Most goals in World Cup history: Where Messi, Mbappe and more rank among FIFA's top scorers all time
Most goals in World Cup history: Where Messi, Mbappe and more rank among FIFA’s top scorers all time originally appeared on The Sporting News.
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The 2026 edition of the World Cup is well underway, and the world’s best are back out on the pitch for another chase at the trophy.
Throughout history, a handful of players have separated themselves from the rest of the pack as top goalscorers in the tournament. Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi are the active players in the top 10 of the leaderboard suiting up for the 2026 World Cup.
It is worth looking at how Mbappe and Messi stack up across the tournament’s history. Who has more World Cup goals, the Frenchman or the “Little Boy From Rosario”?
Here’s a list of the players with their names on the scoresheet the most times in World Cup history.
2026 WORLD CUP HQ:Latest World Cup news | Full World Cup schedule | Buy World Cup tickets
Most goals in World Cup history
| Rank | Player | Country | Goals | Matches | Tournaments (WC wins in bold) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Miroslav Klose | Germany | 16 | 24 | 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 |
| T1 | Lionel Messi* | Argentina | 16 | 27 | 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022, 2026 |
| 2. | Ronaldo | Brazil | 15 | 19 | 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006 |
| T3 | Gerd Muller | West Germany | 14 | 13 | 1970, 1974 |
| T3 | Kylian Mbappe* | France | 14 | 15 | 2018, 2022, 2026 |
| 5 | Just Fontaine | France | 13 | 26 | 1958 |
| 7. | Pele | Brazil | 12 | 14 | 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970 |
| T8. | Sandor Kocsis | Hungary | 11 | 5 | 1954 |
| T8. | Jurgen Klinsmann | West Germany/Germany | 11 | 17 | 1990, 1994, 1998 |
| T10. | Helmut Rahn | West Germany | 10 | 10 | 1954, 1958 |
| T10 | Gary Lineker | England | 10 | 12 | 1986, 1990 |
| T10 | Gabriel Batistuta | Argentina | 10 | 12 | 1994, 1998, 2002 |
| T10 | Teofilo Cubillas | Peru | 10 | 13 | 1970, 1978, 1982 |
| T10 | Thomas Muller | Germany | 10 | 19 | 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 |
| T10 | Grzegorz Lato | Poland | 10 | 20 | 1974, 1978, 1982 |
Key: * signifies an active player, year in bold means a World Cup won
MORE WORLD CUP NEWS:
- Ranking World Cup groups from hardest to easiest
- 10 World Cup teams with best chance to win
- Ranking 7 best matches of the World Cup
How many World Cup goals does Mbappe have?
- 14 goals (2018, 2022, 2026)
Mbappe put his 13th goal in the back of the net during France’s 2026 World Cup opener against Senegal. Despite being only 27 years old, Mbappe has already established himself as one of France’s all-time greats with a French-record 57 goals through 99 international games, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Here is Mbappe’s first goal against Senegal that moved him up the all-time World Cup goalscorer leaderboard:
MAGIC MBAPPÉ 🇫🇷
He scores his first goal of the 2026 FIFA World Cup for France pic.twitter.com/HcLPFkkp4X
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 16, 2026
In stoppage time, Mbappé added his second goal of the game and moved ahead of Olivier Giroud to become France’s all-time leading international goalscorer with 58 goals. The strike was a rocket past Edouard Mendy and into the upper corner, putting France up 3-1 and ending any chance Senegal had of mounting a comeback.
Here is Mbappe’s history-making goal:
Absolute GOLAZO from Mbappé! 🇫🇷
Kylian Mbappé is now France’s ALL-TIME leading goalscorer pic.twitter.com/5phfectcIY
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 16, 2026
How many World Cup goals does Messi have?
- 13 goals (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022)
Heading into the 2026 World Cup, Messi has scored 13 goals across his five tournament campaigns. In 2022, Messi finally got to hoist that elusive World Cup trophy with his country, which officially immortalized him in soccer history, if he wasn’t already there. In the final match against France, Messi added two goals to his final tally and stretched his 2022 tournament total to a whopping seven goals.
Here is Messi’s most recent World Cup goal with Argentina:
How many World Cup goals does Ronaldo have?
- 8 goals (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022)
Through five previous editions of the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored eight times. The Portuguese forward’s tournament goal total is currently tied for 26th on the all-time list, a mark he shares with Diego Maradona, Brazil’s Neymar, and England’s Harry Kane. All eight of Ronaldo’s goals have come in the group stage; the Saudi League star is still vying for his first goal in the knockout stages heading into the 2026 World Cup.
In 2022, Ronaldo became the first male player to score in five separate World Cup tournaments after slotting a penalty kick in Ghana’s net. Here are multiple fan angles of his most recent World Cup goal:
