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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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FIFA World Cup Top Goalscorers

A total of over 2,700 goals have been scored in games at the Men's 22 final tournaments of the FIFA World Cup, not counting penalties scored during shoot-outs. Since the first goal scored by French player Lucien Laurent at the 1930 FIFA World Cup, almost 1,300 footballers have scored goals at the World Cup tournaments, of whom 101 have scored five or more.

Numbers of goalscorers
Goals ≥11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Total
Nos. of players 9 6 10 9 7 25 35 >50 >90 >200 >750 >1,250

The top goalscorer of the inaugural competition was Argentina's Guillermo Stábile with eight goals. Since then, only 25 players have scored more at all the games played at the World Cup than Stábile did throughout the 1930 tournament. The first was Hungary's Sándor Kocsis with eleven in 1954. At the next tournament, France's Just Fontaine improved on this record with 13 goals in only six games. Gerd Müller scored 10 for West Germany in 1970 and broke the overall record when he scored his 14th goal in a tournament match at a World Cup during West Germany's win in the 1974 final. His record stood for more than three decades until Ronaldo's 15 goals between 1998 and 2006 for Brazil. Germany's Miroslav Klose went on to score a record 16 goals across four consecutive tournaments between 2002 and 2014.

Of all the players who have played in the World Cup tournaments, only six have achieved an average of two goals or more per game played: Kocsis, Fontaine, Stábile, Russia's Oleg Salenko, Switzerland's Josef Hügi, and Poland's Ernst Wilimowski — the last of these scored four in his single World Cup game in 1938. The top 101 goalscorers have represented 30 nations, with 14 players scoring for Brazil, and another 14 for Germany or West Germany. In total, 67 footballers came from UEFA (Europe), 30 from CONMEBOL (South America), and only four from elsewhere: Cameroon, Ghana, Australia, and the United States.

Fontaine holds the record for the most goals scored in a single tournament, with 13 goals in 1958. The players that came closest were Kocsis in 1954, Müller in 1970 and Portugal's Eusébio in 1966, with 11, 10 and 9, respectively. The lowest scoring top scorer was in 1962, when six players tied at only four goals each. Across the 22 tournaments of the World Cup, 31 footballers have been credited with the most tournament goals, and no one has achieved this feat twice. Ten of them scored at least seven goals in a tournament, while Brazil's Jairzinho and Argentina's Lionel Messi were the only footballers to score at least seven goals without being the top goalscorer of the tournament in 1970 and 2022, respectively. These 31 top goalscorers played for 20 nations, the most (five) for Brazil. Another five came from other South American countries, with the remaining 21 coming from Europe.

In 2006, Ronaldo was the first to score 8 goals in knockout matches (excluding 3rd place playoff) at the World Cup in his 3 tournaments for Brazil, tied in 2022 by Kylian Mbappé. Mbappé became the first player to score 4 goals in World Cup finals with his hat-trick in 2022.

