It’s one thing to score a significant number of goals within one’s career, or even one season. But it’s a totally different thing to score a lofty amount within one tournament — especially the FIFA World Cup.
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For generations, countries from all over the world have put their best foot forward in the quadrennial tournament. Each edition of the tournament, the player who scores the most goals walks away with the Golden Boot.
Gulliermo Stabile, Just Fontaine and Ronaldo are just a few of the many players who set precedents for goal-scoring in FIFA history.
Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, let’s take a deeper dive into some of the most decorated goalscorers in history, specifically those who have scored the most within a single iteration of the tournament.
Who has scored the most goals in a single World Cup?
France’s Just Fontaine holds the record for the most goals scored in a single FIFA World Cup.
How many goals did Fontaine score?
The French football star scored 13 goals in six matches during a single FIFA World Cup.
Four of these goals came against the World Cup defending champions, West Germany.
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When did Fontaine solidify this record?
Fontaine achieved this record during the 1958 FIFA World Cup, which took place in Sweden.
Notable goalscoring records in previous World Cups
Here are the athletes with the most goals scored in a single World Cup competition:
Just Fontaine
Team: France
World Cup: 1958
Goals: 13
Sándor Kocsis
Team: Hungary
World Cup: 1954
Goals: 11
Gerd Müller
Team: Germany
World Cup: 1970
Goals: 10
Eusébio da Silva Ferreira
Team: Portugal
World Cup: 1966
Goals: 9
Ademir Marques de Menezes
Team: Brazil
World Cup: 1950
Goals: 9
Guillermo Stábile
Team: Argentina
World Cup: 1930
Goals: 8
Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima
Team: Brazil
World Cup: 2002
Goals: 8
Kylian Mbappé
Team: France
World Cup: 2022
Goals: 8
Leônidas da Silva
Team: Brazil
World Cup: 1938
Goals: 7
Jair “Jairzinho” Ventura Filho
Team: Brazil
World Cup: 1970
Goals: 7
Grzegorz Lato
Team: Poland
World Cup: 1974
Goals: 7
Lionel Messi
Team: Argentina
World Cup: 2022
Goals: 7
Were goals easier to score in the past?
Considering no one has even come close to Fontaine’s record since 1970, it’s valid to question whether time has anything to do with that.
When asked whether goals were easier to score back in the 1950s, Fontaine rebuffed.
“No, it wasn’t easier to score in 1958,” Fontaine said, according to The Guardian.
“The state of the ball, the length of the trip over and the amateurism of the backroom staff made everything much more complicated than today. I had somebody else’s boots as well. And the last great World Cup scorer, Ronaldo, played against teams such as China and Costa Rica. Above all else, referees protect strikers much more than they did in my day. So let me repeat it: 13 goals is an enormous total. Beating my record? I don’t think it can ever be done.”
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Editor’s note: The original version of this story was published in 2022.