Misc
Ranked: The Top Goal Scorers in FIFA World Cup History
Ranked: The Top Goal Scorers in FIFA World Cup History
With the 2022 FIFA World Cup around the corner, soccer (or football) fans have their eyes set on how their favorite teams and players will perform.
But history shows that some players, and teams, are far more proficient in goals and wins than others. After all, with only 32 teams competing and the field quickly whittling down, there aren’t many chances for players to make their mark.
Who are history’s most prolific goal scorers? This series of graphics from Pablo Alvarez breaks down the top goal scorers in FIFA World Cup history, and their goals per appearances.
The World’s Cup Top Goal Scorers
Since the inaugural World Cup tournament in 1930, there have been 21 tournaments held across 17 countries.
At the first World Cup in Uruguay, 13 national teams competed for the championship trophy. The tournament then included 16 teams until 1982, when it expanded to 24 teams. Most recently, FIFA expanded to the current 32-team format starting in 1998.
And across all these tournaments, just 13 players have scored 10 or more goals:
Rank | Player (* denotes active) | World Cup Goals | Tournaments |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 🇩🇪 Miroslav Klose | 16 | 4 |
2 | 🇧🇷 Ronaldo | 15 | 3 |
3 | 🇩🇪 Gerd Müller | 14 | 2 |
4 | 🇫🇷 Just Fontaine | 13 | 1 |
5 | 🇧🇷 Pelé | 12 | 4 |
T6 | 🇭🇺 Sándor Kocsis | 11 | 1 |
T6 | 🇩🇪 Jürgen Klinsmann | 11 | 3 |
T8 | 🇩🇪 Helmut Rahn | 10 | 2 |
T8 | 🏴 Gary Lineker | 10 | 2 |
T8 | 🇦🇷 Gabriel Batistuta | 10 | 3 |
T8 | 🇵🇪 Teófilo Cubillas | 10 | 2 |
T8 | 🇩🇪 Thomas Müller* | 10 | 2 |
T8 | 🇵🇱 Grzegorz Lato | 10 | 3 |
The record for the most goals scored at the World Cup currently belongs to Germany’s Miroslav Klose with 16 goals across 4 tournaments, including one championship in 2014.
In fact, Germany had the most 10+ goal scorers of any country with five, including the only still-active player Thomas Müller.
Other well-known legends on the list include Ronaldo (not to be confused with Cristiano Ronaldo) and Pelé from Brazil, and Gary Lineker from England. But the title for the most goals scored in just one tournament goes to France’s Just Fontaine, who scored an incredible 13 goals in six matches in 1958.
Tracking World Cup Goals Per Appearances
Because of a diverse field and an intense qualification process, some teams play more games than others. Therefore, the above list skews towards teams and players with many caps.
So Alvarez also charted how World Cup goal scorers compare on a per-match basis. Unfortunately, FIFA match reports only fully tracked appearances and substitutions from 1970 onwards, though this still gives a clear picture of some of the world’s most effective (and least effective) goal scorers:
Again, the top goal scorers Klose and Ronaldo appear very prominently with 15+ goals, but other legends with a similar number of appearances like Maradona, Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo weren’t as successful on a per-match basis.
What happens when we take the top World Cup goal scorers with 5 or more goals from 1970 onwards and look at their goals/match rate?
Player | World Cup Goals (1970–2018) | Matches Played | Goals/Match |
---|---|---|---|
Miroslav Klose | 16 | 24 | 0.67 |
Ronaldo | 15 | 19 | 0.79 |
Gerd Müller | 14 | 13 | 1.08 |
Jürgen Klinsmann | 11 | 17 | 0.65 |
Gary Lineker | 10 | 12 | 0.83 |
Gabriel Batistuta | 10 | 12 | 0.83 |
Teófilo Cubillas | 10 | 13 | 0.77 |
Thomas Müller | 10 | 16 | 0.63 |
Grzegorz Lato | 10 | 20 | 0.50 |
Christian Vieri | 9 | 9 | 1.00 |
David Villa | 9 | 12 | 0.75 |
Jairzinho | 9 | 13 | 0.69 |
Paolo Rossi | 9 | 14 | 0.64 |
Roberto Baggio | 9 | 16 | 0.56 |
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | 9 | 19 | 0.47 |
Rivaldo | 8 | 14 | 0.57 |
Rudi Völler | 8 | 15 | 0.53 |
Diego Maradona | 8 | 21 | 0.38 |
Careca | 7 | 9 | 0.78 |
Andrzej Szarmach | 7 | 13 | 0.54 |
Luis Suárez | 7 | 13 | 0.54 |
Johnny Rep | 7 | 14 | 0.50 |
Cristiano Ronaldo | 7 | 17 | 0.41 |
Oleg Salenko | 6 | 3 | 2.00 |
Harry Kane | 6 | 6 | 1.00 |
Salvatore Schillaci | 6 | 7 | 0.86 |
James Rodríguez | 6 | 8 | 0.75 |
Davor Šuker | 6 | 8 | 0.75 |
Neymar | 6 | 10 | 0.60 |
Diego Forlán | 6 | 10 | 0.60 |
Hristo Stoichkov | 6 | 10 | 0.60 |
Asamoah Gyan | 6 | 11 | 0.55 |
Dennis Bergkamp | 6 | 12 | 0.50 |
Rob Rensenbrink | 6 | 13 | 0.46 |
Bebeto | 6 | 15 | 0.40 |
Arjen Robben | 6 | 15 | 0.40 |
Rivellino | 6 | 15 | 0.40 |
Zbigniew Boniek | 6 | 16 | 0.38 |
Robin van Persie | 6 | 17 | 0.35 |
Wesley Sneijder | 6 | 17 | 0.35 |
Thierry Henry | 6 | 17 | 0.35 |
Mario Kempes | 6 | 18 | 0.33 |
Lionel Messi | 6 | 19 | 0.32 |
Lothar Matthäus | 6 | 25 | 0.24 |
Tomáš Skuhravý | 5 | 5 | 1.00 |
Jon Dahl Tomasson | 5 | 6 | 0.83 |
Fernando Morientes | 5 | 7 | 0.71 |
Kennet Andersson | 5 | 7 | 0.71 |
Alessandro Altobelli | 5 | 7 | 0.71 |
Romário | 5 | 8 | 0.63 |
Mario Mandžukić | 5 | 8 | 0.63 |
Marc Wilmots | 5 | 8 | 0.63 |
Emilio Butragueño | 5 | 9 | 0.56 |
Tim Cahill | 5 | 9 | 0.56 |
Roger Milla | 5 | 10 | 0.50 |
Romelu Lukaku | 5 | 10 | 0.50 |
Ivan Perišić | 5 | 10 | 0.50 |
Hans Krankl | 5 | 10 | 0.50 |
Raúl | 5 | 11 | 0.45 |
Fernando Hierro | 5 | 12 | 0.42 |
Zinedine Zidane | 5 | 12 | 0.42 |
Landon Donovan | 5 | 12 | 0.42 |
Johan Neeskens | 5 | 12 | 0.42 |
Henrik Larsson | 5 | 13 | 0.38 |
Gonzalo Higuaín | 5 | 14 | 0.36 |
Edinson Cavani | 5 | 14 | 0.36 |
Zico | 5 | 14 | 0.36 |
Michel Platini | 5 | 14 | 0.36 |
Lukas Podolski | 5 | 15 | 0.33 |
Most players expectedly scored under one goal/match, but five players stand out:
- Russia’s Oleg Salenko with an incredible 2 goals/match (6 goals in 3 matches).
- Germany’s Gerd Müller with 1.08 goals/match.
- Italy’s Christian Vieri, England’s Harry Kane, and the Czech Republic’s Tomáš Skuhravý with 1 goal/match.
Future Top Goal Scorers
With many players in Qatar 2022 vying for both the national championship and the Golden Boot, which is awarded to the tournament’s top goal scorer, the rankings are always ripe to change.
And future tournaments will likely offer more goal-scoring opportunities. The 2026 World Cup to be held in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico will be the first to feature 48 teams after FIFA voted to expand the tournament.
Which active players, or up-and-coming talents, will be next to climb the all-time goal scoring rankings?

This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.
Money
Mapped: Minimum Wage Around the World
This infographic shows the net minimum wage across 67 countries, as of January 2023. A breakdown by U.S. state is also included.

Mapped: Minimum Wage Around the World
The purpose of a minimum wage is to establish a baseline income level for workers in a given jurisdiction. Ideally it’s enough to cover basic needs like food and housing, but this isn’t always a guarantee.
To see how the minimum wage differs around the world, we’ve visualized data from Picodi, which includes values for 67 countries as of January 2023.
Monthly Minimum Wage, by Country
The following table includes all of the data used in this infographic.
