Great goalscorers in World Cup history

Whatever happens in the course of the Qatar World Cup, both on and off the field, most people will be hoping that the matches are full of goals.

The record is currently held by Miroslav Klose of Germany, who found the net 16 times in 24 matches across four different tournaments.

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One of 13 players to score a hat-trick on their World Cup debut, he won the Golden Boot on home soil in 2006, and he surpassed the previous record when he scored twice in the 2014 semi-final thrashing of Brazil. He did not score in the final itself, but was more than happy to content himself with a World Cup winner’s medal instead.

The man whose record he broke, Brazilian Ronaldo, was present at the Maracana Stadium to witness Klose take it away from him. However, he did have the distinction of having scored in a final itself, his two goals enough to beat Germany in Japan in 2002. That was redemption for the events of four years earlier when his goals had carried Brazil to the final against France, only for illness to strike just before the match itself. He played but was a shadow of his normal self.

Another man to score in a final was Gerd Müller, the original fox in the box, who netted 14 times for West Germany in just two tournaments. In the 1970 World Cup he found the net 10 times, one of only three occasions that a player who won the Golden Boot hit double figures.

By his own high standards, he was less prolific four years later, but his last World Cup goal counted more than any of the others – the winner against the Netherlands in the final in Munich.

Just Fontaine of France set a record in 1958 that will probably never be beaten when he managed 13 goals in a single tournament. He scored in every one of his six appearances that year, netting a hat-trick against Paraguay, and four in the third-place match against West Germany.

Sadly, that was the only World Cup in which he appeared. He retired four years later at the age of 28 with a knee injury. Otherwise, he might have set even more records.

Pelé played in four World Cup finals and won three winner’s medals by the end of his career. He never won a Golden Boot, but was voted Player of the Tournament in 1970, where he not only found the net four times but provided six assists as well.

In 1958, he became the youngest player to score in a World Cup finals match when his solitary goal was enough to beat Wales in their quarterfinal match. He was only 17 years and 239 days old when he became the youngest player in World Cup history, scoring a hat-trick against France in the semi-finals and two goals in the final against Sweden.

12 years later, it was his header that sent Brazil on their way against Italy in the final at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

Miroslav Klose’s 16 World Cup Goals