Overall top goalscorers

Ronaldo in black suit
Ronaldo ranks second among players with the most goals, scoring 15, including two in the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final.
Among players still active at international level, Lionel Messi has the most goals at FIFA World Cups, with 13 goals to his name, including two in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Final.
Gary Lineker is the top goalscorer for England with ten
Grzegorz Lato (left) during the 1974 World Cup became the top goalscorer of Poland with ten
Teófilo Cubillas is the top goalscorer for Peru with ten
Eusébio holds the record for most goals in the history of the World Cup for Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo with 8 goals is the only male player to score in five World Cup tournaments group stages
Asamoah Gyan, with six goals for Ghana, is the only player outside of Europe or South America to score more than five goals at the World Cup
Table key
Denotes national top scorers (or joint top scorers) at the World Cup
# Denotes players still active at international level
[ ] Denotes tournaments where the player was part of the squad, but did not play in a match
( ) Denotes tournaments where the player played in a match, but did not score a goal
Denotes tournaments where the player's team won the World Cup
Players with at least 5 goals at the FIFA World Cup tournaments
Rank Player Team Goals
scored
Matches
played
Goals
per
match
Tournaments Notes
1 Miroslav Klose  Germany 16 24 0.67 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 list
2 Ronaldo  Brazil 15 19 0.79 [1994], 1998, 2002, 2006 list
3 Gerd Müller  West Germany 14 13 1.08 1970, 1974 list
4 Just Fontaine  France 13 6 2.17 1958 list
Lionel Messi  Argentina 26 0.50 2006, (2010), 2014, 2018, 2022 list
6 Pelé  Brazil 12 14 0.86 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970 list
Kylian Mbappé  France 14 0.86 2018, 2022 list
8 Sándor Kocsis  Hungary 11 5 2.20 1954 list
Jürgen Klinsmann  West Germany
 Germany
17 0.65 1990
1994, 1998
list
10 Helmut Rahn  West Germany 10 10 1.00 1954, 1958 list
Gary Lineker  England 12 0.83 1986, 1990 list
Gabriel Batistuta  Argentina 12 0.83 1994, 1998, 2002 list
Teófilo Cubillas  Peru 13 0.77 1970, 1978, (1982) list
Thomas Müller  Germany 19 0.53 2010, 2014, (2018), (2022) list
Grzegorz Lato  Poland 20 0.50 1974, 1978, 1982 list
16 Ademir  Brazil 9 6 1.50 1950 list
Eusébio  Portugal 6 1.50 1966 list
Christian Vieri  Italy 9 1.00 1998, 2002 list
Vavá  Brazil 10 0.90 1958, 1962
David Villa  Spain 12 0.75 2006, 2010, 2014 list
Paolo Rossi  Italy 14 0.64 1978, 1982, [1986] list
Jairzinho  Brazil 16 0.56 (1966), 1970, 1974 list
Roberto Baggio  Italy 16 0.56 1990, 1994, 1998 list
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge  West Germany 19 0.47 1978, 1982, 1986 list
Uwe Seeler  West Germany 21 0.43 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970
26 Guillermo Stábile  Argentina 8 4 2.00 1930 list
Leônidas  Brazil 5 1.60 1934, 1938 list
Óscar Míguez  Uruguay 7 1.14 1950, 1954
Harry Kane  England 11 0.73 2018, 2022 list
Neymar  Brazil 13 0.62 2014, 2018, 2022 list
Rivaldo  Brazil 14 0.57 1998, 2002 list
Rudi Völler  West Germany
 Germany
15 0.53 1986, 1990
1994
list
Diego Maradona  Argentina 21 0.38 1982, 1986, (1990), 1994 list
Cristiano Ronaldo  Portugal 22 0.36 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 list
35 Oldřich Nejedlý  Czechoslovakia 7 6 1.17 1934, 1938
Lajos Tichy  Hungary 8 0.88 1958, 1962, [1966] list
Careca  Brazil 9 0.78 1986, 1990
Johnny Rep  Netherlands 13 0.54 1974, 1978
Andrzej Szarmach  Poland 13 0.54 1974, 1978, 1982
Hans Schäfer  West Germany 15 0.47 1954, 1958, (1962)
Luis Suárez  Uruguay 16 0.44 2010, 2014, 2018, (2022) list
42 Josef Hügi   Switzerland 6 3 2.00 1954
Oleg Salenko  Russia 3 2.00 1994 list
György Sárosi  Hungary 5 1.20 1934, 1938
Max Morlock  West Germany 5 1.20 1954
Erich Probst  Austria 5 1.20 1954
Enner Valencia  Ecuador 6 1.00 2014, 2022 list
Salvatore Schillaci  Italy 7 0.86 1990 list
Davor Šuker  Yugoslavia
 Croatia
8 0.75 [1990],
1998, (2002)
list
James Rodríguez  Colombia 8 0.75 2014, (2018) list
Helmut Haller  West Germany 9 0.67 (1962), 1966, (1970)
Hristo Stoichkov  Bulgaria 10 0.60 1994, (1998) list
Diego Forlán  Uruguay 10 0.60 2002, 2010, (2014) list
Asamoah Gyan  Ghana 11 0.55 2006, 2010, 2014 list
Dennis Bergkamp  Netherlands 12 0.50 1994, 1998 list
Rob Rensenbrink  Netherlands 13 0.46 1974, 1978
Rivellino  Brazil 15 0.40 1970, 1974, (1978)
Bebeto  Brazil 15 0.40 (1990), 1994, 1998 list
Arjen Robben  Netherlands 15 0.40 2006, 2010, 2014 list
Zbigniew Boniek  Poland 16 0.38 1978, 1982, (1986) list
Thierry Henry  France 17 0.35 1998, (2002), 2006, (2010) list
Robin van Persie  Netherlands 17 0.35 2006, 2010, 2014 list
Wesley Sneijder  Netherlands 17 0.35 (2006), 2010, 2014 list
Ivan Perišić  Croatia 17 0.35 2014, 2018, 2022 list
Mario Kempes  Argentina 18 0.33 (1974), 1978, (1982) list
Lothar Matthäus  West Germany
 Germany
25 0.24 (1982), 1986, 1990
1994, (1998)
67 Pedro Cea  Uruguay 5 4 1.25 1930 list
Silvio Piola  Italy 4 1.25 1938
Gyula Zsengellér  Hungary 4 1.25 1938
Peter McParland  Northern Ireland 5 1.00 1958 list
Tomáš Skuhravý  Czechoslovakia 5 1.00 1990
Juan Alberto Schiaffino  Uruguay 6 0.83 1950, 1954
Geoff Hurst  England 6 0.83 1966, 1970 list
Jon Dahl Tomasson  Denmark 6 0.83 2002, 2010 list
Alessandro Altobelli  Italy 7 0.71 1982, 1986
Kennet Andersson  Sweden 7 0.71 1994 list
Fernando Morientes  Spain 7 0.71 1998, 2002 list
Romário  Brazil 8 0.63 (1990), 1994 list
Marc Wilmots  Belgium 8 0.63 [1990], (1994), 1998, 2002 list
Mario Mandžukić  Croatia 8 0.63 2014, 2018 list
Valentin Ivanov  Soviet Union 9 0.56 1958, 1962 list
Emilio Butragueño  Spain 9 0.56 1986, (1990) list
Roger Milla  Cameroon 9 0.56 (1982), 1990, 1994
Tim Cahill  Australia 9 0.56 2006, 2010, 2014, (2018) list
Hans Krankl  Austria 10 0.50 1978, 1982 list
Raúl  Spain 11 0.45 1998, 2002, 2006 list
Garrincha  Brazil 12 0.42 (1958), 1962, 1966
Johan Neeskens  Netherlands 12 0.42 1974, (1978)
Fernando Hierro  Spain 12 0.42 [1990], 1994, 1998, 2002 list
Zinedine Zidane  France 12 0.42 1998, (2002), 2006
Landon Donovan  United States 12 0.42 2002, (2006), 2010 list
Romelu Lukaku  Belgium 12 0.42 2014, 2018, (2022) list
Xherdan Shaqiri   Switzerland 12 0.42 (2010), 2014, 2018, 2022 list
Henrik Larsson  Sweden 13 0.38 1994, 2002, 2006 list
Michel Platini  France 14 0.36 1978, 1982, 1986
Zico  Brazil 14 0.36 1978, 1982, (1986)
Gonzalo Higuaín  Argentina 14 0.36 2010, 2014, (2018) list
Lukas Podolski  Germany 15 0.33 2006, 2010, (2014) list
Edinson Cavani  Uruguay 17 0.29 2010, 2014, 2018, (2022) list
Franz Beckenbauer  West Germany 18 0.28 1966, 1970, (1974) list
Olivier Giroud  France 18 0.28 2014, (2018), 2022 list

