Most Men’s World Cup goals of all time: Where Messi and Mbappé rank in history

Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé – two of the world’s biggest stars – scored a combined five goals on the same day on matchday six of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. With his first career World Cup hat trick, Messi tied Miroslav Klose for the most goals in men’s World Cup history with 16, while also setting the record for the oldest player (38) to record a hat trick, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo. Mbappé recorded a brace, taking him to 14 all-time World Cup goals, tied for fourth all-time. These two stars will look to break the record for this tournament. That being said, here are the players who have scored the most goals in World Cup history. Let’s take a look. T-1. Miroslave Klose (Germany): Age 16 Playing in four consecutive World Cups from 2002 to 2014, Klose scored in all four World Cup editions he played in and capped it all off by lifting the trophy in 2016. His 71 goals for Germany are also the most in the national team’s history. T-1. Lionel Messi (Argentina): 16 years old Messi has played in every World Cup since 2006 and scored in all but one (2010). He has scored seven goals in the 2022 World Cup and already has three in 2026. Messi is also Argentina’s all-time leading scorer with 120 to his name and also holds the record for most World Cup matches played with 27. 3. Ronaldo (Brazil): 15 Many consider Ronaldo to be the greatest striker of all time, as he has scored over 350 goals for club and 62 for Brazil. Fifteen of those international goals came at the World Cup, en route to the 1998 tournament’s Golden Ball and the 2002 Golden Boot. T-4. Kylian Mbappé (France): 14 Mbappé has scored 14 goals in just 15 World Cup matches during his career. As a 19-year-old in 2018, he scored four goals for France, helping them win their first title since 1998, then he scored eight goals in 2022, including scoring the second hat-trick in a World Cup final against Argentina. T-4. Gerd Müller (Germany): 14 Arguably the greatest Bundesliga goalscorer of all time, Müller scored 10 goals in 1970, then four more in 1974 during Germany’s title run. He was Germany’s all-time top scorer with 68 goals until Klose overtook him. 6. Just Fontaine (France): 13 Fontaine has one of the most incredible statistics in World Cup history, as his 13 goals came in the 1958 edition of the tournament – ​​the record for the most goals scored by a player in a single World Cup. It’s been 68 years since he set this record, and no one has come close to beating it. 7. Pelé (Brazil): 12th The great Pelé scored in all four of his World Cup appearances from 1958 to 1970 and won three titles with Brazil during that period. He notably scored in the final in 1958, becoming the youngest to do so, at just 17 years old. T-8. Jürgen Klinsmann (Germany): 11 Klinsmann scored in three consecutive World Cups from 1990 to 1998, helping Germany win the trophy in 1990. His 47 goals for Germany in total place him tied for fourth in national team history. T-8. Sándor Kocsis (Hungary): 11 Kocsis’ 11 goals all came in 1954, when his Hungarian team scored 27 in five matches before losing in the final to West Germany. He is the only player to have reached a double-digit score at a World Cup, with Fontaine and Müller. Seven players have exactly 10 World Cup goals: Helmut Rahn (Germany), Gary Lineker (England), Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina), Teófilo Cubillas (Peru), Thomas Müller (Germany) and Grzegorz Lato (Poland).