The Greatest World Cup Top Scorer of All-Time

by Luke Andrews, 28 September 2022

In the latest instalment of our World Cup blog, we take a closer look at some of the greatest World Cup top scorers of all time. Which players have excelled on the grandest stage in international football? In the best competition, who is the best?

Gerd Muller scores for Germany

Highest scorer in a World Cup: The Golden Boot

One way to determine who is the greatest World Cup top scorer is by seeing which player scored the most goals in a single tournament and picked up the Golden Boot award.

Below is a complete list of every World Cup and the tournament’s Golden Boot winner.

Some interesting conclusions can be made by looking at the table above. One is that being the greatest World Cup top scorer in a particular competition doesn’t often affect the trophy’s destination at the end of the tournament.

The Golden boot winners whose country lifted the trophy are as follows; 1934 Angelo Schiavio for Italy, but it’s worth pointing out that two other players (Oldrich Nejedly and Edmund Conen) also scored four. Mario Kempes in 1978 with Argentina, Paolo Rossi in 1982 with Italy and Ronaldo in 2002, twenty years ago with Brazil.

Of the 24 Golden Boot winners, just three of those players would lift the World Cup, so perhaps the Golden Boot award is a curse rather than a blessing?

Also worth considering is how many games players had in the competition. When the Russian Oleg Salenko shared the award with Bulgaria’s Hristo Stoitchkov, he played only three games, whereas the Bulgarian played seven to score six goals. Therefore we would say that Salenko is the most efficient World Cup top scorer of all time.

However, if you consider greatness on who has scored the most World Cup goals in a single tournament, France’s Just Fontaine is the overall winner. His 13 goals at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden broke the previous highest scorer in the World Cup record set by Sandor Kocsis for Hungary in the 1954 World Cup held in Switzerland.

Pele is a World Cup legend

Most Career World Cup Goals

• Miroslav Klose, Germany, 16 World Cup goals.
• Ronaldo, Brazil, 15 World Cup goals.
• Gerd Muller, Germany, 14 World Cup goals.
• Just Fontaine, France, 13 World Cup goals.
• Pelé , Brazil, 12 World Cup goals.

As you can see from the list above, Miroslav Klose leads the way with 16 World Cup goals. Klose is Germany’s all-time top scorer, and a remarkable fact is that Germany never lost a game between 2001 to 2014 when Klose scored a goal. He scored five goals in his debut World Cup in 2002, repeated the feat in 2006, four goals in 2010 and two in 2014, which took him past the previous World Cup top scorer in history record-holder, Ronaldo.

An honourable mention has to go to Archie Thompson, who scored a remarkable 13 goals in a single match. Unfortunately, it wasn’t during the World Cup finals but as a qualifier. His team Australia defeated American Samoa 31-0 in the 2002 qualifiers

Miroslav Klose against Italy

Women’s World Cup Top Scorers

With the Women’s Football World Cup approaching in July 2023, we’ve also included the top scorer’s in the Women’s World Cup below:

• Marta – Brazil, 17 goals
• Birgit Prinz – Germany, 14 goals
• Abby Wambach – USA, 14 goals
• Michelle Akers – USA, 12 goals
• Cristiane  – Brazil, 11 goals

Marta is playing in her last World Cup, but will no doubt be among the favourites to be the tournament’s top scorer, further securing her legacy as one of the greatest of all time. You can find out more about the tournament in our guide to the best Women’s World Cup betting sites.

Qatar:The Early Golden Boot Odds

Now we’ve explored the highest World Cup scorers of all time; it’s time to look forward and see who the bookies think will be top scorer at the World Cup 2024, the Qatar edition that starts in November.

• Cristiano Ronaldo 7/1
• Harry Kane 15/2
• Lionel Messi 15/2
• Kylian Mbappe 8/1
• Neymar 9/1
• Karim Benzema 9/1
• Romelu Lukaku 9/1
• Diogo Jota 16/1
• Vinicius Jr 16/1
• Raheem Sterling 18/1

There are some big names on that list, and not surprisingly, the ageing duo of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are fancied in what surely will be their last World Cups. However, Harry Kane could become the first player in history to retain the Golden Boot, and the bookies believe he has a great chance, installing him as the second favourite.

Punters might overlook two names for the most goals in one World Cup this year: Neymar and Benzema, who are priced at 9/1.

Neymar might be struggling at club level with just seven goals in the league, but bear in mind he has only started 16 this campaign, and this tournament could be his chance to put the woes of this year behind him after a disappointing season with PSG.

The argument for Benzema is much easier after the veteran destroyed Chelsea in the Champions League with three goals, and he could be a contender for the most goals in one World Cup in Qatar.

If Jota played for any other team other than Christiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, we’d fancy him, but with Ronaldo likely to demand-supply, we are hesitant to back him.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our article on the highest scorer in the World Cup, don’t forget we will be exploring everything connected to the World Cup betting as we count down the weeks to the World Cup in Qatar. We’ve got some great topics that we will be exploring before the World Cup starts. We also can’t wait to bring you our in-depth match previews and betting tips once the tournament kicks off in November.