World Cup all-time top scorers
See the FIFA World Cup all-time top scorers ranked by goals, matches, editions and scoring rate through 2022, with verified source notes and record context.
The table covers completed FIFA World Cups through 2022. Goals scored during penalty shootouts are not included in match goal totals.
| Rank | Player | Country | Goals | Matches | Goals per match | Editions | Best result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miroslav Klose | Germany | 16 | 24 | 0.67 | 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 | Winner, 2014 |
| 2 | Ronaldo Nazário | Brazil | 15 | 19 | 0.79 | 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006 | Winner, 1994 and 2002 |
| 3 | Gerd Müller | West Germany | 14 | 13 | 1.08 | 1970, 1974 | Winner, 1974 |
| 4 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 13 | 26 | 0.5 | 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 | Winner, 2022 |
| 4 | Just Fontaine | France | 13 | 6 | 2.17 | 1958 | Third place, 1958 |
| 6 | Kylian Mbappé | France | 12 | 14 | 0.86 | 2018, 2022 | Winner, 2018 |
| 6 | Pelé | Brazil | 12 | 14 | 0.86 | 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970 | Winner, 1958, 1962 and 1970 |
| 8 | Sándor Kocsis | Hungary | 11 | 5 | 2.2 | 1954 | Runner-up, 1954 |
| 8 | Jürgen Klinsmann | Germany | 11 | 17 | 0.65 | 1990, 1994, 1998 | Winner, 1990 |
| 10 | Helmut Rahn | West Germany | 10 | 10 | 1 | 1954, 1958 | Winner, 1954 |
| 10 | Gary Lineker | England | 10 | 12 | 0.83 | 1986, 1990 | Fourth place, 1990 |
| 10 | Gabriel Batistuta | Argentina | 10 | 12 | 0.83 | 1994, 1998, 2002 | Quarter-final, 1998 |
| 10 | Teófilo Cubillas | Peru | 10 | 13 | 0.77 | 1970, 1978, 1982 | Quarter-final, 1970 |
| 10 | Thomas Müller | Germany | 10 | 19 | 0.53 | 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 | Winner, 2014 |
| 10 | Grzegorz Lato | Poland | 10 | 20 | 0.5 | 1974, 1978, 1982 | Third place, 1974 and 1982 |
Related World Cup pages
- World Cup statistics hub — Records, appearance leaders and tournament rankings.
- Football player directory — Canonical profiles and World Cup pages for featured players.
- World Cup 2026 top scorers — Live leaderboard from the configured provider.
Data limitations
- Career totals for active players require a licensed live statistics provider and are not replaced by zero.
- Historical assist totals vary by provider because older tournaments used different attribution methods.
- Penalty shootout conversions are excluded from match goal totals.
- The 2026 leaderboard is loaded from the configured API endpoint and is never written inside a page component.