Each value represents the monthly minimum wage a full-time worker would receive in each country. Picodi states that these figures are net of taxes and have been converted to USD.
Country | Increase compared to Jan 2022 | Minimum wage as of Jan 2023 (full-time, USD) |
---|---|---|
Cyprus | 104.5% | $854 |
Argentina | 100.0% | $336 |
Turkey | 32.5% | $457 |
Moldova | 27.1% | $180 |
Latvia | 25.8% | $555 |
Malaysia | 24.6% | $289 |
Pakistan | 24.5% | $111 |
Romania | 21.9% | $393 |
Germany | 21.2% | $1,594 |
Belarus | 18.8% | $189 |
Lithuania | 18.5% | $646 |
North Macedonia | 17.4% | $298 |
Mexico | 17.1% | $315 |
Chile | 16.9% | $369 |
Russia | 16.6% | $224 |
Kazakhstan | 16.4% | $131 |
Colombia | 16.0% | $249 |
Hungary | 15.3% | $383 |
Netherlands | 14.6% | $1,895 |
Poland | 14.3% | $584 |
Belgium | 14.3% | $1,509 |
Serbia | 14.2% | $347 |
Estonia | 14.2% | $704 |
Azerbaijan | 13.3% | $186 |
Albania | 12.9% | $265 |
Slovenia | 12.6% | $896 |
US | 12.0% | $1,550 |
Croatia | 11.9% | $571 |
Uzbekistan | 11.4% | $72 |
Paraguay | 11.4% | $323 |
Armenia | 10.3% | $138 |
Peru | 10.0% | $233 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 9.9% | $324 |
Bulgaria | 9.3% | $315 |
Luxembourg | 9.2% | $2,140 |
Philippines | 9.0% | $141 |
Uruguay | 8.9% | $424 |
Brazil | 8.5% | $232 |
India | 8.1% | $95 |
Indonesia | 7.9% | $173 |
Greece | 7.8% | $626 |
Portugal | 7.3% | $690 |
UK | 7.2% | $1,705 |
Slovakia | 6.9% | $572 |
South Africa | 6.6% | $226 |
France | 6.6% | $1,380 |
Czechia | 6.0% | $643 |
Vietnam | 5.7% | $162 |
Ecuador | 5.6% | $407 |
New Zealand | 5.4% | $1,866 |
Ireland | 5.1% | $1,753 |
Canada | 5.0% | $1,545 |
Thailand | 4.8% | $195 |
Australia | 4.7% | $2,022 |
South Korea | 4.6% | $1,333 |
Taiwan | 4.0% | $800 |
Bolivia | 3.9% | $284 |
Guatemala | 3.6% | $383 |
Malta | 3.1% | $788 |
Ukraine | 0.0% | $146 |
Israel | 0.0% | $1,389 |
Puerto Rico | 0.0% | $1,328 |
Hong Kong | 0.0% | $959 |
Saudi Arabia | 0.0% | $958 |
Spain | 0.0% | $925 |
Montenegro | 0.0% | $459 |
Nigeria | 0.0% | $68 |
Generally speaking, developed countries have a higher cost of living, and thus require a higher minimum wage.
Two outliers in this dataset are Argentina and Turkey, which have increased their minimum wages by 100% or more from January 2022 levels.
Turkey is suffering from an ongoing currency crisis, with the lira losing over 40% of its value in 2021. Prices of basic goods have increased considerably as the Turkish lira continues to plummet. In fact, a 2022 survey found that 70% of people in Turkey were struggling to pay for food.
Argentina, South America’s second-biggest economy, is also suffering from very high inflation. In response, the country announced three minimum wage increases throughout 2022.
Minimum Wage in the U.S.
Within the U.S., minimum wage varies significantly by state. We’ve visualized each state’s basic minimum rate (hourly) using January 2023 data from the U.S. Department of Labor.
2023-03-17 Update: This map was updated to fix several incorrect values. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
America’s federal minimum wage has remained unchanged since 2009 at $7.25 per hour.
Each state is allowed to set their own minimum wage, as long as it’s higher than the federal minimum. In states that do not set their own minimum, the federal minimum applies.
If we assume someone works 40 hours a week, the federal minimum wage of $7.25 translates to an annual figure of just $15,080 before taxes. California’s minimum wage of $15.50 translates to $32,240 before taxes.
For further perspective, check out our 2022 infographic on the salary needed to buy a home across 50 U.S. cities.
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