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Who Are The Top Five World Cup Goalscorers Of All-Time?

This summer the world’s leading strikers will battle it out to be named top scorer at the World Cup. Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Lionel Messi, Harry Kane, Luis Suarez, Gonzalo Higuain, Kylian Mbappe, Robert Lewandowski and more will all be strutting their stuff at the big tournament. All of them are phenomenally talented forwards, but they have some way to go before breaking into the top five World Cup goalscorers of all-time.

Pele

Brazilian forward Pele is widely considered the greatest player of all time and he often saved his best performances for the World Cup. He won the famous trophy on three separate occasions – in 1958, 1962 and 1970 – over the course of a long and glorious career, becoming the only player to ever do so. In 1958 he became the youngest player to ever make an appearance at a World Cup, and he announced himself on the world scene by banging in a fantastic hat-trick as his team annihilated France in the semi-final. In the final he flicked the ball over a Swedish defender’s head and drove home a terrific volley, and that has been voted as one of the best World Cup goals of all time. He scored a second as Brazil went on to win 5-2.

He maintained his sensational form at the 1962 World Cup, surging past four defenders to score against Mexico in their opening game. But he was injured in the next one and missed the rest of the tournament.

In 1966 he managed just one goal amid a raft of injuries as opposing defenders kicked lumps out of him and Brazil crashed out at the group stage. He vowed never to play in a World Cup again, but changed his mind and led his team to glory four years later. Alongside Jairzinho, Gerson, Tostao and Rivelino, Pele was irresistible. He put Romania to the sword with a brace, and opened the scoring in the final as Brazil routed Italy. Pele ended his career with 12 World Cup goals, but that tally would surely have been far higher had it not been for injuries. 

Just Fontaine

French legend Fontaine only played in one World Cup – the 1958 tournament – but he managed to score an incredible 13 goals in just six games. No player has ever come close to scoring that many goals at a single World Cup, and he is fourth in the list of all-time scorers. In the first game, France found themselves 3-2 down against Paraguay, but a Fontaine hat-trick inspired them to a 7-3 win. He scored in all six matches, including a four-goal haul against the defending champions, West Germany. He benefited from some great assists from Raymond Kopa and Roger Piantoni, and France were a brilliant side. Fontaine scored a fantastic equaliser against Pele’s Brazil in the semi-final, but an injury to captain Robert Jonquet left them with 10 men – there were no substitutes back then – and France crashed out. Fontaine’s career would end prematurely, aged 28, due to a recurring injury, but his 1958 goal scoring exploits live long in the memory.

Gerd Müller

The prolific West Germany striker, nicknamed Der Bomber, scored 14 goals in 13 games during the 1970 and 1974 World Cups and he is widely regarded as the greatest finisher of all-time. Like Fontaine he was squat and strong, and blessed with remarkable awareness and serenity in the box, making him a goal poacher extraordinaire. He is 12th in the list of all-time international goal scorers, despite playing far fewer games than any others in the top 25. At the 1970 World Cup he scored the extra time winner against defending champions England in the quarter-finals, but his team crashed out against Italy in the semis. Müller scored twice, but West Germany lost 4-3 in extra-time. Yet they were resurgent four years later and Müller bagged the winning goal in the World Cup final as West Germany beat Johan Cruyff’s Netherlands 2-1.

Another Müller, Bayern Munich star Thomas, currently stars for Germany and he has 10 goals in 13 games, leaving him joint eighth in the all-time chart. He could soon surge to the top of the list as Germany are the frontrunners in the  and – providing he gets in the team, he should have plenty of chances to overhaul Gerd and everyone else. He is the only active player in the all-time top 20.

Ronaldo

Nowadays most people think of the curly haired Real Madrid star when they hear the name Ronaldo, but his namesake was a global superstar while Cristiano was still in school. The Brazilian Ronaldo had a superb club career and won all manner of trophies at the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan, but – like Pele – he saved his best for the World Cup.

Ronaldo made the squad as a youngster in 1994, but did not feature in that tournament. In 1998 he arrived with the billing of the world’s best player, and he lived up to the hype. He was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player, and he led his team all the way to the final. However, he suffered a convulsive fit before the final and, although he played, he was largely anonymous as Brazil lost 3-0 to France. Yet Ronaldo more than made up for it in 2002, when he linked up with Rivaldo and Ronaldinho to form an outrageously effective attacking unit. Brazil sauntered through to the final and crushed Germans. Ronaldo scored against six of the seven teams he faced and won a third FIFA World Player of the Year award. He notched another three goals in 2006 to take his tally to 15, but Brazil underwhelmed and crashed out. At the time, Ronaldo was the top World Cup scorer of all-time, but he has since been usurped.

Miroslav Klose

The man that surged past Ronaldo to claim the all-time number one spot is Klose, who notched 16 goals in 24 games, spread across four tournaments, from 2002 to 2014. Klose has his detractors, who say he was less prolific than the likes of Müller and Ronaldo and that a better striker would have scored more for such a dynamic German team, but Klose’s prowess in front of goal was undeniable. He was a reliable presence up front for Germany, often getting on the end of crosses with neat finishes, and he was also a good luck charm: they never lost a single game in which he scored. He became the all-time leading German scorer and won the 2014 World Cup before retiring in a blaze of glory. He was on target as his side beat Brazil 7-1 in the semi-finals, and that moved him clear of Ronaldo as the leading striker in World Cup history.

 

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