaking into the top 10 are 2014 World Cup winner Thomas Muller, as well as Poland’s 1974 seven-goal hero Grzegorz Lato and Helmut Rahn, who fired West Germany to glory in 1954 with four goals.
The players in joint-tenth on the World Cup’s all-time charts are…
- Helmut Rahn (West Germany) – 1954 (four goals), 1958 (six goals)
- Gary Lineker (England) – 1986 (six goals), 1990 (four goals)
- Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina) – 1994 (four goals), 1998 (five goals), 2002 (one goal)
- Teofilo Cubillas (Peru) – 1970 (five goals), 1978 (five goals), 1982 (no goals)
- Thomas Muller (Germany) – 2010 (five goals), 2014 (five goals), 2018 (no goals), 2022 (no goals)
- Grzegorz Lato (Poland) – 1974 (seven goals), 1978 (two goals), 1982 (one goal)
11 goals – Sandor Kocsis and Jurgen Klinsmann
Sandor Kocsis – Hungary
One of the stars of the 1954 World Cup, Kocsis scored a staggering 11 goals for Hungary in the Swiss-hosted finals.
The striker fired in a hat-trick in his country’s opening game against South Korea, before a further four goals in a win over Germany.
After two more braces, Kocsis’ heroics fired Hungary all the way to the final, where he failed the score as his side were beaten by the Germans.
- World Cups: One – 1954
- Matches played: Five
Jurgen Klinsmann – West Germany/ Germany
A well-known face in England thanks to his exploits at Tottenham, Klinsmann starred in three World Cups for his national team.
His crowning moment came in his first tournament appearance, scoring three goals as West Germany triumphed at Italia ’90.
Klinsmann added a further five goals to his World Cup tally four years later at the 1994 finals hosted in the USA, before notching twice for Germany in 1998 as his country exited at the quarter-final stage.
- World Cups: Three – 1990 (three goals), 1994 (five goals), 1998 (three goals)
- Matches played: 17
12 goals – Pele and Kylian Mbappe
Pele – Brazil
One of football’s greatest-ever players, a huge chunk of Pele’s legendary status is due to his World Cup performances.
Aged just 17 at the time, the sporting icon burst onto the scene at the 1958 tournament as a teenager, where his six goals helped Brazil take home the famous Jules Rimet trophy.
Four years later, Pele was part of his national team that retained their world title, pitching in with one goal in 1962, before adding another in 1966 when Brazil failed to get past the group stage.
But it was in 1970 that he would complete his World Cup journey, firing in four goals to clinch an unprecedented third winners’ medal.
- World Cups: Four – 1958 (six goals), 1962 (one goal), 1966 (one goal), 1970 (four goals)
- Matches played: 14
Kylian Mbappe – France
Another teenager to fire his country to World Cup glory, Mbappe joins Pele in joint-sixth in the tournament’s all-time top scorers.
The Real Madrid star became France’s youngest-ever World Cup scorer in 2018 when he netted his first finals goal against Peru whilst still aged just 19, before going on to notch four times overall.
He followed this up by becoming only the second teenager after Pele to score in a final, as France beat Croatia to claim a second world title.
In 2022, Mbappe again led France to the final, becoming the first player since Geoff Hurst in 1966 to score a hat-trick in the final as his team were beaten by Argentina on penalties, taking his tally to 8 goals and enough to take home the Golden Boot.
- World Cups: Two – 2018 (four goals), 2022 (eight goals)
- Matches played: 14
13 goals – Just Fontaine and Lionel Messi
Just Fontaine – France
The title of record goalscorer at a single World Cup campaign belongs to one man – Just Fontaine.
At the 1958 tournament, the striker scored a staggering 13 times, a tally which remains unbeaten to this day, as France finished third in Sweden.
Fontaine’s goals included a hat-trick against Paraguay, as well as putting four past defending champions Germany in the third-place play-off.
- World Cups: One – 1958
- Matches played: Six
Lionel Messi – Argentina
As mentioned, Messi heads into this summer’s World Cup targeting yet another record in his staggering career, with just three goals required to become the competition’s all-time top scorer.
The Barcelona great became Argentina’s youngest goalscorer at a World Cup in 2006 when he notched against Serbia and Montenegro.
After failing to score in South Africa in 2010, Messi has gone on to net at three successive tournaments, with his crowning moment coming four years ago, when his seven goals fired Argentina to glory and saw him clinch the one trophy that had evaded him.
- World Cups: Five – 2006 (one goal), 2010 (no goals), 2014 (four goals), 2018 (one goal), 2022 (seven goals)
- Matches played: 26
14 goals – Gerd Muller
‘Der Bomber’ ranks third in the World Cup’s all-time goalscoring charts, and most impressively, his 14 goals came in just 13 games.
Muller netted an astonishing 10 goals at the 1970 finals to take home the Golden Boot, with his most memorable moment coming as he scored the winner in a 3-2 victory over England in the quarter-finals to knock out the defending champions.
Four years later, his four goals fired Germany to glory, with Muller bagging the winning goal in the final against the Netherlands.
- World Cups: Two – 1970 (10 goals), 1974 (four goals)
- Matches played: 13
15 goals – Ronaldo Nazario
One of football’s greatest ever strikers, Ronaldo made a habit of showing up for Brazil on the biggest stage.
While still a teenager, he was part of the Brazil squad that won the tournament in 1994 but did not play, before announcing himself to the world at the 1998 World Cup in France.
At the tournament, Ronaldo scored four goals to fire his country to the final, where he and his teammates were then beaten 3-0 by home favourites France.
And his greatest moment came four years later, where ‘R9’ found the net a staggering eight times to land Brazil their fifth World Cup.
Ronaldo scored twice in the 2002 final, before rounding things off in 2006 with three more goals in 2006 to end his career with 15 World Cup goals.
- World Cups: Four – 1994 (no goals), 1998 (four goals), 2002 (eight goals), 2006 (three goals)
- Matches played: 19
16 goals – Miroslav Klose
The undisputed king of World Cup goalscoring, Germany icon Klose enjoyed multiple-goal hauls at four straight tournaments.
His legendary story began in Japan at the 2002 tournament, where he netted a hat-trick against Saudi Arabia, and never looked back.
After five goals in 2002, Klose scored another five at the 2006 World Cup to land the Golden Boot, before firing in four in South Africa in 2010.
And the striker enjoyed a fitting end to his international career, as he netted twice in Brazil in 2014 to help Germany triumph with their fourth World Cup title.
- World Cups: Four – 2002 (five goals), 2006 (five goals), 2010 (four goals), 2014 (two goals)
- Matches played: 24
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| 📰 Publicación: | talksport.com |
| ✍️ Autor: | Martha Riley |
| 📅 Fecha Original: | 2026-04-27 15:10:00 |
| 🔗 Enlace: | Ver artículo original |
Nota de transparencia: Este artículo ha sido traducido y adaptado del inglés al español para facilitar su comprensión. El contenido se mantiene fiel a la fuente original, disponible en el enlace proporcionado arriba.
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