List of FIFA World Cup top goalscorers

A total of over 2,700 goals have been scored in matches across the 22 final tournaments of the men's FIFA World Cup, not counting penalties scored during shoot-outs. Since the first goal scored by French player Lucien Laurent in 1930, nearly 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 World Cup goals in total than Stábile did during the 1930 tournament. The first to do so was Hungary's Sándor Kocsis, scoring eleven in 1954. At the following tournament, France's Just Fontaine improved on this record, recording thirteen goals in just six matches. Gerd Müller then scored ten goals for West Germany in 1970, before breaking the overall record when he scored his fourteenth World Cup goal during West Germany's win in the 1974 final. Müller's record stood for more than three decades, until Ronaldo recorded fifteen goals between 1998 and 2006 for Brazil. The record is currently held by Germany's Miroslav Klose, who went on to score a record sixteen goals across the four consecutive tournaments he played between 2002 and 2014.

Of all the players who have played at the World Cup, only six have achieved an average of two goals or more per match played: Kocsis, Fontaine, Stábile, Russia's Oleg Salenko, Switzerland's Josef Hügi, and Poland's Ernst Wilimowski — the latter of whom scored four in his only ever World Cup match, played 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 and Ghana from CAF (Africa), Australia from AFC (Asia) (formerly from OFC of Oceania), and the United States from CONCACAF (North/Central America).

Fontaine's thirteen goals in 1958 remains the record for the most scored in a single World Cup tournament. The players that came closest to this tally were Kocsis in 1954 (eleven goals), Müller in 1970 (ten goals), and Portugal's Eusébio in 1966 (nine goals). The top scorers with the fewest goals were from the 1962 tournament, when six players finished joint-top with just four goals each. Across the 22 tournaments of the World Cup, 31 footballers have been credited as the tournament top scorer, and no one has achieved this feat twice. Ten of these players scored at least seven goals in a tournament, while Brazil's Jairzinho in 1970 and Argentina's Lionel Messi in 2022 were the only footballers to record at least seven goals but still not finish as the tournament's top scorer. These 31 top goalscorers played for 20 nations, with the most (five) coming from Brazil. Another five came from other South American countries, with the remaining 21 coming from Europe.

In 2006, Ronaldo became the first player to score eight goals in knockout matches (excluding the third place play-off) at the World Cup, coming in his three tournaments for Brazil, a feat which would be equalled in 2022 by France's Kylian Mbappé. Mbappé himself became the first player to score four goals in World Cup final matches: he netted one in the 2018 final followed by a hat-trick in the 2022 final. England's Geoff Hurst is the only other player to record a hat-trick in a World Cup final, doing so in 1966.

Overall top goalscorers

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 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[broken anchor]
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)
list
67 Pedro Cea  Uruguay 5 4 1.25 1930 list
Silvio Piola  Italy 4 1.25 1938 list
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 list
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 list
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 list
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

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
  • 1930 vs Mexico
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
  • 1930 vs Brazil
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
  • 1930 vs Mexico (3)
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
  • 1934 vs Spain
  • 1938 vs Poland (3), Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovakia, Sweden
13 July 1950 Ademir  Brazil 1–0 Spain 6–1 1950, Brazil
Final round
  • 1950 vs Mexico (2), Yugoslavia, Sweden (4)
9 5–0
27 June 1954 Sándor Kocsis  Hungary 4–2 Brazil 4–2 1954, Switzerland
Quarter-final
  • 1954 vs South Korea (3), West Germany (4), Brazil
10 30 June 1954 3–2 Uruguay 4–2aet 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
  • 1958 vs Paraguay (3), Yugoslavia (2), Scotland,
    Northern Ireland (2), Brazil, West Germany
12 5–2
13 6–3
3 July 1974 Gerd Müller  West Germany 1–0 Poland 1–0 1974, West Germany
Second round
  • 1970 vs Morocco, Bulgaria (3), Peru (3), England, Italy (2)
  • 1974 vs Australia, Yugoslavia
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
  • 1998 vs Morocco, Chile (2), Netherlands
  • 2002 vs Turkey, China, Costa Rica (2), Belgium, Turkey, Germany (2)
  • 2006 vs Japan
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
  • 2002 vs Saudi Arabia (3), Ireland, Cameroon
  • 2006 vs Costa Rica (2), Ecuador (2), Argentina
  • 2010 vs Australia, England, Argentina (2)
16 8 July 2014 2–0 Brazil 7–1 2014, Brazil
Semi-final

Top goalscorers for each tournament

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 Silver Ball
Italy 1934 Oldřich Nejedlý  Czechoslovakia 5 4 Bronze Ball
France 1938 Leônidas  Brazil 7 4 Golden Ball
Brazil 1950 Ademir  Brazil 9 6 Bronze Ball
Switzerland 1954 Sándor Kocsis  Hungary 11 5 Silver Ball
Sweden 1958 Just Fontaine  France 13 6 Bronze Ball
Chile 1962 Garrincha  Brazil 4 6 Golden Ball
Vavá  Brazil 6
Leonel Sánchez  Chile 6 Bronze Ball
Flórián Albert  Hungary 3 Best Young Player
Valentin Ivanov  Soviet Union 4
Dražan Jerković  Yugoslavia 6
England 1966 Eusébio  Portugal 9 6 Bronze Ball
Mexico 1970 Gerd Müller  West Germany 10 6 Best Young Player, Bronze Ball
West Germany 1974 Grzegorz Lato  Poland 7 7
Argentina 1978 Mario Kempes  Argentina 6 7 Golden Ball
Spain 1982 Paolo Rossi  Italy 6 7 Golden Ball
Mexico 1986 Gary Lineker  England 6 5
Italy 1990 Salvatore Schillaci  Italy 6 7 Golden Ball
United States 1994 Hristo Stoichkov  Bulgaria 6 7 Bronze Ball
Oleg Salenko  Russia 3
France 1998 Davor Šuker  Croatia 6 7 Silver Ball
South Korea & Japan 2002 Ronaldo  Brazil 8 7 Silver Ball
Germany 2006 Miroslav Klose  Germany 5 7
South Africa 2010 Thomas Müller  Germany 5 6 Best Young Player
Wesley Sneijder  Netherlands 7 Bronze Boot, Silver Ball
David Villa  Spain 7 Silver Boot, Bronze Ball
Diego Forlán  Uruguay 7 Golden Ball
Brazil 2014 James Rodríguez  Colombia 6 5
Russia 2018 Harry Kane  England 6 6
Qatar 2022 Kylian Mbappé  France 8 7 Silver Ball

Goalscorers at multiple tournaments

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

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

Players who scored at 3 or more 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

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