The FIFA World Cup is the dream of every player when they step on the football field. To represent a team and winning for your team are two different feelings, but representing your team, winning for your team, and scoring goals for the winning side is the cherry on top for any player. Let us have a look at the Top 5 FIFA World Cup all-time leading scorers.
There are many players who have scored a lot of goals for their clubs and still find it a bit difficult to win the World Cup for their country. One of them is Cristiano Ronaldo. Till now, he has played in five editions of the World Cup and has managed to score eight goals. The FIFA World Cup 2026 will be his sixth attempt at winning the trophy and surely the last. In the last edition, Lionel Messi, his great competitor, won his first-ever World Cup.
Also check out: FIFA World Cup 2026: Full List of Qualified Teams Revealed
Top 5 FIFA World Cup all-time leading scorers
Miroslav Klose (Germany) – 16 goals
Klose has played a total of four editions of the World Cup with Germany (2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014). He has scored a total of 16 goals in the 24 matches he played in the four editions of the World Cup. Klose was the top scorer of the FIFA World Cup 2006 with five goals. His last goal in the FIFA World Cup came in a 7-1 win against Brazil in the 2014 World Cup semi-final. Germany won the FIFA World Cup that year.
Ronaldo (Brazil) – 15 goals
The Brazilian Ronaldo has scored a total of 15 goals in the 19 matches he has played in the World Cup across four editions (1994,1998, 2002, and 2006). Ronaldo has won a total of two FIFA World Cups, one in 1994 and the other in 2002. He was the top goal scorer of the FIFA World Cup 2002 with eight goals. Ronaldo scored two goals in the FIFA World Cup 2002 final.
Gerd Muller (West Germany) – 14 goals
The German Legend striker, Gerd Muller, has 14 goals at the FIFA World Cup across two editions (1970 and 1974). He was the top scorer at the 1970 FIFA World Cup with ten goals, but unfortunately, his team did not win. In the next edition, he scored four goals, and that was the year when West Germany won the FIFA World Cup. He scored the winning goal for his team.
Just Fontaine (France ) – 13 goals
Fontaine just played one edition of the FIFA World Cup, and it was in 1958. He played a total of six matches and managed to score 13 goals, which is a record that still hasn’t been broken. Just Fontaine holds the record for scoring the most goals in a single edition of the FIFA World Cup. Despite his brilliance, his team managed to finish in the third position.
Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 13 goals
Finally, the dream of Lionel Messi came true when he won the World Cup in the 2022 edition. He scored twice in the final, and his team did it in the penalty shoot-out. Messi has played five editions of the World Cup (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018,and 2022). In the five editions, he played a total of 26 matches and scored 13 goals. Seven of them came in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