Timeline

Leônidas in 1940, posing for camera with hand at his waist.
Leônidas scored a record 8 goals for Brazil at the 1934 and 1938 FIFA World Cups.
Portrait photograph of Ademir de Menezes
Ademir scored a record 9 goals for Brazil at the 1950 FIFA World Cup.
Sándor Kocsis, dressed in formal jacket and tie.
Sándor Kocsis was the first player to have scored 10 or more goals in an edition. He scored a record 11 goals in just 5 matches.
Just Fontaine in 1971, dressed in formal dress
Just Fontaine scored a record 13 goals at the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
Key
Goal set a new record
Goal equalled the existing record
Progressive list of footballers that have held the record for most goals scored at the FIFA World Cup final tournaments
Goals Date Player Team Goal Opponent Score Tournament & Stage Previous goals Ref
1 13 July 1930 Lucien Laurent  France 1–0 Mexico 4–1 1930, Uruguay
Group stage
N/A
Bart McGhee  United States 1–0 Belgium 3–0
Marcel Langiller  France 2–0 Mexico 4–1
André Maschinot  France 3–0 Mexico 4–1
Tom Florie  United States 2–0 Belgium 3–0
Bert Patenaude  United States 3–0 Belgium 3–0
Juan Carreño  Mexico 1–3 France 1–4
2 André Maschinot  France 4–1 Mexico 4–1
16 July 1930 Carlos Vidal  Chile 3–0 Mexico 3–0
  • 1930 vs Mexico
17 July 1930 Ivan Bek  Yugoslavia 1–0 Bolivia 4–0
3 3–0
Bert Patenaude  United States 2–0 Paraguay 3–0
  • 1930 vs Belgium, Paraguay
4 3–0
22 July 1930 Guillermo Stábile  Argentina 1–0 Chile 3–1
5 2–0
6 26 July 1930 3–0 United States 6–1 1930, Uruguay
Semi-final
7 6–0
8 30 July 1930 2–1 Uruguay 2–4 1930, Uruguay
Final
19 June 1938 Leônidas  Brazil 3–2 Sweden 4–2 1938, France
3rd place play-off
13 July 1950 Ademir  Brazil 1–0 Spain 6–1 1950, Brazil
Final round
9 5–0
27 June 1954 Sándor Kocsis  Hungary 4–2 Brazil 4–2 1954, Switzerland
Quarter-final
10 30 June 1954 3–2 Uruguay 4–2 1954, Switzerland
Semi-final
11 4–2
28 June 1958 Just Fontaine  France 3–1 West Germany 6–3 1958, Sweden
3rd place play-off
12 5–2
13 6–3
3 July 1974 Gerd Müller  West Germany 1–0 Poland 1–0 1974, West Germany
Second round
14 6 July 1974 2–1 Netherlands 2–1 1974, West Germany
Final
22 June 2006 Ronaldo  Brazil 4–1 Japan 4–1 2006, Germany
Group stage
15 27 June 2006 1–0 Ghana 3–0 2006, Germany
Round of 16
21 June 2014 Miroslav Klose  Germany 2–2 Ghana 2–2 2014, Brazil
Group stage
16 8 July 2014 2–0 Brazil 7–1 2014, Brazil
Semi-final

Top goalscorers for each tournament

Portrait photograph of Ademir de Menezes
Guillermo Stábile scored a record 8 goals for Argentina at the 1930 FIFA World Cup.
A portrait of Eusébio
Eusébio scored nine goals for Portugal at the 1966 World Cup.
Gerd Müller
Gerd Müller scored ten goals for West Germany at the 1970 World Cup.
Top goalscorers at each FIFA World Cup final tournament
World Cup Player Team Goals
scored
Matches
played
Golden
Boot
Other FIFA Awards
Uruguay 1930 Guillermo Stábile  Argentina 8 4 Yes Silver Ball
Italy 1934 Oldřich Nejedlý  Czechoslovakia 5 4 Yes Bronze Ball
France 1938 Leônidas  Brazil 7 4 Yes Golden Ball
Brazil 1950 Ademir  Brazil 9 6 Yes Bronze Ball
Switzerland 1954 Sándor Kocsis  Hungary 11 5 Yes Silver Ball
Sweden 1958 Just Fontaine  France 13 6 Yes Bronze Ball
Chile 1962 Garrincha  Brazil 4 6 Yes Golden Ball
Vavá  Brazil 6 Yes
Leonel Sánchez  Chile 6 Yes Bronze Ball
Flórián Albert  Hungary 3 Yes Best Young Player
Valentin Ivanov  Soviet Union 4 Yes
Dražan Jerković  Yugoslavia 6 Yes
England 1966 Eusébio  Portugal 9 6 Yes Bronze Ball
Mexico 1970 Gerd Müller  West Germany 10 6 Yes Best Young Player, Bronze Ball
West Germany 1974 Grzegorz Lato  Poland 7 7 Yes
Argentina 1978 Mario Kempes  Argentina 6 7 Yes Golden Ball
Spain 1982 Paolo Rossi  Italy 6 7 Yes Golden Ball
Mexico 1986 Gary Lineker  England 6 5 Yes
Italy 1990 Salvatore Schillaci  Italy 6 7 Yes Golden Ball
United States 1994 Hristo Stoichkov  Bulgaria 6 7 Yes Bronze Ball
Oleg Salenko  Russia 3 Yes
France 1998 Davor Šuker  Croatia 6 7 Yes Silver Ball
South Korea & Japan 2002 Ronaldo  Brazil 8 7 Yes Silver Ball
Germany 2006 Miroslav Klose  Germany 5 7 Yes
South Africa 2010 Thomas Müller  Germany 5 6 Yes Best Young Player
Wesley Sneijder  Netherlands 7 No Bronze Boot, Silver Ball
David Villa  Spain 7 No Silver Boot, Bronze Ball
Diego Forlán  Uruguay 7 No Golden Ball
Brazil 2014 James Rodríguez  Colombia 6 5 Yes
Russia 2018 Harry Kane  England 6 6 Yes
Qatar 2022 Kylian Mbappé  France 8 7 Yes Silver Ball

