Just Fontaine scored 13 World Cup goals in six matches for France, all at Sweden 1958, the only World Cup he played. He scored in every match, finished as the tournament’s top scorer while France came third, and his 13 goals are still the single-tournament record after 2026; on career goals he ranks seventh all-time.
World Cup record by tournament
| Tournament | Age | Matches | Minutes | Goals | France’s finish | Individual award |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958, Sweden | 24 | 6 | 540 | 13 | Third place | Top scorer |
| Total | 6 | 540 | 13 |
Every World Cup match
| Date | Stage | Opponent | Venue | France’s result | Minutes played | Goals | Goal minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 June | First round | Paraguay | Norrköping | 7-3 | 90 | 3 | 24’, 30’, 67’ |
| 11 June | First round | Yugoslavia | Västerås | 2-3 | 90 | 2 | 4’, 85’ |
| 15 June | First round | Scotland | Örebro | 2-1 | 90 | 1 | 44’ |
| 19 June | Quarter-final | Northern Ireland | Norrköping | 4-0 | 90 | 2 | 55’, 63’ |
| 24 June | Semi-final | Brazil | Solna | 2-5 | 90 | 1 | 9’ |
| 28 June | Third-place match | West Germany | Gothenburg | 6-3 | 90 | 4 | 16’, 36’, 78’, 89’ |
| Total | 540 | 13 |
Sweden 1958
A striker who did not expect to play
According to FIFA, Fontaine took only one pair of boots to Sweden, against orders, because he did not expect to play. Injuries ruled out René Bliard and Thadée Cisowski, which forced coach Albert Batteux to pick him for the opening match against Paraguay. In the last training session before it he tore one of his boots. Only one player in the squad shared his shoe size, Stéphane Bruey, who was competing with him for a place up front, and Bruey lent him his boots.
The first round: six goals
Fontaine scored a hat-trick in the 7-3 win over Paraguay, France’s opening match, then both French goals in the 3-2 defeat by Yugoslavia, the second in the 85th minute. Against Scotland he scored just before half-time, the goal that made it 2-0 in a 2-1 win. France finished first in their group, and Fontaine went into the quarter-finals as the tournament’s top scorer with six.
Northern Ireland and Brazil
In the quarter-final Fontaine scored twice in a 4-0 win over Northern Ireland, in the 55th and 63rd minutes.
In the semi-final Vavá put Brazil ahead in the second minute, and Fontaine equalized in the ninth. It was the first goal Brazil had conceded in the tournament. Later in the first half France’s captain, Robert Jonquet, broke his leg; substitutions were not allowed, so France played the rest of the match effectively a man short. Brazil won 5-2, with a hat-trick from Pelé.
Four against West Germany
In the match for third place France beat the defending champions 6-3 in Gothenburg, and Fontaine scored four of the six goals.
- 16th minute, 1-0. Fontaine opened the scoring.
- 18th minute, 1-1. Hans Cieslarczyk equalized for West Germany.
- 27th minute, 2-1. Raymond Kopa scored a penalty.
- 36th minute, 3-1. Fontaine scored his second.
- 50th minute, 4-1. Yvon Douis scored.
- 52nd minute, 4-2. Helmut Rahn scored for West Germany.
- 78th minute, 5-2. Fontaine scored his third.
- 84th minute, 5-3. Hans Schäfer scored for West Germany.
- 89th minute, 6-3. Fontaine scored his fourth, his 13th of the tournament.
FIFA calculates that he averaged a goal every 42 minutes across the tournament.
Records and rankings
No player has scored more goals at a single World Cup. Sándor Kocsis came closest with 11 in 1954, two fewer; since 1958 nobody has scored more than ten, the total reached by Gerd Müller in 1970 and Kylian Mbappé in 2026. Eusébio scored nine in 1966.
| # | Player | Country | Tournament | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Just Fontaine | France | 1958 | 13 |
| 2 | Sándor Kocsis | Hungary | 1954 | 11 |
| 3= | Gerd Müller | West Germany | 1970 | 10 |
| 3= | Kylian Mbappé | France | 2026 | 10 |
Thirteen goals in six matches is 2.17 goals per match. Among the players with ten or more career World Cup goals, only Kocsis has a higher rate: 2.20, from 11 goals in five matches.
France scored 23 goals in Sweden, and Fontaine scored 13 of them, more than half. The tournament produced 126 goals in all, so roughly one in ten was his.
On career goals Fontaine is seventh on the all-time list of World Cup scorers after the 2026 tournament. Each of the six players above him played at least 13 World Cup matches, more than twice his six.
A longer tournament has not changed the single-tournament record. A finalist played six matches in 1958; since 2026 a finalist plays eight, two more, and the record still stands.
What the numbers don’t show
Sweden 1958 was Fontaine’s only World Cup. France played at the 1954 tournament, but he is not in any of their line-ups in RSSSF’s match records, and France did not play at the 1962 tournament. No source consulted records who set up each of his goals, so no assists are credited. He died in 2023, so his World Cup numbers are final.
Sources and method
RSSSF’s match records for 1958, 1954 and 1962; FIFA’s “13 days to go: Fontaine’s unequalled feat” (29 May 2026), “Just platinum” (27 May 2024), all-time leading scorers (19 July 2026) and top goalscorers in one World Cup (18 July 2026); Wikipedia’s pages on the 1958 World Cup, Group 2, the knockout stage and Just Fontaine.
Appearances, results and scorers were recounted from RSSSF and checked against FIFA and Wikipedia. Only matches at World Cup final tournaments count; goals per match are our calculation, rounded to two decimal places. The rules are in How we verify.
Where the sources disagree
FIFA’s match reports (France v Paraguay, Yugoslavia v France, France v Scotland, France v Northern Ireland, Brazil v France, France v West Germany) and Wikipedia, which cites them, agree on every detail below. RSSSF differs by a minute on four of Fontaine’s goals and by two days on the date of the third-place match; the match log follows FIFA and Wikipedia. Every other goal minute on the page, including all nine goals against West Germany, is the same in all three sources.
| Detail | FIFA | Wikipedia | RSSSF | Used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First goal v Paraguay | 24’ | 24’ | 25’ | 24’ |
| Third goal v Paraguay | 67’ | 67’ | 66’ | 67’ |
| First goal v Yugoslavia | 4’ | 4’ | 5’ | 4’ |
| Goal v Scotland | 44’ | 44’ | 45’ | 44’ |
| Third-place match | 28 June | 28 June | 26 June | 28 June |
FIFA’s 2024 article on his record gives 2022 as the year of his death; FIFA’s obituary, published on 1 March 2023, and Wikipedia give 2023.