FIFA World Cup comes once in four years since 1930. But an average football player only gets to only 2 or 3 World Cup tournaments while they are at the peak of their game.
But Messi and Ronaldo are exceptions as they are playing the 5th World Cup in their professional career. Other than these two legends, Andres Guardado is also playing his fifth World Cup in Qatar.
Who is the Top Goal Scorer in the FIFA World Cup History?
But Messi and Ronaldo are not even near the top 10 top scorers in FIFA World Cup history. Only Germany star Thomas Muller has only made him into this list by scoring 10 goals in the tournament so far.
In this top 10 list, Miroslav Klose is holding the top spot as he scored 16 goals in 24 World Cup games. The record belonged to Brazil’s Ronaldo before with 15 goals under his name in 19 games.
But most players are retired and some of them have intriguing goal tally. So, let us dive deep into the top 10 goal scorers of the FIFA World Cup.
List of Top 10 Goal Scores in FIFA World Cup History
Even if we tried to focus top 10 players but the list ended up becoming 13. Many of these legendary footballers ended up scoring the same number of goals in the tournament. There are two players have scored 11 goals, and six players have registered 10 goals in the World Cup’s history.
| Player | Nation | Appearences | Goals |
| Miroslav Klose | Germany | 24 | 16 |
| Ronaldo | Brazil | 19 | 15 |
| Â Gerd Muller | West Germany | 13 | 14 |
| Just Fontaine | France | 6 | 13 |
| Pele | Brazil | 14 | 12 |
| Jurgen Klinsmann | Germany | 17 | 11 |
| Sandor Kocsis | Hungary | 5 | 11 |
| Â Thomas Muller | Germany | 19 | 10 |
| Grzegorz Lato | Poland | 20 | 10 |
| Helmut Rahn | West Germany | 10 | 10 |
| Teófilo Cubillas | Peru | 13 | 10 |
| Gabriel Batistuta | Argentina | 12 | 10 |
| Gary Linekar | England | 12 | 10 |
German players have featured most in this list, as is expected for their consistency and dominance in international football over decades after decades.
Klose
Klose’s World Cup debut happened in 2002, and his last game came in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil with winning the World Cup. In his World Cup journey, Klose won the Golden Boot in the 2006 World Cup. His record-breaking 16th goal came in Germany’s thrashing 7-1 win against Brazil in the 2014 World Cup.
Ronaldo
Ronaldo helped Brazil to win the World Cup in 2002 by scoring 8 goals in the tournament. The legendary attacker won the Golden Boot in 2002 as the top scorer of the tournament. In his career, he did play 4 World Cup tournaments. Among those 4 World Cups, he won twice and played the final three times.
Gerd Muller
Gerd Muller is a Germany’s legendary striker who played his professional career from 1963 to 1981. He is mostly remembered for his goal-scoring ability. But he is also the third top goal scorer in World Cup history with 14 goals in 13 games while he represented West Germany. Despite being the third top goal scorer, he just participated in two World Cup tournaments in his Footballing career.
Just Fontaine
Just Fontaine represented France as his national side. The striker played for his country for almost 8 years and scored 30 goals in just 21 games for his nation. His goalscoring record reflects on the history of the World Cup as he is the 4th highest goal scorer with 13 goals in just 6 games. Surprisingly, his World Cup participation is just limited to 1 which is the 1958 World Cup.
Pele
Pele holds the 5th spot, as he is considered to be the first footballer to taste Global fame. Honestly, he does not need any introduction as he has contributed the most to the Brazilian national team in the history of the FIFA World Cup. The King of Football appeared in four World Cup tournaments and ended up winning 3 of them. In his four times participation, Pele scored 12 goals in 14 World Cup appearances.
Jurgen Klinsmann & Sandor Kocsis
Jurgen Klinsmann is another German legend who made this list by scoring 11 goals in 17 games for West Germany.
7 There is another footballer, named Sandor Kocsis with the same number of goals in just 5 games for Hungary. He just represented Hungary in just 1954 World Cup when he scored 11 goals in the whole tournament.
Thomas Muller & Others Who Scored 10 Goals in FIFA World Cup
The 8th player to feature in this list is an active player for the German National team. But he may not feature in any World Cup again. He is none other than Thomas Muller. Thomas has scored 10 goals in World Cup history with his 19 appearances. But with Germany’s shocking elimination, he ended this World Cup goallessly.
Other than Thomas Muller, there are 5 more players who have scored 10 goals in the history of the World Cup. Grzegorz Lato from Poland, Helmut Rahn from West Germany, Teófilo Cubillas from Peru, Gabriel Batistuta from Argentina, and Gary Linekar from England have 10 goals in the whole competition.
But both modern football G.O.A.T Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have 8 goals in the tournament. They both are playing the 5th Word Cup tournament in their illustrious career and probably be the last. Another football great Diego Maradona also scored 8 goals in 21 games in the history of the tournament.
Harry Kane has 6 goals in the tournament right now, but Kylian Mbappe has the potential to reach the top 10 list in the future. In his 10 appearances in two World Cups, he has scored 7 goals for his country and has a long career remaining to break the record in the future.
