Every nation's top World Cup goalscorer

Eighty-one nations have scored at least one goal in the FIFA World Cup, and each has a leading marksman. From Lionel Messi's 21 goals for Argentina to single-goal contributors for several smaller nations, the list highlights the tournament's top scorers across all editions.

Top scorers by confederation

South America

Argentina's Lionel Messi leads all South Americans with 21 World Cup goals, followed by Brazil's Ronaldo (15) and Uruguay's Óscar Míguez (8). Chile's Marcelo Salas and Leonel Sánchez share the lead with 4 goals each, while Peru's Teófilo Cubillas netted 10. Colombia's James Rodríguez scored 6, and Ecuador's Enner Valencia also has 6. Paraguay's Nelson Cuevas (3) and Bolivia's Erwin Sánchez (1) round out the region.

Europe

France's Kylian Mbappé tops the European list with 22 goals, ahead of Germany's Miroslav Klose (16) and England's Harry Kane (14). Hungary's Sándor Kocsis (11), Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo (11), and Poland's Grzegorz Lato (10) are also in double figures. Notable mentions include Italy's Roberto Baggio, Paolo Rossi, and Christian Vieri (9 each), Spain's David Villa (9), Belgium's Romelu Lukaku (8), and the Netherlands' Johnny Rep (7).

Africa

Cameroon's Roger Milla leads African scorers with 5 goals, followed by Ghana's Asamoah Gyan (6) and Senegal's Ismaila Sarr (5). Egypt's Mohamed Salah has 3, while Algeria's top scorers include four players tied at 2 goals each. Morocco's Youssef En-Nesyri and Ismael Saibari share the lead with 3 goals.

Asia

Japan's Keisuke Honda (4) and South Korea's Ahn Jung-hwan, Son Heung-min, and Park Ji-sung (3 each) are among Asia's top scorers. Saudi Arabia's Salem Al-Dawsari and Sami Al-Jaber have 3 each, while Iran's Ramin Rezaeian also has 3. Iraq's Aymen Hussein and Ahmed Radhi share the lead with 1 goal each.

North and Central America

Mexico's Javier Hernández, Luis Hernández, and Julián Quiñones are tied with 4 goals each. The United States' Landon Donovan scored 5, while Canada's Jonathan David has 3. Costa Rica's Ronald Gómez and Paulo Wanchope each netted 3, and Honduras has three players tied at 1 goal.

Oceania

Australia's Tim Cahill leads with 5 goals, followed by New Zealand's Elijah Just (3).

Notable records

Several nations have multiple top scorers tied on the same number of goals. For example, Algeria, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Greece, Iceland, Kuwait, and Slovenia all have multiple players sharing the lead with 1 or 2 goals. Only three teams have participated in the World Cup without scoring: China PR, Indonesia, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The list includes legendary names like Ronaldo (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), and Lionel Messi (Argentina), as well as lesser-known players such as Hector Socorro (Cuba, 3 goals) and Pak Seung-zin (North Korea, 2 goals).