Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé — two of the biggest stars in the world — combined for five goals on the same day in Match Day 6 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
With his first career World Cup hat trick, Messi tied Miroslav Klose for the most goals in men’s World Cup history with 16 while also setting the record as the oldest player (38) to record a hat trick, passing Cristiano Ronaldo.
Mbappé recorded a brace, moving him up to 14 goals all time at the World Cup, tied for the fourth-most ever. Both of these stars will look to break the record this tournament. With that being said, here are the players with the most goals in World Cup history. Let’s take a look.
History has been rewritten. Lionel Messi has cemented his legacy as the greatest to ever play the game, adding the ultimate goal-scoring crown to an already legendary resume.
After scoring against Austria on Monday afternoon, Messi recorded his 17th FIFA World Cup goal to become the all-time scoring leader in the men’s tournament. He’s officially surpassed the long-standing record held by Germany’s Miroslav Klose.
1. Lionel Messi (Argentina): 17
(Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Getty Images)
Messi’s four goals at the 2026 World Cup has now given him the record. 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 and is already at three in 2026. Messi is also Argentina’s all-time leading goalscorer with 122 to his name and additionally holds the record for most World Cup matches played with 28.
Lionel Messi Scores Goal vs Austria, Becoming Men’s All-time FIFA World Cup™ Goalscoring Leader
2. Miroslave Klose (Germany): 16
(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
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.
3. Ronaldo (Brazil): 15
(Photo by Gunnar Berning/Bongarts/Getty Images)
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-4. Kylian Mbappé (France): 14
(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Mbappé has scored an outrageous 14 goals in just 15 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.
T-4. Gerd Müller (Germany): 14
(Photo by Werner Schulze/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Arguably the greatest Bundesliga goalscorer of all-time, Müller 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.
6. Just Fontaine (France): 13
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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.
7. Pelé (Brazil): 12
(Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
The great Pelé 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-8. Jürgen Klinsmann (Germany): 11
(Photo by Mark Leech/Offside/Getty Images).
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-8. Sándor Kocsis (Hungary): 11
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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 Müller.
Seven players have exactly 10 goals at the World Cup: Helmut Rahn (Germany), Gary Lineker (England), Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina), Teófilo Cubillas (Peru), Thomas Müller (Germany) and Grzegorz Lato (Poland).
Lionel Messi Scores Goal vs Austria, Becoming Men’s All-time FIFA World Cup™ Goalscoring Leader
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