All-Time World Cup Top Scorers: Mbappé Passes Messi, Who's Next On The List?

There's a new World Cup all-time goalscorer, and it's not Lionel Messi. France's Kylian Mbappe has taken over the title with 22 goals across all tournament appearances. Messi surpassed the long-standing record held by Germany's Miroslav Klose with his two goals against Austria in Argentina's group-stage game on June 22. It came a week after Messi scored his first career World Cup hat trick in a win over Algeria, while also setting the record as the oldest player (38) to record a hat trick at the tournament - passing Cristiano Ronaldo's feat from 2022 when he was 33 years old. But it was a matter of time before Mbappe was going to catch up, and pass, Messi. Mbappe's brace against England in the third-place game adds up to 22 total World Cup goals. With that being said, here are the players with the most goals in World Cup men's history. Let's take a look. 1. Kylian Mbappe (France): 22 Mbappe has scored an outrageous 22 goals in just 22 World Cup matches in his career. As a 19-year-old in 2018, he scored four goals for France, helping it win its first title since 1998, and then he scored eight goals in 2022 - most notably netting the second hat trick in a World Cup final ever against Argentina. At the 2026 tournament, he has 10 so far. 2. Lionel Messi (Argentina): 21 Messi's eight goals at the 2026 World Cup have now given him yet another record on his resume. Messi has played in every World Cup since 2006 and scored in all but one (2010). He scored seven goals at the 2022 World Cup. Messi is also Argentina's all-time leading goalscorer with 125 to his name and additionally holds the record for most World Cup matches played with 31. 3. Miroslav Klose (Germany): 16 Playing in four straight World Cups from 2002 to 2014, Klose scored in all four editions of the World Cups he participated in and capped it off by lifting the trophy in 2016. His 71 goals for Germany are also the most in the national team's history. 4. Ronaldo (Brazil): 15 Many consider Ronaldo the greatest striker of all-time, as he scored more than 350 goals in club play and 62 for Brazil. Fifteen of those international goals came in the World Cup, en route to winning the Golden Ball in the 1998 tournament and the Golden Boot in 2002. T-5. Gerd Muller (Germany): 14 Arguably the greatest Bundesliga goalscorer of all-time, Muller scored an astonishing 10 goals in 1970 and then another four in 1974 in Germany's title run. He was Germany's all-time leading goalscorer with 68 goals until Klose passed him. T-5. Harry Kane (England): 14 Kane continues to shine in his third World Cup appearance of his career, with six goals at this edition. He now stands at 84 goals for the Three Lions. He scored six goals at the 2018 World Cup to win the tournament's Golden Boot as England reached the semifinals. At the 2022 World Cup, Kane added two more to move past Wayne Rooney's 53 goals on England's all-time list. 7. Just Fontaine (France): 13 Fontaine holds one of the most incredible stats in World Cup history, as all 13 of his goals came in the 1958 edition of the tournament - the record for most goals scored by a player at a single World Cup. It's been 68 years since he set that record, and no one has come close to breaking it. 8. Pele (Brazil): 12 The great Pele scored in all four of his World Cup appearances from 1958 to 1970 and won three titles with Brazil in that span. Most notably, he scored in the final in 1958, as the youngest to ever do so at just 17 years old. T-9. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal): 11 Ronaldo became the oldest player to score a goal in a knockout stage match at 41 years old when he converted a penalty at the 2026 World Cup. In his six World Cup appearances, he scored at least one goal in each edition. T-9. Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany): 11 Klinsmann scored in three straight World Cups from 1990 to 1998, helping Germany lift the trophy in 1990. His 47 goals for Germany overall are tied for the fourth-most in national team history. T-9. Sandor Kocsis (Hungary): 11 Kocsis's 11 goals all came in 1954, when his Hungary side scored 27 in five matches before falling in the final to West Germany. He's the only player to hit double digits in one World Cup besides Fontaine and Muller. Seven players have exactly 10 goals at the World Cup: Helmut Rahn (Germany), Gary Lineker (England), Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina), Teofilo Cubillas (Peru), Thomas Muller (Germany) and Grzegorz Lato (Poland).