Most goals in World Cup history: List of all-time top scorers in FIFA men's soccer tournament

At one time or another, most of the greatest goalscorers of all time have brought their abilities to bear at the FIFA World Cup.

The 2026 tournament in North America will once again bring Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to the biggest stage, perhaps for the final time.

Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane are other leading superstars with superb international records, but the World Cup's leading scorer charts are also a place where a cult hero can sit comfortably.

As Messi and Ronaldo contest their record sixth tournaments, where do they and other giants of the game sit in the list of all-time top scorers at the World Cup?

MORE: Ranking the 11 greatest FIFA World Cup tournaments by an individual player

Who is the all-time top scorer in World Cup history?

Germany striker Miroslav Klose is the leading scorer in World Cup history, with 16 goals across four tournaments.

Die Mannschaft have had more celebrated strikers, such as Gerd Muller and Jurgen Klinsmann, who also feature on this list. Former Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich and Lazio striker Klose was never considered among the leading strikers in the world during a long and distinguished playing career.

But he proved to be a major tournament specialist, beginning with a hat-trick on his tournament debut against Saudi Arabia in 2002 and signing off with World Cup glory in 2014, having netted his 16th and final tournament goal in Germany's 7-1 semifinal rout of hosts Brazil.

List of all-time top scorers at the World Cup

* denotes player playing at 2026 World Cup

It took Klose past Brazilian great Ronaldo, whose brace to down Germany in the 2002 final was part of a 15-goal haul.

After Muller in third are Just Fontaine and Lionel Messi, who took contrasting routes to 13 goals. France's Fontaine scored all of his at one World Cup in 1958. Even considering this year's expanded format, his single-tournament scoring record is likely to be preserved for posterity.

Messi took five tournaments to reach 13 goals and across 26 matches, and his goals-per-game ratio of 0.5 is the joint-lowest of anyone on the list alongside Poland's Grzegorz Lato (10 in 20 across three tournaments). 

After finally scaling his remaining career mountain to lift the trophy in 2022, Messi is back for more in 2026 and is likely to climb higher up the rankings.

He could even surpass Klose, something that will definitely be on Kylian Mbappe's mind after his 2022 final hat-trick took him on to 12 career World Cup goals, level with Pele in two fewer tournament appearances.

How many World Cup goals has Cristiano Ronaldo scored?

Despite being the all-time leading international scorer, with an astonishing 143 heading into the 2026 World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo only has eight goals to his name across five World Cups. The same number as Argentina icon Diego Maradona.

Ronaldo will hope to break into the leading bunch and hit double figures as Portugal look to go deep in North America.

England captain Harry Kane and Brazil's Neymar also have eight apiece and could finish the 2026 tournament among the all-time leaders.