World Cup Records

Headline records

Record or milestone	Holder or figure
Most goals in a career	Kylian Mbappé, 22 goals
Most goals in a single tournament	Just Fontaine, 13 goals in 1958
Most goals in a single match	Oleg Salenko, 5 goals in 1994
Players with 10 or more career goals	17
First penalty shoot-out at a World Cup finals	West Germany 3-3 France, decided 5-4 on penalties, in Seville on 8 July 1982

Three scoring records, three questions

“Most World Cup goals” can mean three different records: the most across a career, the most at a single tournament and the most in a single match. After the 2026 tournament they had three different holders: Kylian Mbappé, Just Fontaine and Oleg Salenko.

It has not always been so. Guillermo Stábile, Ademir, Sándor Kocsis and Just Fontaine each held the career record and the single-tournament record at the same time, because each scored all his World Cup goals at one tournament. The two records separated in the 1974 final, when Gerd Müller’s fourteenth World Cup goal took the career record past Fontaine’s thirteen. Fontaine, who kept the single-tournament record, also shared the single-match record of four goals until Oleg Salenko scored five in 1994.

The career record changed hands twice during the 2026 tournament: Lionel Messi passed Miroslav Klose in the group stage, then Mbappé passed Messi in the match for third place. Every player with ten or more career World Cup goals is ranked, with matches played and goals per match, in the all-time top scorers table.

What counts

Qualifying matches and every other competition are left out of these records, and kicks scored in a penalty shoot-out are not counted as goals. The first shoot-out at a World Cup finals, West Germany against France in the 1982 semi-final, decided the match but added no goals to any player’s total. Every World Cup goal total on the site is counted the same way.