Who has most World Cup goals ever? Kylian Mbappe leads Lionel Messi ahead of superstar’s likely swansong

Jul 19, 2026 - 01:15

Kylian Mbappe has knocked Lionel Messi off top spot to become the World Cup’s all-time top scorer.

Argentina captain Messi, as well as France icon Mbappe, have had their shooting boots on in North America, with the pair battling each other for the Golden Boot.

Lionel Messi celebrates goal for Argentina at the 2026 World Cup — Messi has been scoring at World Cups for Argentina for 20 years and is proving age is just a number

After equalling Miroslav Klose’s all-time record of 16 World Cup goals with a stunning hat-trick against Algeria, Argentina captain Messi officially went top of the rankings with both goals in a 2-0 win over Austria last month.

It would have been back-to-back hat-tricks for Messi had he succeeded in converting an early penalty in their second group match.

And he added to that with a free-kick against Jordan in their final Group J game and a strike against Cape Verde.

He then got on the score sheet against Egypt in the last-16 to bring his total tally to 21 – eight of which have come in this summer’s World Cup.

Kyl-er instinct

But his record has already been overtaken by Mbappe, who brought up his 21st and 22nd goals in France’s 6-4 defeat to England in the third-place play-off.

Earlier in the tournament, France captain Mbappe returned to World Cup duty with a bang, netting twice as the two-time winners kicked off their campaign with a 3-1 win over Senegal.

Not only did Mbappe leapfrog Olivier Giroud’s record 57-goal haul for Les Bleus, the Real Madrid star also became his country’s all-time leading World Cup scorer.

Mbappe added to his tally in style quick succession, firing home twice against Iraq and Sweden, while also netting against Paraguay.

Morocco were the next nation to fall victim to Mbappe, before he brought up his ninth and tenth goals in the ten-goal thriller against England.

But Messi still has one chance to overtake Mbappe – in both the all-time top scorer list and Golden Boot race – with Argentina to face Spain in Sunday’s World Cup final, live on talkSPORT.

Kylian Mbappe scores his second goal against England — Mbappe scored twice against England to become the World Cup’s all-time top scorer

Germany legend Klose had held the record for many years by netting 16 goals at the showpiece tournament.

His record-breaking goal came in Germany’s 7-1 semi-final win over Brazil in 2014 en route to their fourth World Cup victory.

But Mbappe and Messi are now well clear of the ex-Bayern Munich marksman.

Such is Mbappe’s lethal prowess in the global tournament, talkSPORT host and former Premier League striker Darren Bent has insisted he could end on 30 World Cup goals by the time he calls it quits on his football career.

He might not be wrong considering he has possibly two more tournaments left in him.

Not far behind them is England captain Harry Kane, who has 14 World Cup goals to his name having fired home six times this summer.

Kylian Mbappe celebrates a goal for France at the World Cup in 2026 — Mbappe may be remembered as the World Cup’s greatest-ever goalscorers

Record World Cup goalscorers

Kylian Mbappe (France) – 22 goals (22 games)
Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 21 goals (33 games)
Miroslav Klose (Germany) – 16 goals (24 games)
Ronaldo (Brazil) – 15 goals (19 games)
Harry Kane (England) – 14 goals (18 games)
Gerd Muller (Germany) – 14 goals (13 games)
Just Fontaine (France) – 13 goals (6 games)
Pele (Brazil) – 12 goals (14 games)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) – 11 goals (27 games)
Sandor Kocsis (Hungary) – 11 goals (5 games)
Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany) – 11 goals (17 games)
Helmut Rahn (Germany) – 10 goals (10 games)
Gary Lineker (England) – 10 goals (12 games)
Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina) – 10 goals (12 games)
Teofilo Cubillas (Peru) – 10 goals (13 games)
Thomas Muller (Germany) – 10 goals (19 games)
Grzegorz Lato (Poland) – 10 goals (20 games)

Who has made the most World Cup appearances?

When it comes to appearances, Messi has the most ever at the World Cup, having overtaken Lothar Matthaus in 2022.

By appearing in his sixth tournament this summer, Messi now has more appearances than any other player with 33.

Below him, Matthaus was second with 25 World Cup caps, but now Ronaldo has overtaken him with his 27th and possibly final appearance given he is 41 years old.

However, there will never be a greater scorer and he will be hoping he can break 1,000 career goals when his club season resumes.