Goalscorers at multiple tournaments

Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player to have scored in five different World Cups. Four players, Uwe Seeler, Pelé, Miroslav Klose and Lionel Messi, have scored in four tournaments each, while another 35 have scored in three each.

In the table below players are listed in order of achieving their tallies.

Players who scored at 3 or more separate World Cups
Rank Player Team Tournaments
with
goals
Goals
scored
Matches
played
Goals
per
match
Tournaments
with goals
1 Cristiano Ronaldo  Portugal 5 8 22 0.36 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022
2 Uwe Seeler  West Germany 4 9 21 0.43 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970
Pelé  Brazil 12 14 0.86 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970
Miroslav Klose  Germany 16 24 0.67 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014
Lionel Messi  Argentina 13 26 0.50 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022
6 Grzegorz Lato  Poland 3 10 20 0.50 1974, 1978, 1982
Joe Jordan  Scotland 4 7 0.57 1974, 1978, 1982
Andrzej Szarmach  Poland 7 13 0.54 1974, 1978, 1982
Dominique Rocheteau  France 4 10 0.40 1978, 1982, 1986
Michel Platini  France 5 14 0.36 1978, 1982, 1986
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge  West Germany 9 19 0.47 1978, 1982, 1986
Diego Maradona  Argentina 8 21 0.38 1982, 1986, 1994
Rudi Völler  West Germany
 Germany
8 15 0.53 1986, 1990,
1994
Lothar Matthäus  West Germany
 Germany
6 25 0.24 1986, 1990,
1994
Roberto Baggio  Italy 9 16 0.56 1990, 1994, 1998
Jürgen Klinsmann  West Germany
 Germany
11 17 0.65 1990,
1994, 1998
Gabriel Batistuta  Argentina 10 12 0.83 1994, 1998, 2002
Fernando Hierro  Spain 5 12 0.42 1994, 1998, 2002
Sami Al-Jaber  Saudi Arabia 3 9 0.33 1994, 1998, 2006
Raúl  Spain 5 11 0.45 1998, 2002, 2006
Henrik Larsson  Sweden 5 13 0.38 1994, 2002, 2006
Ronaldo  Brazil 15 19 0.79 1998, 2002, 2006
David Beckham  England 3 13 0.23 1998, 2002, 2006
Park Ji-sung  South Korea 3 14 0.21 2002, 2006, 2010
Cuauhtémoc Blanco  Mexico 3 11 0.27 1998, 2002, 2010
Robin van Persie  Netherlands 6 17 0.35 2006, 2010, 2014
Arjen Robben  Netherlands 6 15 0.40 2006, 2010, 2014
Tim Cahill  Australia 5 9 0.56 2006, 2010, 2014
Clint Dempsey  United States 4 10 0.40 2006, 2010, 2014
Asamoah Gyan  Ghana 6 11 0.55 2006, 2010, 2014
David Villa  Spain 9 12 0.75 2006, 2010, 2014
Rafael Márquez  Mexico 3 19 0.16 2006, 2010, 2014
Luis Suárez  Uruguay 7 16 0.44 2010, 2014, 2018
Javier Hernández  Mexico 4 12 0.33 2010, 2014, 2018
Keisuke Honda  Japan 4 10 0.40 2010, 2014, 2018
Edinson Cavani  Uruguay 5 17 0.29 2010, 2014, 2018
Xherdan Shaqiri   Switzerland 5 12 0.42 2014, 2018, 2022
Ivan Perišić  Croatia 6 17 0.35 2014, 2018, 2022
Neymar  Brazil 8 13 0.62 2014, 2018, 2022
Ángel Di María  Argentina 3 18 0.17 2014, 2018, 2022

Top goalscorers in final matches

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

See also