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List of FIFA World Cup top goalscorers

List of FIFA World Cup top goalscorers

Men's FIFA World Cup top goalscorers

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2026-01-26Peak: 1,7562026-02-24
30-day total: 41,448

Key Takeaways

  • 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.
  • The top goalscorer of the inaugural competition was Argentina's Guillermo Stábile, with eight goals.
  • The first to do so was Hungary's Sándor Kocsis, scoring eleven in 1954.
  • 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.
  • 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.

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.

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.

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