Top Goal-Scorers of the FIFA World Cup Events: A tribute to their goal mastery: Football is the competition which is all about scoring goals. To world’s surprise, 2548 goals have been scored to date in over 21 editions of the FIFA World Cup tournaments, excluding penalties scored during shoot-outs. Do we know the first player who scored a goal in the World Cup event. He was Lucien Laurent, a French player, who scored the first goal playing in the 1930 FIFA World Cup. Since that time more than 1250 players have scored goals in the World Cup final tournaments. Out of these, only 97 players have to their credit five or more goals. This blog will discuss the Top Goal-Scorers of the FIFA World Cup.
Interestingly, of all the players who played in the World Cup finals, only six could achieve an average of two goals or more per game, for example, Kocsis, Fontaine, Stábile, Oleg Salenko (Russia), Josef Hügi (Switzerland), and Ernst Wilimowski (Poland). Out of the top 97 goal-scorers who have represented 28 nations, 14 scored for Brazil, and another 14 were scored by Germany or West Germany. Who has scored the most goals at the World Cup tournaments? We look over the top scorers in men’s version of the FIFA World Cup history, starting in 1930. The details of the top players who scored in the FIFA World Cup are as listed in the below table.
| Player | Team | Goals |
| Miroslav Klose | Germany | 16 |
| Ronaldo | Brazil | 15 |
| Gerd Müller | Germany | 14 |
| Just Fontaine | France | 13 |
| Pelé | Brazil | 12 |
| Jürgen Klinsmann | Germany | 11 |
| Sándor Kocsis | Hungary | 11 |
| Gabriel Batistuta | Argentina | 10 |
| Teófilo Cubillas | Peru | 10 |
| Grzegorz Lato | Poland | 10 |
1. Miroslav Klose
The German striker Miroslav Klose scored 16 goals in 24 appearances in four separate World Cup editions, and it is the highest scorer to date. Moreover, all of his goals were scored from only 63 shots, indicating a phenomenal record of a player of such a mastery and repute who played four editions of the World Cup.
2. Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima
It was before Klose attained the highest goal record, this record belonged to Brazil’s 2002 World Cup–winning star Ronaldo. In spectacular performances he scored 15 goals in just 19 matches across three editions of the World Cup. In his debut World Cup in 1998, he scored four goals and four years later, he poured another eight goals in seven appearances and won the Golden Boot award. It was due to his 8-goal hall that Brazil won its fifth World Cup title.
3. Gerd Muller
Gerd Muller is a legendary German footballer who scored 14 World Cup goals in just two World Cup editions. In 1970, he was awarded with the Golden Boot for scoring 10 goals. This was the feat that no other player could achieve to date as did Muller.
4. Just Fontaine
Fontaine was a French striker. He has to his credit the record of scoring the most goals in a single edition. His brilliant scoring spree was 13 goals in six matches at the 1958 World Cup. This was the only World Cup he played but left an impression that could not be erased or faded.
5. Pele
As depieced in the table above Pele is fifth player with 12 goals in four editions of the World Cup. He never won a Golden Boot, but the Best Player award he won at the 1970 World Cup for his brilliant scoring of four goals and six assists.
6. Jurgen Klinsmann and Sandor Kocsis
Both striker Klinsmann (Germany) and legend Kocsis (Hungarian) scored 11 goals each in the World Cup.
Kocsis played only one World Cup ever for Hungary in 1954 and scored 11 goals in just five matches.
Klinsmann made his World Cup debut in 1990. But he scored five goals in five games in 1994 World Cup, before the Germans exited the tournament at the quarter-final stage in a shocking defeat from Bulgaria. He played the third and final World Cup in 1998 and scored three goals.
Besides the above greats of football, Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina), Teofilo Cubillas (Peru), Gary Lineker (England), Thomas Muller (Germany), Grezgorz Lato (Poland), and Helmut Rahn (Germany) scored 10 goals each in different editions of the World Cup.
Looking forward to some great scoring spree and moves during the 2022 edition of the World Cup in Qatar.