Who is the top scorer in FIFA World Cup history?
by Alex Sarwar ·
Updated
The FIFA World Cup is known for its plethora of iconic goalscorers who have lit up the competition across their respective international careers.
But who currently stands along as the top goalscorer across the history of this iconic tournament?
Here's a look at the present list of top scorers in the men's FIFA World Cup:
GOALS | PLAYER | NATION |
|---|---|---|
22 | Kylian Mbappe | France |
21 | Lionel Messi | Argentina |
16 | Miroslav Klose | Germany |
15 | Ronaldo | Brazil |
14 | Harry Kane | England |
14 | Gerd Muller | West Germany |
13 | Just Fontaine | France |
12 | Pele | Brazil |
11 | Jurgen Klinsmann | Germany |
11 | Sandor Kocsis | Hungary |
11 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal |
10 | Gabriel Batistuta | Argentina |
10 | Teofilo Cubillas | Peru |
10 | Grzegorz Lato | Poland |
10 | Gary Lineker | England |
10 | Thomas Muller | Germany |
10 | Helmut Rahn | Germany |
Kylian Mbappe became the outright top scorer in FIFA World Cup history in July 2026, with two goals against England in the third-place playoff at FIFA World Cup 2026.
Having already scored against Senegal, Iraq, Paraguay and Morocco over the course of the tournament, Mbappe came into the third-place playoff game one goal behind Argentina's Lionel Messi. His brace took the Frenchman's overall tally to 22, with ten of those coming during FIFA World Cup 2026.
Earlier in the competition, Lionel Messi had become the FIFA World Cup's all-time top scorer. Messi moved clear of German striker Miroslav Klose with his first of two goals against Austria at FIFA World Cup 2026. He had already registered three goals earlier in the group stage with a hat-trick vs Algeria, which came 20 years to the days since his first goal in the competition.
Since then, Messi managed to extend his FIFA World Cup goal tally to 21 and found the net at least once in each of Argentina's first five FIFA World Cup 2026 matches in their run to the final.
Brazilian legend Pele ended his career with 12 FIFA World Cup goals with half of those scored in 1958. Meanwhile, a couple of other World Cup legends registered nine goals in the tournament, such as Portugal's Eusebio and Jairzinho, also of Brazil.
Pele's total has since been exceeded by England's Harry Kane. The Three Lions' record goalscorer registered six goals at FIFA World Cup 2026, thus extending his overall number in the competition to 14 goals, level with Gerd Muller.
