A total of over 2,700 goals have been scored in matches across the 22 final tournaments of the men'sFIFA World Cup, not counting penalties scored duringshoot-outs.[1] Since the first goal scored byFrench playerLucien Laurent in1930,[2] nearly 1,300 footballers have scored goals at the World Cup tournaments,[3] of whom 101 have scored five or more.
The top goalscorer of the inaugural competition wasArgentina'sGuillermo 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 wasHungary'sSándor Kocsis, scoring eleven in1954. At thefollowing tournament, France'sJust Fontaine improved on this record, recording thirteen goals in just six matches.Gerd Müller then scored ten goals forWest Germany in1970, before breaking the overall record when he scored his fourteenth World Cup goal during West Germany's win in the1974 final. Müller's record stood for more than three decades, untilRonaldo recorded fifteen goals between1998 and2006 forBrazil. The record is currently held by Germany'sMiroslav Klose, who went on to score a record sixteen goals across the four consecutive tournaments he played between2002 and2014.
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'sOleg Salenko,Switzerland'sJosef Hügi, andPoland'sErnst Wilimowski — the latter of whom scored four in hisonly ever World Cup match, played in 1938.[5] 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 fromUEFA (Europe), 30 fromCONMEBOL (South America), and only four from elsewhere:Cameroon andGhana fromCAF (Africa),Australia fromAFC (Asia) (formerly fromOFC of Oceania), and theUnited States fromCONCACAF (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), andPortugal'sEusébio in1966 (nine goals). The top scorers with the fewest goals were from the1962 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'sJairzinho in 1970 and Argentina'sLionel 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'sKylian Mbappé.[6] Mbappé himself became the first player to score four goals inWorld Cup final matches: he netted one in the2018 final followed by ahat-trick in the2022 final. England'sGeoff Hurst is the only other player to record a hat-trick in a World Cup final, doing so in1966.
Ronaldo ranks second among players with the most goals at the World Cup, scoring fifteen, including two in the2002 final.Among players still active at international level,Lionel Messi has the most goals at FIFA World Cups, with thirteen goals to his name, including two in the2022 final.Gary Lineker is the top scorer for England at the World Cup, with ten goals.Grzegorz Lato (left) became the top scorer for Poland at FIFA World Cups during the1974 tournament, with ten total goals.Teófilo Cubillas is the top scorer for Peru at the World Cup, with ten goals.Cristiano Ronaldo is the only male player to score in five World Cup tournaments.With six goals for Ghana,Asamoah Gyan 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 FIFA World Cup tournaments[5][7][8]
Leônidas scored a record eight World Cup goals for Brazil, coming at the 1934 and 1938 tournaments.Ademir scored a record nine World Cup goals for Brazil, all coming at the 1950 tournament.Sándor Kocsis was the first player to score ten or more goals in a single World Cup: he scored a record eleven goals in just five matches for Hungary during the 1954 tournament.Just Fontaine scored a record thirteen World Cup goals for France, all coming at the 1958 tournament.
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
Guillermo Stábile scored a then-record eight goals for Argentina at the 1930 World Cup.Eusébio scored nine goals for Portugal at the 1966 World Cup.Gerd Müller scored ten goals for West Germany at the 1970 World Cup.
Top goalscorers at each FIFA World Cup final tournament[126][127][128]
^Outside this list isErnst Wilimowski of Poland, the player with the highest goals-to-games ratio in the World Cup. His ratio is 4.00 as he scored four goals inhis only World Cup appearance, in 1938.[9]
^There was a controversy regarding the number of goals scored byAdemir in 1950 because of incomplete data from the final group round game againstSpain, that ended in a 6–1 victory forBrazil. The first Brazilian goal was credited as own goal and the fifth was credited toJair,[26] but both are now credited to Ademir.[27]
^FIFA initially creditedLeônidas with eight goals in the1938 tournament, but in November 2006, FIFA revised it to seven (he scored one additional goal in the1934 tournament).[39]
^FIFA initially credited Nejedlý with only four goals in 1934. However, FIFA changed it to five goals in November 2006, meaning he scored a total of seven goals overall (he scored two goals in 1938).[39]
^"More goals than caps". FIFA. 3 June 2009. Archived fromthe original on 8 April 2018. Retrieved18 August 2018.The Golden Shoe may have eluded Ernest Wilimowski, but he does boast the best goals-to-games ratio in World Cup history at 400 per cent. Indeed, in his solitary appearance – an unforgettable match at France 1938 – he scored four of Poland's goals in a 6-5 defeat by Brazil in the first round.
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Portugal
West Germany
Brazil
Argentina
Poland
Scotland
France
Italy
Spain
Saudi Arabia
Sweden
Brazil
England
South Korea
Mexico
Netherlands
Australia
United States
Ghana
Uruguay
Japan
Switzerland
Croatia
Brazil
Italy
