FIFA World Cup Top Scorers List
Every four years, the men’s FIFA World Cup attracts audiences from around the world. As the second most viewed sporting event in the World, the World Cup certainly attracts fans for all sorts of reasons. One of those many reasons is to see the world’s top players on the biggest stage, and, over the years, those top players have produced several top goal scoring performances. Below, the top goal scorers at each World Cup are listed, and a few of the most outstanding performances are discussed.
Who scored the most goals in the FIFA World Cup?
- 1930 FIFA World Cup - Guillermo Stábile (8 Goals)
- 1934 FIFA World Cup - Oldřich Nejedlý (5 Goals)
- 1938 FIFA World Cup - Leônidas (7 Goals)
- 1950 FIFA World Cup - Ademir (9 Goals)
- 1954 FIFA World Cup - Sándor Kocsis (11 Goals)
- 1958 FIFA World Cup - Just Fontaine (13 Goals)
- 1962 FIFA World Cup - Garrincha (4 Goals), Vavá (4 Goals), Leonel Sánchez (4 Goals), Flórián Albert (4 Goals), Valentin Ivanov (4 Goals), Dražan Jerković (4 Goals)
- 1966 FIFA World Cup - Eusébio (9 Goals)
- 1970 FIFA World Cup - Gerd Müller (10 Goals)
- 1974 FIFA World Cup - Grzegorz Lato (7 Goals)
- 1978 FIFA World Cup - Mario Kempes (6 Goals)
- 1982 FIFA World Cup - Paolo Rossi (6 Goals)
- 1986 FIFA World Cup - Gary Lineker (6 Goals)
- 1990 FIFA World Cup - Salvatore Schillaci (6 Goals)
- 1994 FIFA World Cup - Hristo Stoichkov (6 Goals), Oleg Salenko (6 Goals)
- 1998 FIFA World Cup - Davor Šuker (6 Goals)
- 2002 FIFA World Cup - Ronaldo (8 Goals)
- 2006 FIFA World Cup - Miroslav Klose (5 Goals)
- 2010 FIFA World Cup - Thomas Müller (5 Goals), Wesley Sneijder (5 Goals), David Villa (5 Goals), Diego Forlán (5 Goals)
- 2014 FIFA World Cup - James Rodríguez (6 Goals)
- 2018 FIFA World Cup - Harry Kane (6 Goals)
- 2022 FIFA World Cup - Kylian Mbappe (8 Goals)
Top Performances
Without a doubt, one of the most impressive performances in the history of the World Cup is the six-match run of Frenchman Just Fontaine at the 1958 tournament in Sweden. That year, Just Fontaine scored an incredible thirteen goals, a record that still stands to this day for the most goals scored in a single World Cup. He scored at least one goal in all six matches he played, including a hat trick in the opening game against Paraguay and a four-goal performance in the match that took France to third place. In fact, even though this was the only World Cup he participated in, Fontaine still ranks fourth on the all-time World Cup goals list. For context, the three players ranked ahead of him all played at least thirteen matches, while he played in just six. After Fontaine, the only two players to score at least ten goals at one World Cup are Sándor Kocsis (11) in 1954 and Gerd Müller (10) in 1970.
FAQ
Which Player Scored the Most Goals in One World Cup?
The player who holds the record for the most goals scored at a single World Cup is Frenchman Just Fontaine. Fontaine scored a record thirteen goals at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, scoring at least once in all six matches he played. The player with the second most goals at a single World Cup is Sándor Kocsis, who had scored eleven at the tournament prior in 1954.
Which Player has Scored the Most World Cup Goals of All-Time?
The player with the most World Cup goals scored of all-time is German Miroslav Klose, who scored sixteen goals between the four World Cups he played in (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014). Klose scored his sixteen goals in twenty-four matches played, meaning he averaged about 0.67 goals per match. After Klose, Ronaldo from Brazil has the second most goals scored with fifteen.