Messi breaks Klose's all-time World Cup scoring record with brace against Austria

Lionel Messi became the men’s World Cup’s all-time leading scorer on 22 June 2026, netting twice against Austria in Argentina’s group-stage match to move to 18 career World Cup goals and overtake Germany’s Miroslav Klose, who had held the record for more than a decade.

The milestone arrived a week after Messi scored his first World Cup hat-trick in a win over Algeria — a feat that also made him the oldest player (38) to score a hat-trick at the tournament, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo’s record from 2022, when the Portuguese forward was 33. Messi has now scored at every World Cup since 2006 except 2010, and his five goals at the 2026 edition have extended a résumé that already includes the record for most World Cup appearances (28) and Argentina’s all-time international scoring record (122 goals).

Klose, whose 16 goals across four consecutive World Cups (2002–2014) stood as the benchmark since Brazil 2014, is now tied for second place with France’s Kylian Mbappé. The 25-year-old Mbappé has reached 16 goals in just 16 World Cup appearances — a rate of scoring that no player in the tournament’s history can match. He scored four goals in 2018 as a teenager to help France win its first title since 1998, then added eight in 2022, including the second hat-trick ever scored in a World Cup final. With four goals already at the 2026 tournament, Mbappé remains the most likely challenger to Messi’s new record.

Beyond the top three, Brazil’s Ronaldo sits fourth on 15 goals, winning the Golden Ball in 1998 and the Golden Boot in 2002. Germany’s Gerd Müller is fifth with 14, having scored 10 in 1970 alone before adding four more during Germany’s 1974 title run. France’s Just Fontaine, whose 13 goals all came in a single tournament in 1958, occupies sixth place and holds one of the most remarkable individual records in the competition’s history.

With the 2026 World Cup still in its group stage, the all-time list remains very much in motion — though Messi, at 38, has already ensured his place at the top of it.