World Cup top scorers: who has scored the most tournament goals in FIFA football competition’s history?

The 22nd edition of the World Cup is on the horizon and many players from around the world are gearing up to compete for football’s most prestigious prize.

The upcoming tournament will be hosted by Qatar and will be the first World Cup to take place in the Arab World.

Since the inaugural tournament in 1930 some of the greatest players in football history have represented their countries on the world stage including the likes of Pele, Maradona, Zidane and Ronaldo.

Here we take a look at some of the most prolific goalscorers of the last 92 years of World Cup football.

Who has scored the most tournament goals in World Cup history?

Miroslav Klose is the all time top scorer in World Cup history and the highest scoring Germany international in history, with 16 goals across 24 appearances in the FIFA World Cup.

Klose made his debut at the World Cup in 2002 after a successful season in the Bundesliga for Kaiserslautern.

During the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, Klose  scored five times and helped Germany to a World Cup final where they were beaten by Brazil.

Klose was awarded a place in the FIFA World Cup All Star Team in 2002 and repeated this achievement four years later in front of his home crowd as Germany were eliminated from the 2006 World Cup in the semi-final stage. Klose again scored five goals and was the highest scoring player at the tournament.

Klose hit a further four goals in 2010 as Germany reached the semi-final of the World Cup in South Africa. Klose finally lifted the World Cup in 2014, and scored his final goal during the 7-1 semi-final victory over the host Brazil.

He beat the record that was previously set by Ronaldo de Lima.

Here are the top five goal scorers in World Cup history

1. Miroslav Klose: Germany - 16 goals
2. Ronaldo: Brazil - 15 goals
3. Gerd Muller: Germany - 14 goals
4. Just Fontaine: France - 13 goals
5. Pele: Brazil - 12 goals

Who has scored the most goals for England at the World Cup?

A number of great strikers have represented the Three Lions in the World Cup including the likes of Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and more recently Harry Kane. However none of these players have managed to match the record set by Gary Lineker.

The Match of the Day host was prolific during his playing days for the Three Lions and scored an impressive 10 goals over two World Cups for England in 1986 and 1990.

England striker Harry Kane netted six goals during the 2018 World Cup to win the Golden Boot and will be hoping for another impressive showing at this year’s tournament to beat Lineker’s record.

Here is the full list of England’s top five goalscorers

1. Gary Lineker - 10 goals
2. Harry Kane - 6 goals
3. Geoff Hurst - 5 goals
4. Bobby Charlton - 4 goals
5. Michael Owen - 4 goals

Which players could break into the record goalscorers in 2022?

A number of players will be aiming to add their names to the illustrious list of goalscorers including the likes of Thomas Muller, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Thomas Muller is the only active player to have hit double figures in the World Cup with 10 goals. He failed to score in any of the three games during the 2018 World Cup in Russia as the defending champions failed to qualify from the group stage. Muller will be aiming to improve on his record for Hansi Flick’s side in the upcoming tournament.

Players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated football for the last fifteen years and have written their names into history with their incredible form and consistency throughout their careers. Both players are coming to the twilight of their careers and will be hoping to make a major impact at this upcoming World Cup.

Messi has scored six goals for Argentina at the World Cup whereas Ronaldo has scored seven times for Portugal. Surprisingly neither of these star-studded players have ever scored a knockout goal during the World Cup.