France forward Kylian Mbappé has become the highest goalscorer in FIFA World Cup history after finding the net twice in the third-place play-off against England at the 2026 tournament.
While France fell to a 6-4 defeat, the two goals lifted Mbappé’s overall World Cup tally to 22, taking him past Lionel Messi’s record of 21.
Before the start of the 2026 World Cup, Germany legend Miroslav Klose remained the tournament’s leading scorer with 16 goals.
Lionel Messi overtook that mark during Argentina’s impressive campaign by scoring consistently throughout the competition, including a hat-trick against Algeria and further goals against Austria, Jordan, Cabo Verde, and Egypt.
Mbappe, however, produced another sensational World Cup campaign to move beyond both Klose and Messi and claim the top spot in the all-time scoring charts.
The French captain has scored 10 goals in eight matches at the 2026 World Cup, adding to the 12 goals he accumulated in the 2018 and 2022 editions. His impressive run featured braces against Senegal, Iraq and Sweden, along with goals against Paraguay and Morocco before another double against England in the bronze-medal play-off.
With 22 goals from only 22 World Cup appearances, Mbappe has maintained an extraordinary scoring rate on football’s biggest stage.
Mbappé’s performance against England also strengthened his position in the race for the tournament’s Golden Boot.
Despite his remarkable achievement, the record for the most goals in a single World Cup remains with France’s Just Fontaine, who scored 13 times in 1958.
Hungary’s Sandor Kocsis occupies second place with 11 goals from the 1954 edition.
Although France was unable to secure third place, Mbappe emerged as one of the tournament’s biggest winners on an individual level.
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