Who Is The World Cup's All-Time Top Goalscorer?

Hassan Mohammed takes a look at the most prolific goalscorers in the history of the World Cup. Miroslav Klose is the all-time top goalscorer in the World Cup’s history with 16 goals to his name in 24 matches. The German forward made his World Cup debut in 2002 and went on to represent his country until the 2014 Brazil World Cup, winning the Golden Boot in 2006 in the process.

Before Klose, Brazil’s legendary striker Ronaldo was at the top of the charts with 15 goals in 19 matches, spread out over four World Cups. The iconic attacker won the Golden Boot in 2002, scoring eight times as Brazil emerged victorious.

Klose surpassed Ronaldo in the 2014 World Cup semi-final against Brazil in Germany’s 7-1 win over the hosts. Ronaldo is followed by another Germany legend in Gerd Muller, who scored 14 goals in just two editions of the tournament (1970 and 1974).

He along with Just Fontaine and Sandor Kocsis are the only players to have scored 10 or more World Cup goals in just one edition of the competition. Brazil’s great Pele is the fifth-highest goalscorer of all time in the World Cup, scoring 12 goals in four editions, but surprisingly never winning the Golden Boot.

Germany and Bayern Munich star Thomas Muller is the only still active player to have netted 10 or more goals in the World Cup. Muller has played in three editions so far, but has managed to score in only two of them.

World Cup all-time top goal scorers

Pos	Player	Team	Goals	Matches
1	Miroslav Klose	Germany	16	24
2	Ronaldo	Brazil	15	19
3	Gerd Muller	West Germany	14	13
4	Just Fontaine	France	13	6
=4	Lionel Messi	Argentina	13	26
6	Pele	Brazil	12	14
=6	Kylian Mbappe	France	12	14
8	Sandor Kocsis	Hungary	11	5
=8	Jurgen Klinsmann	West Germany	11	17
10	Helmut Rahn	West Germany	10	10
=10	Gary Lineker	England	10	12
=12	Gabriel Batistuta	Argentina	10	12
=12	Teofilo Cubillas	Peru	10	13
=12	Thomas Muller	Germany	10	18
=12	Grzegorz Lato	Poland	10	20